Born: 1914, United States
Died: 23 January 1978
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Gertrude Elnora Willis
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Gertrude E. Wilson, known as Gertie, was born Gertrude Elnora Willis in Mississippi in 1914. She attended Jackson State College. She married Levi Wilson on December 24, 1942.
She received a War Service Appointment as an junior clerk with the Office of Price Administration in Washington, DC, on September 14, 1942. She worked in the Statistical and Recording Unit of the Tire Rationing Branch of the Automotive Supply Rationing Division. In January 1943 she was promoted to assistant clerk. On October 25, 1943, she transferred to the Post Office Department as a clerk.
On May 1, 1944, Wilson took the Park Police examination, scoring 81.00 (the highest score to date for a USPP policewoman). On August 7, 1944, she received a probationary appointment as a private (class 1) with the USPP, backfilling the position held by Gerald S. Dennis who was furloughed for military service. Her salary was set at $1,900 per year, $200 more than she earned as a clerk at the Post Office.
By 1946 Wilson had proved herself to be a valuable police officer, and her salary had increased to $2,320. The USPP became concerned that it might lose her when Dennis returned from the war. Her official personnel file notes,
While serving as a member of the Park Police force, Mrs. Wilson has rendered very satisfactory services, and it is desired to assign her to a position of a more permanent nature to obviate the possibility of losing her services upon the return to duty of Mr. Dennis.
Effective February 16, 1946, she was promoted to private (class 2) in a new position. Her new salary was $2,505.
Despite this support from management, we don’t know what Wilson’s specific experiences were as a woman of color in the USPP in the 1940s. Inevitably she would have experienced the same discrimination that other African Americans experienced at the time. A 1949 Jackson (MS) Advocate article reported that the Secretary of the Interior issued an order directing that the USPP eliminate discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. This order was based on findings of a Fair Employment Committee assigned to address the complaint of segregation and discrimination against Black USPP officers. The article recorded a total of 113 employees at the time, with 13 minorities on the force, including one policewoman of color. Although not mentioned by name, that policewoman was surely Wilson. It’s not known, however, if she was one of the complainants in this case.
The 1950 US Census records that Wilson was a USPP policewoman but nothing is known about her duties at the time. No photographs of her have been found.
Wilson was serving as a juvenile officer and crime photo assistant when she retired on June 30, 1966. She received a Commendable Service Award for her 22 years of service with USPP and more than 23 years with the federal government. She died on January 23, 1978.