View source for Nelson Wesley Trout

{{Short description|American Lutheran bishop (1921–1996)}}
{{Unreferenced|date=February 2025}}
'''Nelson Wesley Trout''' (1921–1996) was the first African-American bishop in the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]. Trout was born in [[Columbus, Ohio]], USA.

Trout was elected bishop of the South Pacific District of the [[American Lutheran Church]] (ALC) in 1983, a position he served through 1987. At the time of his election he was a professor and director of minority studies at [[Trinity Lutheran Seminary]], Columbus, Ohio.

Trout was renowned as a moving and powerful preacher throughout the church. During his earlier career, he served pastorates in Alabama (where he became a friend and colleague of [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]), California and Wisconsin, and as Executive Director of Lutheran Social Services, Dayton, Ohio. On two occasions he served the ALC in executive capacities: as Associate Youth Director (1962–67) and Director of Urban Evangelism (1968–70).

Trout died in 1996 at the age of 76. He is commemorated in the [[Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Calendar of Saints]] of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] on September 20.

==External links==
*[http://www.wfn.org/1996/09/msg00164.html www.wfn.org article]
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E4DF123BF93BA25755C0A965948260 Lutheran Unit Elects Its First Black Bishop (NY Times article, June 18, 1983)]

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[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Clergy from Columbus, Ohio]]
[[Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar]]
[[Category:Evangelical Lutheran Church in America bishops]]
[[Category:20th-century American Lutheran bishops]]


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