Profile of a Trailblazer

Profile of a Trailblazer

Tony Mannino

Profile of a Trailblazer

by Anthony Mannino

From the Editor: Tony Mannino, as he was

known to his friends, was executive secretary of the American Brotherhood for the Blind in

the 1960's. In February of 1963 he wrote a sparkling profile of Kenneth Jernigan in the

Blind American, the temporary successor to the Braille Monitor. It provides interesting

detail about Dr. Jernigan's early life. Here it is:

Late in 1962, at the Iowa state budget hearings

held by the newly-elected governor, one agency head presented the reports and estimates of

his department so convincingly that on the following day his presentation was prominently

featured by news reporters who had attended the hearings. The official who had so

impressed his listeners was Kenneth Jernigan, director of the Iowa Commission for the

Blind, delivering the annual report and budget proposals of the commission. The

achievements and plans to which he had given such forceful expression were the climax of a

concentrated effort in accomplishing the formidable task accepted by this blind leader in

the field of rehabilitation.

On May 6, 1958, a blind man was asked to assume

direction of the programs for the blind of an entire state. After many years of efforts by

the organized blind to gain consultation and a voice in programs for the blind, it fell to

Ken Jernigan to face the double test of proving his own ability as well as the soundness

of the philosophy of the organized blind with respect to rehabilitation and related

services.

When Ken stepped into the job, Iowa was dead last

in the nation in rehabilitation of the blind. Today it stands in the front ranks of the

states in this essential work—a leap forward accomplished in just four years under

Ken's direction. His philosophy proclaims that the real problem of blindness is not loss

of eyesight but rather the misunderstanding and lack of information which accompany it. If

a blind person has proper training and an opportunity to make use of it, blindness for him

is only a physical nuisance. On the basis of his firm belief in these guiding precepts,

Jernigan has rapidly built a state program geared to independence rather than dependency,

to rehabilitation rather than resignation, and dedicated to the proposition that blind

people are inherently normal, potentially equal, and thoroughly competent to lead their

own lives and make their own way in competitive society. And he has proved his case with

resounding success.

To understand the success of this bold program

and the man responsible for it, we must go back a generation into the hills of Tennessee.

The Jernigan family had lived in Tennessee for years, but the time came in the 1920's when

economic pressures drove many of the back-country farmers into the cities. Kenneth's

father was one of those who sought work in the factories in order to earn enough to return

to his farm. He chose the automobile industry of Detroit, and it was there Ken was born in

1926.

The new baby had scarcely been made comfortable

in his crib when the family moved back to the farm in Tennessee. Somehow modern

conveniences and motorized farm machinery had not found their way to this edge of the

Cumberland plateau, which was only fifty miles southeast of Nashville and almost

completely inhabited by Anglo-Saxon people. They still clung to their ancient culture and

their more or less primitive dwellings. Even today the mule-drawn plow has not entirely

left the scene. Corn, hay, and milk were the chief agricultural products which gave this

industrious folk their livelihood. Generation followed generation in the same pattern of

life and endeavor.

But little Kenneth was different from the other

folk. He had been born blind. However, this did not seem to create any great problem or

concern in the Jernigan household. The child received a typical upbringing, and as he grew

older, he assumed a few of the many chores which had to be done about the farm. Some of

the heavier tasks he shared with his older brother, but bringing in wood for the stove and

fireplaces and stacking board-lumber, which his father had shaped, were among his earliest

prideful accomplishments. Playmates were few, besides his brother, but they all included

Kenneth in their games. He recalls that some of the games were modified a little so that

he could join the fun.

In January, 1933, at six years of age, Kenneth

was taken to Nashville to be enrolled at the Tennessee School for the Blind. It was like

going into another world suddenly faced with what seemed gigantic buildings, strange

foods, mysterious steam heat, and electricity. Accustomed to getting up early, the

youngster wandered away from the sleeping quarters on the very first morning and proceeded

to get utterly lost. Unable to find his way back to the dormitory, he finally gave up and

stretched out on the floor of one of the rooms he had wandered into to wait until someone

found him. It was a miserable beginning for a boy fresh from a comfortable home

environment.

But Ken liked school and the world it opened up

for his growing mind. Now he could read books, books, and more books, all by himself. In

preschool years he had always enjoyed having books read to him, and his first expressed

desire at the school was to learn to read and write. He was not aware that it would have

to be in Braille, and his first efforts to cope with the strange system were discouraging.

In spite of his intense eagerness for reading and writing, Ken failed both of these

subjects that first year. After that he never failed either of them again. Today he is one

of the fastest Braille readers in the country, and his love for books and reading burns as

brightly as ever.

There is one phase of Ken's education at the T.

S. B. which he now wishes might have been different or might not have been at all. That

was the emphasis placed on the study of music. From his own experience as well as his

adult observation, he holds the firm opinion that musical training should not be imposed

upon students who show little interest or talent for it. But the tradition at the school

in his day, as at most other schools for the blind even today, demanded that every student

be drilled in some form of music, whatever his lack of talent or interest.

Tradition must be served, and Ken found himself

spending long hours of tedious study with the violin, beginning in the second grade. After

three years he graduated into the band with a trombone and yet was stuck with the violin

for another two years. In the band he soon forsook the tailgate (trombone) in favor of the

alto horn, then (in desperate hope) the cornet, then the baritone horn, and finally a

disastrous fling at the drums. He was quickly sent back to the brass section on the

assumption, apparently, that he might have little talent but possessed plenty of brass. At

long last, recognizing his profound lack of aptitude, Kenneth resigned from the band. As

he recalls the event today, it was a great relief not only to him but also to B. P. Gap

Rice, the bandleader!

Meanwhile he had dropped the violin lessons and

shifted to the piano. Here again the effort turned out to be a waste of time because he

was more interested in the mechanics of the piano than in its musical potential. When he

resorted to taking the big instrument apart instead of playing it, the teacher was truly

convinced that Ken would never be a musician.

The world had lost another hornblower, but it

gained a craftsman. In 1944, while still in high school, Ken started to make and sell

furniture. Using the money he earned on his father's farm during the summers, he bought

tools and hardware. The logs were on the farm and at the sawmill nearby, so this was a

practical venture for an ambitious young man. He proceeded to manufacture tables,

smoking-stands, and floor lamps of original design. But he dared not attempt to do the

staining and varnishing, because he had been led to believe that a blind person could not

manage such delicate work. Only later did Ken learn that he could indeed do this work

himself and do it well.

This experience furnished further proof to Ken

Jernigan that the blind individual must avoid the pitfalls of premature acceptance of

realistic advice as to the limitations of his abilities and capabilities. He firmly

believes that orientation centers for the blind can render a most important service if

they will teach and practice the basic truth that, given the opportunity, the average

blind person can hold the average job in the average business or industry.

Young Mr. Jernigan graduated from high school in

1945 and immediately petitioned the state rehabilitation service for the chance to prepare

himself for a career in law. He was advised against it. That fall, after a rugged six-week

bout with appendicitis, he matriculated at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute in Cookeville.

He did not find there all the encouragement he needed and hoped for; but the now strong

and independent young man who had already taken a whirl at professional wrestling was not

to be talked into negative horizons or limited objectives. His hunger for knowledge was

altogether too compelling and his love of books too deep. His scholastic ability soon

produced high grades, and the pattern of his college life was formed.

But it was not all study and lessons. Throwing

himself into campus activities from the outset, Ken was soon elected to office in his

class organization and to important positions in other student clubs. The college debating

team especially attracted his attention, and he took part in some twenty-five

inter-collegiate debates. He became president of the Speech Activities Club and a member

of Pi Kappa Delta speech fraternity. In 1948, at the Southeastern Conference of the Pi

Kappa Delta competition held at the University of South Carolina, Ken won first prize in

extemporaneous speaking and original oratory.

In his junior year he was nominated as one of two

candidates for student-body president. He lost in a very close election, but the very next

year regained his political prestige by backing his roommate for a campus-wide office and

winning. In his senior year at Tennessee Tech, he was named to the honored list of Who's

Who in Colleges and Universities.

During his undergraduate days Ken started a

vending business by selling candy, cigarettes, and chewing-gum out of his room. Later on

he purchased a vending machine and, with permission gained from the college president,

installed it in the science building. Before finishing college, he had expanded the

business to an impressive string of vending machines placed in other buildings. Upon

graduation Ken sold this profitable business to a fellow student, an ambitious sophomore

named John Taylor, today the director of rehabilitation with the Iowa Commission for the

Blind and a past President of the National Federation of the Blind.

After receiving his B. A. in social science, with

a minor in English, from T.P.I., Ken went directly for graduate work to the Peabody

College for Teachers in Nashville. There he majored in English and minored in history.

This time his campus activities were centered upon the literary magazines. He accomplished

a great deal of writing of articles and editorials and became editor of a new literary

publication. Meanwhile he received his Master of Arts degree in the winter quarter of 1949

but remained to finish the school year with further studies.

The following fall young Jernigan returned to the

Tennessee School for the Blind, this time as a teacher in the high school English

department. The renewed personal contact with blind students, their aspirations, and

problems stirred his determination to give them counseling to the best of his ability and

toward bringing out the best of their abilities. Although he had achieved success with his

own education, it was not in the field he really wanted to pursue. He could not forget

that before entering college his deep desire to become an attorney had been smashed as not

feasible by a traditional-minded rehabilitation officer. Ken discovered later—too

late—that the rehabilitation man had been far from correct in his stand. Blind

persons were then studying law, others were already lawyers, and the field of law was not

closed but wide open to trained blind individuals.

Ken vows today that he will never make this

mistake in giving counsel to blind students. "We in rehabilitation have no right to

make the choice for anybody as to what his vocation should be when that person is eager

and motivated to try in a field of his choice," he maintains.

After he had mastered the routines of teaching

and settled into various school activities, Ken became interested in organizational work

with the blind. He joined the Nashville chapter of the then Tennessee Association for the

Blind (which later became the Tennessee Federation of the Blind). He was elected to the

vice presidency of the state affiliate in 1950 and to the presidency in 1951. Though he

was extremely busy, Ken found time for several courses at summer school and later branched

out into selling life insurance. This latter endeavor proved to be as profitable as

teaching and soon became a rewarding part-time job. Meanwhile, through his participation

in organizations of the blind, Ken began to have his first contacts with national figures

in the organized blind movement. Outstanding among these was Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, founder

and President of the National Federation of the Blind.

While Ken enjoyed teaching at the Tennessee

School, he wanted to do more in this expanding field. In 1953 he left the school to accept

a position at the Oakland Orientation Center in California. His work, especially in

counseling and guidance, became more intensified through the closer contact with persons

trying to regain their rightful place in society. His interest in the National Federation

was also sharpened by the many projects undertaken for that organization. One of the major

projects in which he played an important role while in California was the campaign to gain

recognition and the right to credentials for blind teachers in that state. Stemming from

this great initial effort, there are now almost fifty blind teachers employed in

California through the teachings, guidance, advice, and encouragement received from

Kenneth Jernigan. When he left Oakland to accept the leadership of the Iowa Commission for

the Blind, the people who knew him were confident that he would fulfill that challenging

assignment with outstanding success.

With the zest of a crusader, Ken plunged into the

task of building up the Iowa programs for the blind. He found the commission housed in

small and poorly equipped quarters, with a budget of only twenty thousand dollars. The

entire staff consisted of six people. It was in all respects a dismal picture and a bleak

prospect. But it did not remain so for long. Step by step, Ken skillfully planned and

expanded the program, services, staff, and budget of the Commission. He argued up and down

the state and won growing support for his programs. Today the Commission is housed in a

fully equipped six-story building, serving more than four thousand blind Iowans. A budget

of $400,000 is financing programs of rehabilitation, orientation, home teaching, home

industries, vending stands, Braille library, and many other related services. Each of

these programs is characterized by the dynamic director.

In a way, with each year of experience in work

for the blind, Ken gained as much as he gave. With each passing year he has become more

convinced that blindness need not serve as a hindrance in virtually any vocation.

Admitting that sight is an advantage, he hastens to point out that there are numerous

alternative techniques which, learned and utilized properly, provide the blind person with

the equalizer.

Kenneth Jernigan has worked for what he believes

in, and his preachment has been practiced with driving energy. Speaking with firm

conviction, he declares: "If I were asked to sum up my philosophy of blindness in one

sentence, I would say, `It is respectable to be blind.'" Few people would deny this

in the abstract; but when we analyze what they really believe, we find that most of them

are at first ashamed of blindness.

This blind leader is convinced that the dominant

attitudes of society toward blindness place unwarranted limitations upon the blind person.

Since social attitudes, unlike the physical fact of blindness, are open to change, he

maintains that one of our principal functions should be to encourage proper attitudes

toward blindness and the blind. Adequate knowledge, understanding, and recognition of

talents must be brought to supplant traditional preconceptions, prejudices, and

generalizations about the blind. From a climate of healthy social attitudes will emerge

the opportunities and full rights of citizenship which should be the birthright of the

blind. And they, in turn, will then carry their full and proper share of the

responsibility of free and independent citizens in our democratic society.