Gerald M.Kass

Gerald M.Kass

Dr. Jernigan and Gerald Kass

Gerald M. Kass

From the Editor: Gerald Kass is the

Executive Vice President of the Jewish Braille Institute of America. The October, 1998,

issues of The Jewish Braille Review and the JBI Voice, the organization's flagship

publications, were both dedicated to the memory of Dr. Jernigan. The "JBI

Corner," written by Gerald Kass (as he told Dr. Maurer) "in tribute to Dr.

Jernigan's gifts of mind and spirit," is reprinted here.

JBI Corner

Dear Reader:

Earlier this week a great and historic leader in

the emancipation of blind persons passed on. There are those who adored Dr. Kenneth

Jernigan and those who found controversy with him, but none would deny that he gave

character and direction to the blind civil rights movement in America and beyond. He

believed with a firm faith that blindness was not a way of life but rather a human

characteristic which for reasons of public attitude and access deprived many of their

present rights and future hope.

Kenneth Jernigan was a golden-tongued orator. His

banquet speeches at the annual conventions of the National Federation of the Blind were

eloquent blueprints of his vision of the future— one in which blindness would no

longer define educational possibilities, employment possibilities, and citizen

participation. I well remember many years ago when Dr. Jernigan invited me to Baltimore to

the city which at that time was the new home of the National Federation of the Blind. I

was not only impressed with what I saw but also with the details of how every square inch

of its enormous building would be used to advance the well-being of blind people. Later

that evening, over dinner at his home, when the conversation became more personal, I

marveled at his strength of purpose, graciousness, and enormous sense of humor in the

midst of so many pressures. Ken Jernigan enjoyed being the host, and his guests enjoyed

him.

The Jewish Braille Institute joins all those who

deeply care about the future of blind people in paying tribute to his life and now his

enduring memory.

Sincerely,

Gerald M. Kass

Executive Vice President

The Jewish Braille Institute of America

[PHOTO DESCRIPTION: On these two pages is an

array of nine pictures of Dr. Jernigan reading Braille. The caption for each picture is

the year in which it was taken. In some pictures he stands, and in some he sits. In some

he is serious, and in some he laughs. His hair style changes, but in all he is wearing a

suit and tie. The dates of the pictures are as follows: 1968, 1970, 1975 (2 pictures),

1979, 1981, 1991, 1993, and 1996. CAPTION: For Dr. Jernigan, Braille was an integral part

of every day. Through the years he used it to do research, to teach, and to entertain.]