The Oldest Student:

Using animation and archival footage, The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read explores life during America’s Reconstruction and the perseverance and dedication of one woman who proved that you are never too old to learn.

The Oldest Student tells the remarkable true story of Mary Walker —- a woman born into slavery in 1848. As a child working on an Alabama plantation, Mary Walker dreamed of the day she could learn to read. She was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and started doing the only jobs available to black women: sharecropping, cleaning, and cooking. After 9 decades raising children and working, Mary was 114 years old. She was the last remaining member of her family and still illiterate. 2 years later, she became the nation’s oldest student.