Wilma’s family struggled financially and could barely afford to treat her illnesses due to racism; black workers were often kept from well-paying jobs and opportunities. When going to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, other townspeople had to help buy her clothes. Though her living conditions were not ideal, she persevered through her struggles and came out successful, inciting many to work hard and achieve their dreams.
[Bruce Davidson/Magnum, 1963]
[Getty Images, 1963]
[John G. Zimmerman Archive, 1953]
“Black women . . . work because their husbands can't make enough money at their jobs to keep everything going. . . . They don't go to work to find fulfillment, or adventure, or glamour and romance, like so many white women think they are doing. Black women work out of necessity.”
- Wilma Rudolph