Editing Wilma Rudolph (section)

==Early life and education==
Wilma Rudolph was [[preterm birth|born prematurely]] to Blanche Rudolph at {{convert|4.5|lb|kg}} on June 23, 1940, in [[Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee]] (now part of Clarksville).<ref name=sports-reference/><ref name=NBAW958-61>James E. Haney, "Wilma Rudolph" in {{cite book| editor=Smith, Jessie Carnie| title =Notable Black American Women| publisher =Gale Research | year =1992| location =Detroit | pages =958–61}}</ref> She was the 20th of 22 children from her father Ed Rudolph's two marriages.<ref name=bbc>{{cite news| title =1960: Rudolph takes third Olympic gold| date =11 September 1960| publisher =BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_3554000/3554568.stm | access-date =February 9, 2017}}</ref><ref name=espn>{{cite web| author=M. B. Roberts |title=Rudolph ran and world went wild |publisher =ESPN | url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016444.html | access-date =February 9, 2017 |quote= Rudolph grew up in a poor family, the 20th of her father Ed's 22 children (from two marriages). Although she never shared a home with all her siblings and half-siblings at once, there were still plenty of brothers and sisters to serve as "lookouts" if she mischievously removed her braces. Her brothers and sisters took turns massaging her crippled leg every day. Once a week her mother Blanche, a domestic worker, drove her 90 miles roundtrip to a Nashville hospital for therapy.}}</ref><ref name=LibertiSmith-12>{{cite book | author=Rita Liberti and Maureen M. Smith | title =(Re)Presenting Wilma Rudolph | publisher =Syracuse University Press | series =Sports and Entertainment | year =2015 | location =Syracuse, New York | page=12 | isbn =978-0-8156-3384-6}}</ref> Shortly after Wilma's birth, her family moved to [[Clarksville, Tennessee]],<ref name=NBAW958-61/> where she grew up and attended elementary and high school. Her father, Ed, who worked as a railway porter and did odd jobs in Clarksville, died in 1961; her mother, Blanche, worked as a maid in Clarksville homes and died in 1994.<ref name="guardianolysrs">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/jun/01/50-stunning-olympic-moments-wilma-rudolph |title=50 stunning Olympic moments No35: Wilma Rudolph's triple gold in 1960 |date=June 1, 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Rob Bagchi}}</ref>

Rudolph had several early childhood illnesses, including pneumonia and scarlet fever, and she contracted [[Poliomyelitis|infantile paralysis]] (caused by the [[poliovirus]]) at the age of five.<ref name=Hine-992-93>Brenda Meese, "Wilma Glodean Rudolph" in {{cite book| author=Hine, Darlene Clark, Elsa Barkley Brown, and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, eds.| title =Black Women in American: A Historical Encyclopedia| publisher =IU Press| volume =II| year =1993| location =Bloomington, Indiana | pages =992–93}}</ref> Rudolph recovered from polio but lost strength in her left leg and foot. Physically disabled for much of her early life, Rudolph wore a leg brace until she was 12 years old. Because there was little medical care available to African American residents of Clarksville in the 1940s, Rudolph's parents sought treatment for her at the historically black [[Meharry Medical College]] (now Nashville General Hospital at Meharry) in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], about {{convert|50|mi|km}} from Clarksville.<ref name=LS29>Liberti and Smith, p. 29.</ref>

For two years, Rudolph and her mother made weekly bus trips to Nashville for treatments to regain the use of her weakened leg.<ref name=LS29/> Rudolph also received subsequent at-home massage treatments four times a day from members of her family and wore an orthopedic shoe for support of her foot for another two years.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Olympic Black Women|author=Martha Ward Plowden|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company|year=1996|isbn=1-56554-080-8|location=Tennessee State University Library|pages=[https://archive.org/details/olympicblackwome00plow/page/121 121]|url=https://archive.org/details/olympicblackwome00plow/page/121}}</ref> Because of the treatments she received at Meharry and the daily massages from her family members, Rudolph was able to overcome the debilitating effects of polio and learned to walk without a leg brace or orthopedic shoe for support by the time she was 12 years old.<ref name=NBAW958-61/><ref name=Hine-992-93/>

Rudolph was initially homeschooled due to the frequent illnesses that caused her to miss kindergarten and first grade. Rudolph began attending second grade at Cobb Elementary School in Clarksville in 1947 at age seven.<ref name=Hine-992-93/> She attended Clarksville's all-black Burt High School, where Rudolph excelled in basketball and track. During her senior year of high school, Rudolph became pregnant with her first child, Yolanda, who was born in 1958, a few weeks before her enrollment at [[Tennessee State University]] in Nashville.<ref name=Bio-WR/><ref>Liberti and Smith, pp. 124–25.</ref> In college, Rudolph continued to compete in track. She also became a member of the [[Delta Sigma Theta]] sorority. In 1963, Rudolph graduated from Tennessee State with a bachelor's degree in education. Her college education was paid by her participation in a work-study scholarship program that required Rudolph to work on the TSU campus for two hours a day.<ref name=NBAW958-61/><ref name=Hine-992-93/><ref name=s22/>