Bessie Virginia Blount, also known as Bessie Blount Griffin, (November 24, 1914 – December 30, 2009) was a

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

physical therapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

, inventor and

forensic scientist Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

Early life

Bessie Blount Griffin was born on November 24, 1914, to George Woodard and Mary Elizabeth. A native of Virginia, Blount was born in the Hickory, Virginia community, in Princess Anne County (now known as the city of Chesapeake).

Education

Blount attended Diggs Chapel - a one-room schoolhouse built by Black members of the local community - in Hickory, Virginia. The school was built after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

to educate former slaves, their children, and Native Americans. In an interview with the Virginian, Griffin recalled that her school “didn’t have textbooks.

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later got them from the white schools.” Students that attended Diggs Chapel learned to read by quoting verses from the Bible. While attending Diggs Chapel, Blount's teacher reprimanded her for writing with her left hand by rapping her knuckles, a form of discipline used at the time to teach students proper writing etiquette. Blount took this as a challenge to be

ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...

. Even though her right hand became her primary writing hand, she maintained her ability to write with her left hand as well. She also taught herself to write without the use of her hands by holding a pencil with her teeth and feet. This skill was useful in her career later on, helping her teach others to operate without one or more limbs. After the sixth grade, there were no more educational resources for African American children in her community, forcing Blount to stop her education. The family then relocated north to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, where Blount remained self-taught and obtained her

GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

. She attended Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital - the only Black-owned hospital in the state - and enrolled in a nursing program, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. After obtaining her Nursing degree, she continued her education at Panzer College of Physical Education and Hygiene in East Orange, New Jersey and became a

. In 2008, Bessie Griffin returned home to Hickory to memorialize the significance of her primary school, which had been burned to the ground in 1932. No records of the school system were found before 1913. She intended to build a museum and library on the grounds in memory of those who had studied there in the decades past. Unfortunately, her project was never completed as Griffin died the following year.

Physical therapist career

During her career as a physical therapist, after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, many soldiers returned as

amputees Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indivi ...

after being wounded in combat. As a part of Blount's physical therapy exercises, she taught veterans who had lost the ability to use their hands, new ways to perform everyday tasks by substituting the use of their teeth and feet. She would tell them, “You’re not crippled, only crippled in your mind”. Her ambidexterity and ability to perform tasks with her mouth and feet helped her relate to her patients out of surgery. As she worked each day, Blount observed that one of the biggest challenges for amputees was eating without assistance from other people. A crucial task for many was to relearn the ability to feed themselves. Regaining this skill would restore a degree of independence and increase their self-esteem. As a nurse and physical therapist, she also cared for and worked closely with Theodore Edison, son of famed inventor

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

Inventions - assistive devices

While working at the Bronx Hospital in New York, at thirty-seven years old, Blount invented an electric self-feeding apparatus for

. She used plastic, boiling water to mold the material, a file, ice pick, hammer, and some dishes to create a prototype of her invention. The device had a tube to transport individual bites of food to the patient's mouth. The patients would bite down on the tube and then the next portion of food would dispense to the mouthpiece from the attached machine. This allowed patients to control how much they’d want to eat without assistance from others. A part of the device was patented in 1948. The American

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

(VA) declined Blount's invention, so in 1952 she licensed it freely to the

French government The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who i ...

. She remarked in an interview with the ''

Afro-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

'' that her accomplishment showed that "a colored woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind" McNeil, Leila,
"The Woman Who Made a Device to Help Disabled Veterans Feed Themselves—and Gave It Away for Free"
''

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'', 2018-10-17, Retrieved 2020-04-14 She also devised a neck frame for an injured or ill patient, that holds a bowl or cup close to their face as a "portable receptacle support" and in April 1951, Blount was granted . During her career, Blount was a physical therapist to Thomas Edison's son,

Theodore Miller Edison Theodore Miller Edison (July 10, 1898 – November 24, 1992) was an American businessman, inventor, and environmentalist. He was the fourth son and youngest child of inventor Thomas Edison, and founder of Calibron Industries, Inc. He was the ...

. Blount and Edison became close friends. During that time she invented the emesis basin. The basin was a kidney-shaped disposable cardboard dish made out of flour, water, and newspaper that was baked until the material was hard. Once again, the U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) showed no interest in Blount's invention. She sold the rights to her invention to a company in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Her design is still used today in Belgian hospitals. Modern, slimmer devices have been invented since 1948, but Blount is remembered for pioneering the first electric device for feeding amputees.

Forensic science career

In 1969, Blount embarked on a second career, in

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education ...

, pursuing forensic science research for

police departments The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

in New Jersey and Virginia. During her previous patient therapy, while demonstrating ambidextrous functions, or writing with teeth or feet, she had begun to see a correlation between physical health and writing characteristics. From her observations, she saw how a person's handwriting reflected their state of health. This discovery inspired her to publish a technical paper on "medical graphology." After the publication of the paper, Blount's career in forensics quickly grew. By the late 1960s she was assisting police departments in

Norfolk, VA Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Bea ...

and Vineland, New Jersey, and later joined the Portsmouth, Virginia police department as a chief examiner until 1972, when the state of Virginia centralized its document examination. In 1977, the Metropolitan Police ( Scotland Yard) Forensic Science Laboratory invited Blount to join them in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

for advanced studies in graphology. At sixty-three years old, she was the first Black woman to be accepted into the advanced studies at the Document Division of Scotland Yard. On returning, Blount started her own forensic science

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

business and ran it for twenty-years, using her forensic experience to examine documents and slave papers from the pre-

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Blount operated that business until the age of 83. Her verification of authenticity was also used on Native American treaties with the United States.

Media appearances

Blount made numerous attempts to interest the VA in her inventions but they declined, despite the devices' evident beneficial impact. To promote the inventions, she appeared on the

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...

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television show '' The Big Idea'' in 1953. Blount was the first African-American woman to be on the show. No transcript is available, but it is reported she repeated that she had proved "A black woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind." Blount wrote a featured columns for the African-American newspapers, the ''N.J. Herald News'' and the '' Philadelphia Independent'' covering everything from Fidel Castro’s visit to Harlem to Lyndon Johnson’s presidential nomination. She joined the NAACP to do public relations work and wrote several medical papers that were published in respected journals covering “medical graphology” and the relationship between a person’s health and their handwriting. In 2008 she undertook but was unable to complete one more project: founding a museum on the grounds of her old Virginia schoolhouse which had burned down, to commemorate the contributions of those who had studied there.

Honors and awards

Blount was honored in 1992 by The American Academy of Physical Therapy, an African American focused physical therapy organization.

Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of th ...

in 2005.

Personal life

In 1951, Blount married Thomas Griffin. They had one son, Philip.

Death

Blount died at the age of 95 on December 30, 2009, at her home in

Newfield, New Jersey Newfield is a borough in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 1,553,"Obituary: Bessie Griffin"
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'', January 8, 2010. Accessed November 24, 2021. "Bessie Griffin, better known as Bessie Blount, died at her Newfield, N.J., home, died on Dec. 30, 2009, at 95 years old."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blount Griffin, Bessie 1914 births 2009 deaths African-American inventors African-American scientists American forensic scientists Women forensic scientists American nurses American women nurses Women inventors Academics from Virginia People from Gloucester County, New Jersey 20th-century American inventors Panzer College alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women