Gertrude Aldredge Shelburne (1907-1993) was an American activist, philanthropist, and supporter of contraceptive rights from Dallas, Texas.
[2] In 1933, Shelburne joined forces with "an unlikely group of Dallas socialites drawn into the fledgling movement [now] known as the Planned Parenthood Federation.
"[1] She and other Dallas-area women worked with Margaret Sanger to distribute contraceptives illicitly, with Sanger shipping diaphragms and condoms hidden in shirt boxes from New York for distribution to women in Texas.
[1] In honor of her work to expand access to birth control in the Dallas area, Shelburne was made the eponym of a Greater Texas Planned Parenthood achievement award.
[8] Shelburne's father George Aldredge was the director of Texaco for 30 years, and her mother, Rena Munger, also from a wealthy Dallas family, was the daughter of a cotton gin business owner and niece of Robert S. Munger, an early adopter of exclusionary neighborhood developments by way of restrictive deeds.