Mary Antona Ebo

== Early life and education ==

== Early life and education ==

”’Elizabeth Louise “Betty Lou” Ebo”’ was born in [[Bloomington, Illinois]],<ref>{{Cite news|last=Holliday|first=Bob|date=2006-09-07|title=Nun Proud to Call Bloomington Home|pages=4|work=The Pantagraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68066617/nun-proud-to-call-bloomington-homebob/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the daughter of Daniel Ebo and Louise Teal Ebo. She lived at the [[McLean County, Illinois|McLean County]] Home for Colored Children with her two older siblings from 1930 to 1942, after her mother’s death and her father’s unemployment during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].<ref name=”:1″>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=September 6, 2020|title=PFOP: Sister Mary Antona Ebo a ‘witness’ for civil rights, justice|url=https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/pfop-sister-mary-antona-ebo-a-witness-for-civil-rights-justice/article_374f0630-17e1-5027-a570-838acbb28eea.html|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-20|website=The Pantagraph|language=en}}</ref> She was hospitalized for long periods of her childhood, once for an infected thumb requiring amputation,<ref name=”:1″ /> and later with [[tuberculosis]].<ref name=”:2″>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Shannen Dee|date=2017-11-22|title=Sister Antona Ebo’s lifelong struggle against white supremacy, inside and outside the Catholic Church|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/11/22/sister-antona-ebos-lifelong-struggle-against-white-supremacy-inside-and-outside|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-20|website=America Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Graybill|first=Elaine|date=1990-02-15|title=From Orphanage to the History Books: Bloomington’s Betty Ebo Has Made Her Place|pages=19|work=The Pantagraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10336813/the-pantagraph/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Ebo was born in [[Bloomington, Illinois]],<ref>{{Cite news|last=Holliday|first=Bob|date=2006-09-07|title=Nun Proud to Call Bloomington Home|pages=4|work=The Pantagraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68066617/nun-proud-to-call-bloomington-homebob/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the daughter of Daniel Ebo and Louise Teal Ebo. She lived at the [[McLean County, Illinois|McLean County]] Home for Colored Children with her two older siblings from 1930 to 1942, after her mother’s death and her father’s unemployment during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].<ref name=”:1″>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=September 6, 2020|title=PFOP: Sister Mary Antona Ebo a ‘witness’ for civil rights, justice|url=https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/pfop-sister-mary-antona-ebo-a-witness-for-civil-rights-justice/article_374f0630-17e1-5027-a570-838acbb28eea.html|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-20|website=The Pantagraph|language=en}}</ref> She was hospitalized for long periods of her childhood, once for an infected thumb requiring amputation,<ref name=”:1″ /> and later with [[tuberculosis]].<ref name=”:2″>{{Cite web|last=Williams|first=Shannen Dee|date=2017-11-22|title=Sister Antona Ebo’s lifelong struggle against white supremacy, inside and outside the Catholic Church|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/11/22/sister-antona-ebos-lifelong-struggle-against-white-supremacy-inside-and-outside|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-20|website=America Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Graybill|first=Elaine|date=1990-02-15|title=From Orphanage to the History Books: Bloomington’s Betty Ebo Has Made Her Place|pages=19|work=The Pantagraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10336813/the-pantagraph/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 1944, she was the first black student to graduate from [[Central Catholic High School (Bloomington, Illinois)|Holy Trinity High School]]. She converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] in 1942, and trained as a nurse the St. Mary’s (Colored) Infirmary School of Nursing in [[St. Louis]].<ref name=”:0″ /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Salter|first=Kwame|date=1973-08-04|title=Black Catholics: On a Special Mission|pages=24|work=The Capital Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68066886/black-catholics-on-a-special/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 1944, she was the first black student to graduate from [[Central Catholic High School (Bloomington, Illinois)|Holy Trinity High School]]. She converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] in 1942, and trained as a nurse the St. Mary’s (Colored) Infirmary School of Nursing in [[St. Louis]].<ref name=”:0″ /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Salter|first=Kwame|date=1973-08-04|title=Black Catholics: On a Special Mission|pages=24|work=The Capital Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68066886/black-catholics-on-a-special/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-01-20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>