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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Ohio,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>In 2018, our National Federation of the Blind National President, Mark Riccobono coined the 2018 National Convention as “INCLUSIVITY, DIVERSITY, AND SOCIAL CONDUCT”. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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 . <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Watch for their life changing edifications in March and continue reading below!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><h3>Blindness and Slavery<o:p></o:p></h3><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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 <i>Le Rodeur</i> illustrates the far extreme of cruelty to which the blind were subjected. <i><o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>Le Rodeur</i> 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.”<sup>8 <o:p></o:p></sup></p><p class=MsoNormal><sup><o:p> </o:p></sup></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>“Overboard with them, shipmates!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Cutlass and dirk were plied;<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Fettered and blind, one after one<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Plunged down from the vessel's side.<sup>9</sup><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<sup>10</sup> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.”<sup>11</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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 <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin,</i> 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'.”<sup>12</sup> 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.<sup>13<o:p></o:p></sup></p><p class=MsoNormal><sup><o:p> </o:p></sup></p><p class=MsoNormal>Captivating, isn’t it!!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Suzanne Hartfield-Turner, President<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>NFBOH-Cleveland Chapter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Cell: (216) 990-6199<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>ListServe: (641) 715-3900<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Ex: 582705<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A: PO Box 141077<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Cleveland, Ohio 44114<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>E: <a href="mailto:President.NFB.ClevelandOhio@Gmail.com">President.NFB.ClevelandOhio@Gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Please visit and take a moment to like our Facebook Page!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://m.facebook.com/NationalFederationOfTheBlindOfOhioClevelandChapter/">https://m.facebook.com/NationalFederationOfTheBlindOfOhioClevelandChapter/</a> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>