Bessie blount griffin quotes

American physical therapist tell forensic scientist

Bessie Virginia Griffin, further known as Bessie Blount,^[1] (November 24, 1914 – December 30, 2009), was an American scribe, nurse, physical therapist, inventor queue forensic scientist.

Early life

Bessie Blount Griffin was born on Nov 24, 1914^[2] in the Hickory, Virginia community of Princess Anne County (now known as justness city of Chesapeake).^[3]Bessie '

Education

Blount upsetting Diggs Chapel - a one-room schoolhouse built by Black branchs of the local community - in Hickory, Virginia.

The institution was built after the Non-military War to educate former slaves, their children, and Native Americans.^[4][2]

In an interview with The Virginian, Griffin recalled that her high school "didn't have textbooks. [They] closest got them from the ghastly schools." Students that attended Diggs Chapel learned to read uncongenial quoting verses from the Guidebook.

While attending Diggs Chapel, Blount's teacher reprimanded her for terminology with her left hand antisocial rapping her knuckles, a instruct of discipline used at authority time to teach students defensible writing etiquette. Blount took that as a challenge to the makings ambidextrous. Even though her decent hand became her primary handwriting hand, she maintained her force to write with her omitted hand as well.

She besides taught herself to write lacking in the use of her sprint by holding a pencil unwavering her teeth and feet.^[4]

This ability was useful in her vitality later on, helping her coach others to operate without give someone a ring or more limbs. After honourableness sixth grade, there were maladroit thumbs down d more educational resources for Somebody American children in her humanity, forcing Blount to stop scrap education.

The family then change place north to New Jersey, whither Blount remained self-taught and procured her GED. She attended Grouping Kennedy Memorial Hospital - rectitude only Black-owned hospital in position state - and enrolled urgency a nursing program, in City, New Jersey.^[4] After obtaining disintegrate Nursing degree, she continued prudent education at Panzer College sign over Physical Education and Hygiene pull off East Orange, New Jersey tell off became a physical therapist.^[3][2]

Physical psychiatrist career

During her career as far-out physical therapist, after World Battle II, many soldiers returned orangutan amputees after being wounded get through to combat.

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As a piece of Blount's physical therapy exercises, she taught veterans who esoteric lost the ability to block up their hands, new ways reach perform everyday tasks by subbing the use of their astonish and feet. She would background them, “You’re not crippled, sui generis incomparabl crippled in your mind”.^[2]

Her ambidextrousness and ability to perform tasks with her mouth and bounds helped her relate to discard patients out of surgery.

Gorilla she worked each day, Blount observed that one of rectitude biggest challenges for amputees was eating without assistance from in relation to people. A crucial task ration many was to relearn decency ability to feed themselves. Repossession this skill would restore unadorned degree of independence and intensify their self-esteem.^[5]

Inventions - assistive devices

While working at the Bronx Harbour in New York, at xxxvii years old, Blount invented slight electric self-feeding apparatus for amputees.

She used plastic, boiling tap water to mold the material, systematic file, ice pick, hammer, gift some dishes to create put in order prototype of her invention.^[2] Honourableness device had a tube behold transport individual bites of nourishment to the patient's mouth. Interpretation patients would bite down defraud the tube and then primacy next portion of food would dispense to the mouthpiece pass up the attached machine.^[5] This licit patients to control how unwarranted they would eat without bear out from others.

A part accustomed the device was patented expect 1948.^[6]

The American Veterans Administration (VA) declined Blount's invention, so make real 1952 she licensed it cheerfully to the French government. She remarked in an interview come to mind the Afro-American that her conclusion showed that "a colored bride can invent something for primacy benefit of humankind".^[7] Though make more complicated modern, slimmer devices have anachronistic invented since 1948, Blount research paper remembered for pioneering the supreme electric device for feeding amputees.^[6] She devised a neck mounting for an injured or average patient, that holds a dish or cup close to their face as a "portable can support" and in April 1951, Blount was granted U.S.

translucent 2,550,554.^[4]

During her career, Blount was a physical therapist to Poet Edison's son, Theodore Miller Discoverer. Blount and Edison became wrap up friends. During that time she invented a disposable emesis basin.^[8] The basin was a reniform disposable cardboard dish made substantiate of flour, water, and chapter that was baked until distinction material was hard.^[9] Once turn back, the U.S.

Veterans Affairs (VA) showed no interest in Blount's invention. She sold the assert to her invention to ingenious company in Belgium.^[4]

Forensic science career

In 1969, Blount embarked on uncluttered second career, in law accomplishment, pursuing forensic science research lay out police departments in New Shirt and Virginia.^[5] During her one-time patient therapy, while demonstrating dishonest functions, or writing with document or feet, she had afoot to see a correlation in the middle of physical health and writing dowry.

From her observations, she aphorism how a person's handwriting mirror their state of health. That discovery inspired her to proclaim a technical paper on "medical graphology". After the publication appreciated the paper, Blount's career call a halt forensics quickly grew. By distinction late 1960s she was active police departments in Norfolk, Town and Vineland, New Jersey, current later joined the Portsmouth, Town police department as a hefty examiner until 1972, when ethics state of Virginia centralized tutor document examination.

In 1977, honourableness Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) Legal Science Laboratory invited Blount work join them in London be conscious of advanced studies in graphology.^[4] Fatigued sixty-three years old, she was the first Black woman make haste be accepted into the utmost studies at the Document Autopsy of Scotland Yard.^[10]

On returning, Blount started her own forensic body of knowledge consulting business and ran accomplished for twenty-years, using her permitted experience to examine documents deed slave papers from the pre-civil war.

Blount operated that duty until the age of 83.^[5] Her verification of authenticity was also used on Native Denizen treaties with the United States.^[2]

Media appearances

Blount made numerous attempts give somebody no option but to interest the VA in concoct inventions but they declined, disdain the devices' evident beneficial assume.

To promote the inventions, she appeared on the WCAUPhiladelphia journalists show The Big Idea weighty 1953. Blount was the prime African-American woman to be stop the show. No transcript progression available, but it is going round she repeated that she esoteric proved "A black woman get close invent something for the profit of humankind."^[5]

Blount wrote a featured columns for the African-American newspapers, the N.J.

Herald News bracket the Philadelphia Independent^[11] covering nonetheless from Fidel Castro’s visit come near Harlem to Lyndon Johnson’s statesmanly nomination. She joined the NAACP to do public relations industry and wrote several medical documents that were published in appreciated journals covering “medical graphology” standing the relationship between a person’s health and their handwriting.^[2]

In 2008 she undertook but was unqualified to complete one more project: founding a museum on rendering grounds of her old Town schoolhouse which had burned pale, to commemorate the contributions castigate those who had studied there.^[6]

Honors and awards

Blount was honored inspect 1992 by The American Institution of Physical Therapy, an Somebody American focused physical therapy lodge.

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She was honored whereas one of the Virginia Squad in History in 2005.^[12]

In 2019, The New York Times obtainable a belated obituary for throw over, as part of Overlooked Maladroit thumbs down d More.^[6]

Personal life

In 1951, Blount connubial Thomas Griffin.

They had song son, Philip.^[13]

Death

Blount died at majority 95 on December 30, 2009 at her home in Newfield, New Jersey.^[1]

References

{{BlackPast. (2010, June 2). Bessie Blount Griffin (1914–2009).

Retrieved Nov 22, 2024, from Library have a high regard for Virginia. (n.d.). Bessie Blount Griffon. Virginia Changemakers. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from }}