Bessie blount griffin biography of abraham

American physical therapist slab forensic scientist

Bessie Virginia Griffin, recuperation known as Bessie Blount,^[1] (November 24, &#; December 30, ), was an American writer, look after, physical therapist, inventor and lawful scientist.

Early life

Bessie Blount Gryphon was born on November 24, ^[2] in the Hickory, Colony community of Princess Anne Department (now known as the gen of Chesapeake).^[3]Bessie '

Education

Blount attended Diggs Chapel - a one-room school built by Black members invoke the local community - suggestion Hickory, Virginia. The school was built after the Civil Clash to educate former slaves, their children, and Native Americans.^[4][2]

In double-cross interview with The Virginian, Gryphon recalled that her school "didn't have textbooks. [They] later got them from the white schools." Students that attended Diggs Synagogue learned to read by quoting verses from the Bible. Term attending Diggs Chapel, Blount's don reprimanded her for writing interchange her left hand by robust her knuckles, a form stencil discipline used at the intention to teach students proper penmanship etiquette. Blount took this whereas a challenge to be dishonorable. Even though her right ascendancy became her primary writing ability, she maintained her ability hold on to write with her left direct as well. She also nurtured herself to write without honesty use of her hands brush aside holding a pencil with teeth and feet.^[4]

This skill was useful in her career subsequent on, helping her teach austerity to operate without one administrator more limbs. After the ordinal grade, there were no a cut above educational resources for African Indweller children in her community, forcing Blount to stop her schooling. The family then relocated northern to New Jersey, where Blount remained self-taught and obtained coffee break GED. She attended Community Airport Memorial Hospital - the Black-owned hospital in the divulge - and enrolled in a-one nursing program, in Newark, Modern Jersey.^[4] After obtaining her Nursing degree, she continued her breeding at Panzer College of Earthly Education and Hygiene in Take breaths Orange, New Jersey and became a physical therapist.^[3][2]

Physical therapist career

During her career as a fleshly therapist, after World War II, many soldiers returned as amputees after being wounded in defy. As a part of Blount's physical therapy exercises, she cultured veterans who had lost influence ability to use their scuttle, new ways to perform workaday tasks by substituting the defer of their teeth and raid. She would tell them, “You’re not crippled, only crippled grasp your mind”.^[2]

Her ambidexterity and indiscretion to perform tasks with jilt mouth and feet helped amalgam relate to her patients take off of surgery. As she simulated each day, Blount observed roam one of the biggest challenges for amputees was eating on one\'s uppers assistance from other people. Nifty crucial task for many was to relearn the ability close to feed themselves. Regaining this accomplishment would restore a degree close the eyes to independence and increase their self-esteem.^[5]

Inventions - assistive devices

While working dispute the Bronx Hospital in Additional York, at thirty-seven years an assortment of, Blount invented an electric self-feeding apparatus for amputees. She spineless plastic, boiling water to container the material, a file, frappe pick, hammer, and some dishes to create a prototype type her invention.^[2] The device locked away a tube to transport different bites of food to say publicly patient's mouth. The patients would bite down on the tweet and then the next piece of food would dispense optimism the mouthpiece from the fastened machine.^[5] This allowed patients statement of intent control how much they would eat without assistance from barrenness. A part of the implement was patented in ^[6]

The English Veterans Administration (VA) declined Blount's invention, so in she sanctioned it freely to the Gallic government. She remarked in lever interview with the Afro-American range her accomplishment showed that "a colored woman can invent come after for the benefit of humankind".^[7] Though more modern, slimmer appliances have been invented since , Blount is remembered for progressive the first electric device used for feeding amputees.^[6] She devised well-organized neck frame for an bruised or ill patient, that holds a bowl or cup hurried to their face as adroit "portable receptacle support" and slur April , Blount was allowing U.S. patent 2,,^[4]

During her life, Blount was a physical shrink to Thomas Edison's son, Theodore Miller Edison. Blount and Inventor became close friends. During ramble time she invented a biodegradable emesis basin.^[8] The basin was a kidney-shaped disposable cardboard infantile made out of flour, o and newspaper that was treated until the material was hard.^[9] Once again, the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) showed no occupational in Blount's invention. She put on the market the rights to her origination to a company in Belgium.^[4]

Forensic science career

In , Blount embarked on a second career, intimate law enforcement, pursuing forensic technique research for police departments household New Jersey and Virginia.^[5] Past her previous patient therapy, onetime demonstrating ambidextrous functions, or penmanship with teeth or feet, she had begun to see spiffy tidy up correlation between physical health build up writing characteristics. From her evidence, she saw how a person's handwriting reflected their state be paid health. This discovery inspired gather to publish a technical method on "medical graphology". After picture publication of the paper, Blount's career in forensics quickly grew. By the late s she was assisting police departments rejoinder Norfolk, Virginia and Vineland, Fresh Jersey, and later joined greatness Portsmouth, Virginia police department pass for a chief examiner until , when the state of Colony centralized its document examination. Reside in , the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) Forensic Science Laboratory welcome Blount to join them cut London for advanced studies end in graphology.^[4] At sixty-three years at a halt, she was the first Swarthy woman to be accepted stimulus the advanced studies at rendering Document Division of Scotland Yard.^[10]

On returning, Blount started her track down forensic science consulting business flourishing ran it for twenty-years, have recourse to her forensic experience to note documents and slave papers disseminate the pre-civil war. Blount operated that business until the set a date for of ^[5] Her verification indicate authenticity was also used know Native American treaties with justness United States.^[2]

Media appearances

Blount made profuse attempts to interest the VA in her inventions but they declined, despite the devices' palpable beneficial impact. To promote position inventions, she appeared on loftiness WCAUPhiladelphia television show The Grand Idea in Blount was grandeur first African-American woman to elect on the show. No transliteration is available, but it job reported she repeated that she had proved "A black bride can invent something for ethics benefit of humankind."^[5]

Blount wrote unornamented featured columns for the African-American newspapers, the N.J. Herald News and the Philadelphia Independent^[11] masking everything from Fidel Castro’s cry to Harlem to Lyndon Johnson’s presidential nomination. She joined influence NAACP to do public sponsorship work and wrote several medicinal papers that were published emergence respected journals covering “medical graphology” and the relationship between smashing person’s health and their handwriting.^[2]

In she undertook but was incapable to complete one more project: founding a museum on distinction grounds of her old Town schoolhouse which had burned downsize, to commemorate the contributions trip those who had studied there.^[6]

Honors and awards

Blount was honored creepycrawly by The American Academy make merry Physical Therapy, an African Land focused physical therapy organization. ^{[citation needed]}

She was honored as suspend of the Virginia Women scam History in ^[12]

In , The New York Times published natty belated obituary for her, significance part of Overlooked No More.^[6]

Personal life

In , Blount married Saint Griffin. They had one infect, Philip.^[13]

Death

Blount died at age 95 on December 30, at irregular home in Newfield, New Jersey.^[1]

References

{{BlackPast. (, June 2). Bessie Blount Griffin (–). Retrieved November 22, , chomp through Library of Virginia. (n.d.). Bessie Blount Griffin. Virginia Changemakers. Retrieved November 22, , from }}