[Nfb-history] {Disarmed} FW: History & Happenings: Getting Political

Thu Jul 14 20:43:10 UTC 2016

Hello Colleagues:

     I thought the following would be of interest.

Regards,

Robert

From: Perkins School for the Blind [mailto:supportperkins at perkins.org] 
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2016 12:02 PM
To: Robert Jaquiss
Subject: History & Happenings: Getting Political

Perkins Research Librarian rediscovers six alumni who went on to the Massachusetts State Legislator.
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 July 2016 issue of History and Happenings. Four male Perkins students and a teacher sit around an oval table reading from volumes with raised type. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy17-history-and-happenings-jul-outlook-header.jpg> 

July 2016

History & Happenings

Getting Political

After meeting with their state legislators on campus in March, students at Perkins School for the Blind might be inspired to pursue a career in politics themselves. They wouldn't be the first to do so.

Perkins Research Librarian Jennifer Arnott has recently rediscovered six Perkins alumni who went on to be elected to the Massachusetts State Legislator. All six served in the state House of Representatives, with three serving simultaneously from 1945 to 1952. While most graduated from other institutions, each spent at least one year at Perkins.

A piano tuner by trade, William Henry McCarthy was blinded in an accident at 17 and graduated from Perkins at the age of 20 in 1897. McCarthy, who was a Democrat, served as the Representative from Rockland from 1923 to 1924 and again from 1927 to 1932. Shortly after the end of his final term, McCarthy was appointed as State Director of the Blind by Governor Ely. Many challenged the Governor's appointment and questioned "the expediency of naming a man thus handicapped to a position that supervises 4500 blind persons and is responsible for disbursements amounting to nearly half a million dollars a year." Despite his detractors, McCarthy served as director until 1943 when Arthur Sullivan, also a Perkins alumnus, succeeded him.

Like McCarthy, Joseph Walton Tuttle, Jr. was blinded as the result of an accident—a gunshot that took his sight at the age of 15. After his accident, Tuttle spent a year at Perkins before going on to graduate from Framingham South High School. Having earned degrees from Bowdoin College and Harvard Law School, Tuttle practiced law in Framingham from 1920 until his death in 1977. He also served as Framingham's Representative in the House from 1931 to 1936. 

 A man sews a striped mattress that matches the ticking fabric of his apron. At the back right are two stacks of pillows. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy17-history-and-happenings-jul-image-001.jpg> 

As a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, William McCarthy, who also owned and operated a piano shop, spoke out against the closure of the Cambridge industrial shops for the blind in 1923. In 1924 the House passed a bill to reopen the Cambridge shops. In this undated photo, a man sews a striped mattress at the Perkins workshop in South Boston.

While McCarthy and Tuttle were the only legislators during their respective terms that were blind, 1945 saw three Perkins alumni serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. That year Republicans Richard L. Hull and George Greene were joined in the House by Democrat James Edward Hannon, who graduated from Perkins in 1939. Hannon left the House in 1952 and went on to serve as a special justice in Lee District Court. In 1965 Judge Hannon presided over a littering case involving singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie. Guthrie referenced Hannon in "Alice's Restaurant Massacree"—the title track of his 1967 album, Alice's Restaurant. Hannon also played the blind judge in the 1969 movie "Alice's Restaurant."

Though they won the September primaries, Greene and Hull failed to win reelection in 1958. A year later fellow Perkins alumnus Gregory Benjamin Khachadoorian joined the legislator where he served until 1970 as the Representative from Arlington. A Republican, Khachadoorian was also an active member of the National Federation of the Blind and sponsored a number of bills related to blindness and eye safety. In 1964 Khachadoorian, who was blinded in an accident as a teenager, authored the Massachusetts School-Eye Safety Law, which provides that "safety eye devices must be worn in all shops and labs in all private, public, parochial schools, and colleges and universities in Massachusetts." This landmark bill was the first requiring safety glasses in the United States.

Like their predecessors who went on to careers in politics, students at Perkins today are encouraged to advocate for themselves and actively participate in government. From  <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=5C712ReD0V2oztHyuCRfAw> attending Student Government Day at the Massachusetts State House to inviting their legislators to campus, students at Perkins are demonstrating that they have what it takes to be productive and active members of their communities.

 <http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=Ki3Ee3qoZR8Gd1frL0hSyA> Read About Legislators' Day at PerkinsRead About Legislators' Day 

 Portrait of Dr. Edward J. Waterhouse and Massachusetts Governor John A. Volpe <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy17-history-and-happenings-jul-image-002.jpg> 

 Perkins students Jonah and Cullen speaking with State Representative Joe McKenna of Webster at the Massachusetts State House. <https://secure2.convio.net/psb/images/content/pagebuilder/fy16-history-and-happenings-jul-image-003.jpg> 

Perkins on Beacon Hill

Then & Now

On the left,In the top image, Massachusetts Governor John A. Volpe (left) shakes hands with Dr. Edward J. Waterhouse at the Governor's office on Beacon Hill. Waterhouse was Perkins' fifth director and led the school from 1951 to 1971. The photograph, which was taken on July 28, 1961, commemorates Waterhouse's reappointment to the Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Division of the Blind, which he had already served on for five years.

On the right,In the bottom image, Perkins students Jonah (left) and Cullen speaking with State Representative Joe McKenna of Webster during the 2015 Blind Legislative Information and Networking Day (B.L.I.N.D.) at the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill. The B.L.I.N.D. day is an annual advocacy event to encourage state legislators to fund critical services for the blind and visually impaired. Jonah and Cullen took the opportunity to speak with Representative McKenna bout driverless cars—a technology that could make traveling much easier for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Give the gift of a brighter future

Since 1829, Perkins School for the Blind has been committed to helping children and young adults who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired. Your gift today will fund the teachers, training and technology that help people with a visual impairment prepare for all of life's opportunities.

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The Perkins Archives include collections related to the history of the education of the blind and deafblind, institutional archives, and correspondence of significant figures in the school's history, such as Helen Keller, Annie Sullivan and Samuel Gridley Howe.

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