Bessie Blount Griffin
Born	(1914-11-24)November 24, 1914 Hickory, Virginia, US
Died	December 30, 2009(2009-12-30) (aged 95) Newfield, New Jersey, US
Alma mater	Panzer College Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital
Known for	Assistive devices
Scientific career
Fields	Inventor, physical therapist and nurse

Bessie Virginia Griffin, better known as Bessie Blount^[1] (November 24, 1914 – December 30, 2009), was an American writer, nurse, physical therapist, inventor and forensic scientist.

Early life

[edit]

Bessie Blount Griffin was born on November 24, 1914^[2] in the Hickory, Virginia community of Princess Anne County (now known as the city of Chesapeake).^[3]Bessie '

Education

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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 to educate former slaves, their children, and Native Americans.^[4]^[2]

In an interview with The Virginian, Griffin recalled that her school "didn't have textbooks. [They] 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. 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.^[4]

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, where Blount remained self-taught and obtained her GED. She attended Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital - the only Black-owned hospital in the state - and enrolled in a nursing program, in Newark, New Jersey.^[4] 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 physical therapist.^[3]^[2]

Physical therapist career

[edit]

During her career as a physical therapist, after World War II, many soldiers returned as amputees 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”.^[2]

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.^[5]

Inventions - assistive devices

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While working at the Bronx Hospital in New York, at thirty-seven years old, Blount invented an electric self-feeding apparatus for amputees. She used plastic, boiling water to mold the material, a file, ice pick, hammer, and some dishes to create a prototype of her invention.^[2] 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.^[5] This allowed patients to control how much they would eat without assistance from others. A part of the device was patented in 1948.^[6]

The American Veterans Administration (VA) declined Blount's invention, so in 1952 she licensed it freely to the French government. She remarked in an interview with the Afro-American that her accomplishment showed that "a colored woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind".^[7] Though more modern, slimmer devices have been invented since 1948, Blount is remembered for pioneering the first electric device for feeding amputees.^[6] She 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 U.S. patent 2,550,554.^[4]

During her career, Blount was a physical therapist to Thomas Edison's son, Theodore Miller Edison. Blount and Edison became close friends. During that time she invented a disposable emesis basin.^[8] The basin was a kidney-shaped disposable cardboard dish made out of flour, water, and newspaper that was baked until the material was hard.^[9] 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.^[4]

Forensic science career

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In 1969, Blount embarked on a second career, in law enforcement, pursuing forensic science research for police departments in New Jersey and Virginia.^[5] 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, Virginia 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 for advanced studies in graphology.^[4] 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.^[10]

On returning, Blount started her own forensic science consulting business and ran it for twenty-years, using her forensic experience to examine documents and slave papers from the pre-civil war. Blount operated that business until the age of 83.^[5] Her verification of authenticity was also used on Native American treaties with the United States.^[2]

Media appearances

[edit]

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 Philadelphia 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."^[5]

Blount wrote a featured columns for the African-American newspapers, the N.J. Herald News and the Philadelphia Independent ^[11] 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.^[2]

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.^[6]

Honors and awards

[edit]

Blount was honored in 1992 by The American Academy of Physical Therapy, an African American focused physical therapy organization. ^{[citation needed]}

She was honored as one of the Virginia Women in History in 2005.^[12]

In 2019, The New York Times published a belated obituary for her, as part of Overlooked No More.^[6]

Personal life

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In 1951, Blount married Thomas Griffin. They had one son, Philip.^[13]

Death

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Blount died at age 95 on December 30, 2009 at her home in Newfield, New Jersey.^[1]

References

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^ ^a ^b "Obituary: Bessie Griffin", The Star-Ledger, January 8, 2010. Accessed November 24, 2021. "Bessie Griffin, better known as Bessie Blount, died at her Newfield, New Jersey, home, died on December 30, 2009, at 95 years old."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Maggs, Sam (2016). Wonder Women : 25 innovators, inventors, and trailblazers who changed history. Philadelphia: Quirk Books. ISBN 9781594749261.
^ ^a ^b "Bessie Blount Griffin". Virginia Women in History. 2005. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kelly, Kate (2016-02-11). "Bessie Blount Griffin, Physical Therapist, and Inventor - America Comes Alive". America Comes Alive. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Bessie Blount | Electronic Feeding Device". Lemelson-MIT Program. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Overlooked No More: Bessie Blount, Nurse, Wartime Inventor and Handwriting Expert". The New York Times. 2019-03-27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
^ McNeil, Leila, "The Woman Who Made a Device to Help Disabled Veterans Feed Themselves—and Gave It Away for Free", Smithsonian magazine, 2018-10-17, Retrieved 2020-04-14
^ Mary Bellis. "Biography of Bessie Blount, American Inventor". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
^ Colt, Samuel (2008). Inventors and inventions. New York: Marshall Cavendish. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-7614-7764-8.
^ "History has overlooked these 8 women scientists — but not anymore". ideas.ted.com. 2021-03-18. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
^ "[Women's History Month] Meet Bessie Blount Griffin, inventor of electronic feeding tube". Face2Face Africa. 2018-03-03. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
^ "Virginia Women in History Past Honorees". lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
^ Baker, Benjamin (2018-09-22). "Bessie Blount Griffin (1914-2009)". Retrieved 2020-03-26.

{{BlackPast. (2010, June 2). Bessie Blount Griffin (1914–2009). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/bessie-blount-griffin-1914-2009/ Library of Virginia. (n.d.). Bessie Blount Griffin. Virginia Changemakers. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/169}}

Virginia Women in History

2000–2009

2000	Ella Graham Agnew Mary Julia Baldwin Margaret Brent Willa Cather Jennie Dean Sarah Lee Fain Ellen Glasgow Dolley Madison Pocahontas Clementina Rind Lila Meade Valentine Maggie L. Walker
2001	Rosa Dixon Bowser Elizabeth Campbell Thomasina Jordan Elizabeth Keckley Theresa Pollak Sally Louisa Tompkins Elizabeth Van Lew Edith Wilson
2002	Rebecca Adamson Janie Porter Barrett Patsy Cline Hannah Lee Corbin Christine Darden Lillian Ward McDaniel Mary-Cooke Branch Munford Jessie M. Rattley
2003	Nancy Astor Pearl Bailey Anna Whitehead Bodeker Mary Ann Elliott Annabelle Ravenscroft Gibson Jenkins Frances Benjamin Johnston Anne Dobie Peebles Annie Bannister Spencer
2004	Grace Arents Cockacoeske Katie Couric Anne Makemie Holden Mary Draper Ingles Sarah Garland Boyd Jones Annie Snyder Martha Washington
2005	Clara Leach Adams-Ender Caitlyn Day Bessie Blount Griffin Mary Johnston Barbara Johns Powell Lee Smith Mary Belvin Wade
2006	Kate Waller Barrett Marie Majella Berg John-Geline MacDonald Bowman Benita Fitzgerald-Brown Grace Hopper Mary Tyler Freeman Cheek McClenahan G. Anne Richardson Mary Virginia Terhune
2007	Mary Willing Byrd Maybelle Carter Laura Lu Scherer Copenhaver Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell Mary Jeffery Galt Sheila Crump Johnson Opossunoquonuske Camilla Williams
2008	Frances Culpeper Berkeley Lucy Goode Brooks Providencia Velazquez Gonzalez Elizabeth B. Lacy Sharyn McCrumb P. Buckley Moss Isabel Wood Rogers Edith Turner
2009	Pauline Adams Caroline Bradby Cook Claudia Emerson Drew Gilpin Faust Joann Hess Grayson Mary Randolph Virginia Randolph Mary Sue Terry

2010–2019

2010	Mollie Holmes Adams Ethel Furman Edythe C. Harrison Janis Martin Kate Mason Rowland Jean Miller Skipwith Queena Stovall Marian Van Landingham
2011	Lucy Addison Eleanor Bontecou Emily White Fleming Pearl Fu Lillian Lincoln Bessie Niemeyer Marshall Felicia Warburg Rogan Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell
2012	Susie May Ames Monica Beltran Christiana Burdett Campbell Betty Sams Christian Elizabeth Peet McIntosh Orelena Hawks Puckett Judith Shatin Alice Jackson Stuart
2013	Mary C. Alexander Louise Archer Elizabeth Ambler Brent Carrington Ann Compton JoAnn Falletta Cleo Powell Inez Pruitt Eva Mae Fleming Scott
2014	Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford Naomi Silverman Cohn Elizabeth Ashburn Duke Rachel Findlay Christine Herter Kendall Mildred Loving Debbie Ryan Stoner Winslett
2015	Nancy Melvina Caldwell Nikki Giovanni Ruth Coles Harris Dorothy Shoemaker McDiarmid Rebekah Dulaney Peterkin Vivian Pinn Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith Karenne Wood
2016	Flora D. Crittenden Mary Elizabeth Nottingham Day Sarah A. Gray Edwilda Gustava Allen Isaac Katherine Johnson Ana Ines Barragan King Betty Masters Meyera Oberndorf
2017	Doris Crouse-Mays Corazon Sandoval Foley Nora Houston Cynthia Eppes Hudson Mary Virginia Jones Louise Harrison McCraw Undine Smith Moore Martha Rollins
2018	Gaye Todd Adegbalola Rita Dove Isabella Gibbons Marii Kyogoku Hasegawa Kay Coles James Barbara Kingsolver Mary Aydelotte Rice Marshall Temperance Flowerdew Yeardley
2019	Sharifa Alkhateeb Queen Ann Claudia Lane Dodson India Hamilton Georgeanna Seegar Jones Ona Maria Judge Lucy Randolph Mason Kate Peters Sturgill

2020–2029

2020	Pauline Adams Fannie Bayly King Elizabeth Dabney Langhorne Lewis Sophie G. Meredith Josephine Mathes Norcom Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon Ora Brown Stokes Lila Meade Valentine Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker
2021	Krista N. Jones Lerla G. Joseph Lillie Louise Boone Lucas Evelyn Reid Syphax