Gertrude Parthenia McBrown was a writer, educator, and performer born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1898. She attended Curry School of Expression in Boston before attending Emerson College of Oratory, also in Boston, from October 5, 1918, through May 1922, where she was a member of the children’s theater and the debating team. She continued her education at Boston University, where she received an MEd in 1926.