https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bT2YYwXdFUvEblwrmAlzV?si=dd93a94586fd4290
Today in 1914, the birthday of Bessie Blount Griffin, who made her mark as an inventor, though saying that really only scratches the surface of her story.
While in school in Virginia, a teacher scolded the youngster for writing with her left hand.
So she learned to write with her right hand, and her feet, and her teeth!?!
It may have been defiant but it turned out to be fortuitous, too: after going to college in New Jersey, Griffin started working as a physical therapist with veterans of World War II, many of whom had lost limbs.
She taught her patients how to write the same way she’d taught herself, and then went on to invent a device that enabled these veterans to feed themselves.
Her device, officially known as “Portable Receptacle Support,” was a machine that pushed food up one bite at a time through a tube that patients could activate by mouth.
She offered it to the US government, but they wanted to stick with nurses feeding patients by hand.
The French government, however, was interested, and she gave them the rights to her creation for free.
She said she wanted to make the point that Black inventors “that a black woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind.”
Griffin created a number of other medical devices before making a big career change: she became a handwriting expert who consulted with police departments (including, for a time, Scotland Yard).
She also wrote for newspapers, and she traveled across the country speaking about her careers and her inventions.
Her hobby outside of work? Interpretive dance.
Bessie Blount Griffin lived to age 95, and never stopped coming up with ideas and projects and passions to pursue.
As she once told a newspaper, “I’m gonna live just for spite, ’cause my work is not done.”
The Pop Central Museum in Paris has a collection of cars from movies and TV shows, but the institution has decided to move in a different direction.
So it’s auctioning off the whole collection this week, and there are no reserves.
That means if you feel like buying me that replica of the van from The A-Team, go for it.
BESSIE BLOUNT GRIFFIN (1914-2009) (Blackpast)
Movie Car Museum Liquidating 50 Famous Vehicles at No Reserve (The Drive)
