[NFBNJ] Black History Month Bio Orange NJ

[joe ruffalo]

Greetings to all!
The Blind History Lady has offered the following information highlighting a 
person that resided in Orange, New Jersey and the steps he took to transform 
his dreams into reality!
Please share with others.

Warmly,
Joe
______

The Mentor  .  Hello Blind History Lady Fans; February as you know is Black 
History Month. In our Blind Family Tree we have too many ancestors of color 
who’s trail has been swept away by time. But that does not mean that we do 
not have black and blind ancestors to celebrate. This months profile is of a 
man who enriched the lives of many as they enriched his life. He was 
fortunate to be mentored by his hero’s and became a hero to many whom he 
mentored.    Meet John Langston Gwaltney, born September 25, 1928 in Orange 
New Jersey, the son of a merchant seaman, Stanley and Mabel Gwaltney. 
John was blind from birth. From John’s early life, Mabel tried everything 
that she could to see if there was a cure for her son’s blindness. She took 
him to many doctors, chiropractors, faith healers and such who told her 
there was nothing they could do. She turned to herbal medicine and still no 
improvement in her son’s vision.    His mother Mabel and oldest sister Lucy 
had the most influence over his life. Mabel relied on the community and 
family to help her raise her five children. Their black community was 
close-knit and supportive of each other through businesses and church.  She 
led by example in teaching her son to observe, question and seek out 
knowledge.    Lucy read to him from a variety of books. She taught him what 
a campfire was by lighting a fire in the great iron pot in the middle of 
their living room. She taught him how to make cheese biscuts and even 
perfume.    Being black was one handicap, but to be blind as well, that left 
few doors open to him. The only blind occupations that his mother thought a 
black man would be accepted at were music and ministry. To that end, she 
taught him at home from a young age. She cut out print letters and objects 
from cardboard to teach him to read.    There was always a piano in the 
house. She encouraged him to play every day.   When he was 8, she introduced 
him to wood carving. Mable handed him a knife and a stick of wood. An Uncle 
was an excellent wood sculptor and took John under his wing. Family and 
friends introduced him to everything tactile for him to study and transform 
into art. This became a life-long passion for John.    At. school age, Mable 
wanted him to stay near her, but to get a good education. She wrote to 
Eleanor Roosevelt  and pleaded her son’s case. Mrs. Roosevelt who was a 
proponent of the education of the disabled in their local public school, 
helped John enter classes near their home.   He got hooked on geography. Two 
elementary teachers in particular encouraged his studies of the world. His 
father told him vivid stories of the many people and places he’d seen as a 
seaman. At night John would go to bed dreaming of the adventures he would 
have when he explored for himself these far-away lands.    Each week John 
would listen to CBS’s School of the Air. One episode had a woman, Margaret 
Mead, a famous anthropologist as their guest. Her presentation took root in 
his brain and he began to dream of becoming an anthropologist.    After 
graduating from High School, he enrolled at Upsala College in East Orange 
during the fall of 1947. He graduated with a degree in History in 1952. 
With scholarships in hand and some assistance through the New Jersey 
Commission for the Blind, John moved to New York to study for a Master’s 
Degree in Political Science at the New School of Social Research. He 
completed his master’s in 1957. His siblings acted as readers for him when 
working on his vast research. Brother Robert was helpful in finding funding 
for some of the equipment John would need for John’s expeditions.   In 1956, 
John married Judith Jacobson. She too became a reader and supporter in his 
career. That first year of their marriage was John’s first field research 
project in Mexico. Judith went along with her husband as a research 
assistant.    Although he wanted to keep on with school, he needed to earn a 
living too. He secured a teaching job at the Henry George School of Social 
Sciences. This high school attracted students wishing to pursue careers in 
the social Sciences.  It was here that he first learned to sharpen his 
teaching skills.      In 1959 he enrolled at Columbia University in New York 
to begin his doctoral degree. Although he had excellent professors at 
Columbia, he learned much from Dr. Margaret Mead, his instructor that most 
left an impact on him.   Mead was the woman who had begun his thirst for 
anthropology. Now here she was in person, working with him and most 
supportive as well! She helped him plan his major research project. She did 
not stand in his way because of his blindness.   The project was the study 
of blindness in the Indians who lived in the village of San Padro Yolox in 
southwestern Mexico. The village was not accessible by auto. The inhabitants 
spoke the ancient tongues of their Chinantec ancestors, not Spanish. The 
village was set in an area with rough terrain, steep hills, valleys and 
drastic climate changes.   Having done his research on the area early on, he 
knew he needed a few more skills under his belt He needed to walk or ride a 
horse to the village and other places he wanted to go. He took horseback 
riding lessons and had some extra strong metal canes made up for himself to 
take along.    His year’s study focused on how the village maintained its 
social order when so many of its members were blind. With a grant from the 
National Institute on Health, he had almost all of his expenditures covered. 
In 1966 he returned to New York and received his Doctorate from Columbia in 
1967. The thesis was entitled “Role of Expectations in Blindness in a Oaxaca 
Village”. The thesis won him the Ansley Dissertation Award in the fall of 
1967.    He took a position as instructor at the State University in 
Cortland in New York where he was promoted to associate professor in 1969. 
In 1970 his book The Thrice Sky Accommodations to blindness and other 
Disasters in a Mexican Community was published.     In 1971 he accepted a 
professorship at Syracuse University where he focused his attention on the 
black man in the United States. Through interviews and research, he set out 
to demonstrate that there is a black culture. The culmination of his 
research was his book Drylongso, published in 1981. In the book were many 
stories of the average black man or woman. Through his book he hoped that 
the white public would start to see the average black person as just like 
them and not the negative images portrayed on the nightly news and media. 
In 1986, he published another book entitled the Dissenters. This book was a 
collection of interviews with revolutionaries from all walks of life. The 
premise was that the Dissenters helped the general public stay in touch with 
reality. The book was nominated for a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 1967. 
John retired from teaching in 1989.  During his career, he also found time 
to work on projects for the Smithsonian, The New York State Creative Artist 
Public Service, The New York Council for the Humanities and several National 
Science organizations.    Much more can be read about him in a book 
entitled; The Second Generation of African-American Pioneers in Anthropology 
Edited by Ira E Harrison and Deborah Johnson-Simon.     If you would like to 
schedule a presentation contact me at theblindhistorylady at gmail.com You can 
read more of my Books at  https://www.smashwords.com 
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