More Than a Survivor

In 1940, Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely in Clarksville, Tennessee — the twentieth of twenty-two children. By age four, polio had paralyzed her left leg. Doctors told her mother, Blanche, that Wilma would never walk without a brace. But Blanche refused to accept that verdict. Twice a week, she drove ninety miles round trip to Meharry Medical College in Nashville for her daughter's physical therapy treatments.…