[NFBOH-Cleveland] Sharing Cleveland's Initiative

Mon Feb 25 22:59:45 UTC 2019

Ohio,

In 2018, our National Federation of the Blind National President, Mark
Riccobono coined the 2018 National Convention as "INCLUSIVITY, DIVERSITY,
AND SOCIAL CONDUCT". 

In keeping with his consciousness on Diversity and Inclusion, The Cleveland
Chapter celebrated Louis Braille Birthday in January and is currently
highlighting Black History Month this February.  And now Coming in March, we
will highlight Women in the movement who have made a significant  impact in
the National Federation of the Blind. These powerful leaders will represent
the organization Nationally, Locally and Ohio State wide. We will start with
President Emeritus, Barbara Pierce In the first week. 

The goal is To ensure that Cleveland is a complete entity and informed about
our historical makeup as members in the organization. Therefore, Cleveland
has been introduced to several African-American leaders; Anil Lewis, Dr.
Carolyn Peters, Alphonso Smith, Ron Brown and Shawn Callaway. If you would
like to read their compelling and inspiring bio's, they are on Cleveland's
Facebook Page and ListServe. However, you can find our Affiliate president,
Richard Payne's bio there as well or attached to this email.

So, I will share in March Women who has set the ground work as those who
were featured in January and February for the Cleveland Chapter. We will
also make an effort to highlight other important months in 2019 and its
inclusiveness, such as, Veterans, LGBTQ and others. 

For your historical National Federation of the Blind digest, I would like to
share an article that has been inserted below, from the  book "Building The
Lives We Want" titled Blindness and Slavery;. Hence,  rounding-out the
celebration of Black History Month in the National Federation of the Blind .

Again, Cleveland each week, you will come familiar with a NFB female leader.
Some you will know, but others you may not. Hopefully, you will have an
opportunity to meet them in the future. However, I can assure you that their
stories will be motivating and with humility.  

Watch for their life changing edifications in March and continue reading
below!

Blindness and Slavery

The young people who managed to enroll in the handful of European schools
for the blind in the early nineteenth century were among the fortunate few.
For the most part, blind people lived in poverty, pitied and shunned. The
story of Le Rodeur illustrates the far extreme of cruelty to which the blind
were subjected. 

Le Rodeur was a French slave ship that set sail from Africa with its human
cargo in 1819. Packed into the ship's hold, with barely enough food and
water to keep them alive, the enslaved Africans were highly vulnerable to
disease. After two weeks at sea a contagious eye infection broke out on
board, leaving thirty-nine of the Africans totally blind. The captain
realized that his cargo was now worth almost nothing. However, it was fully
insured. The insurance company would compensate for any captives who
perished on the voyage. In a letter to his mother, one crew member described
what happened: "This morning the captain called all hands on deck, Negroes
and all. . . . The mate picked out thirty-nine Negroes who were completely
blind, and, with the assistance of the rest of the crew, tied a piece of
ballast to the legs of each. The miserable wretches were then thrown into
the sea."8 

News of the atrocity helped to fuel the abolition movement in the United
States. The story was repeated from speakers' platforms and in antislavery
pamphlets. In 1834 the poet John Greenleaf Whittier related the horrific
tale in his poem "The Slave-Ships."

"Overboard with them, shipmates!"

Cutlass and dirk were plied;

Fettered and blind, one after one

Plunged down from the vessel's side.9

What was the fate of enslaved children who were born blind, or of enslaved
persons who lost their vision later in life? As one abolitionist pamphlet
stated, "The blind, lunatics, and idiots all would be a tax on the slave
master. It would be for his interest to shorten their days."10 

Relatives of the blind piano prodigy Tom Wiggins, born on a Georgia
plantation in 1842, later recalled, "Charity [Tom's mother] always carried
the newborn with her because the whites had threatened to kill him because
he was blind."11 Wiggins' biographer, Deirdre O'Connell, points out that in
slave narratives, children with disabilities are notable for their absence.
She postulates that few were permitted to survive.

Elderly or disabled captives were referred to as "refuse slaves." Refuse
slaves sold cheap, if they sold at all; many were simply abandoned to die.
In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe described the glee of a slave
trader who managed to palm off a blind boy on an unsuspecting customer: "I
thought there warn't no harm in my jest passing him along, and not sayin'
nothin'."12 Blind people who survived in the slave system worked the same as
their peers. They husked corn, dug potatoes, churned butter, and performed
myriad other tasks. One antebellum memoir describes an enslaved blind man
who drove a horse-drawn cart to the cotton fields every morning and served
breakfast to the laborers.13

Captivating, isn't it!!

Suzanne Hartfield-Turner, President

NFBOH-Cleveland Chapter

Cell: (216) 990-6199

ListServe: (641) 715-3900

Ex: 582705

A: PO Box 141077

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

E: President.NFB.ClevelandOhio at Gmail.com
<mailto:President.NFB.ClevelandOhio at Gmail.com> 

Please visit and take a moment to like our Facebook Page!

https://m.facebook.com/NationalFederationOfTheBlindOfOhioClevelandChapter/ 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.

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