(c) 1998 Baltimore Sun. All rights reserved.
Kenneth Jernigan, 71, advocate for the blind
The Baltimore Sun
(BS)
- Wednesday October 14, 1998
By: Ernest F. Imhoff SUN STAFF
Edition: F
Section: News (Local)
Page: 5B
Word Count: 630
MEMO:
TYPE OF MATERIAL: OBITUARY
TEXT:
Kenneth Jernigan, a relentless fighter for blind people around the
world
and president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind
(NFB)
from 1968 to 1986, died of lung cancer Monday night at his Irvington
home.
He was 71.
During his leadership, the federation became the nation's most
powerful
organization of blind people. Its affiliates increased from 32 states
to
50, Puerto Rico and District of Columbia, while membership grew to
50,000.
Euclid Herie of Toronto, president of the World Blind Union, for
which
Mr. Jernigan served as president of the North American-Caribbean
Region,
said:
'Dr. Jernigan influenced the lives of blind persons throughout the
world
for more than a half-century. He fought for their inclusion in
education,
employment and culture. His name will be remembered alongside Louis
Braille
as one of the most influential leaders in the blindness movement.'
Braille (1809-1852) invented the system of raised dots
representing
letters that are read by touch. The system has been in declining use
since
World War II.
But Mr. Jernigan said that since November, when doctors told him he
had
lung cancer and about a year to live, he had been eager to work on
pet
projects: a proposed $12 million National Research and Training
Institute
for the Blind at NFB headquarters planned for completion in 2002 and a
new
national hiring program involving United Parcel Service.
'I have no complaints in my life,' he said. 'I go contented.
I've
enjoyed my life. I love my friends and those who may have disliked me.'
Mr. Jernigan's wife of 14 years, Mary Ellen Osborn Jernigan, and
his
daughter, Marie Cobb, also of Baltimore, were at his bedside when he
died,
said Mark Maurer, who succeeded Jernigan as NFB president.
'Dr. Jernigan changed our lives and gave us all hope when there
was
none,' said Mr. Maurer.
After high school, Mr. Jernigan built furniture and managed a
furniture
shop in Beech Grove, Tenn. He taught English at the Tennessee School
for
the Blind in Nashville from 1949 to 1953.
After the federation moved from Des Moines to Baltimore in 1978,
Mr.
Jernigan supervised the renovation of an old factory that became
the
National Center for the Blind at 1800 Johnson Street in South Baltimore.
He developed the Braille and Technology Center there in 1990,
containing
what NFB says is more state-of-the art equipment for the blind
than
anywhere. He organized a national Braille literacy campaign in 1992
to
promote Braille with laws in 30 states favoring its use.
Mr. Jernigan founded the National Newsline for the Blind in
1994,
allowing blind people to hear daily newspapers such as The Sun read
in
synthesized speech over the telephone.
He wrote more than 100 articles and speeches, edited the
Braille
Monitor, the largest-circulation journal in the blindness field, from
1978
to 1993, and also edited the federation's large type Kernel Book series.
One of his last times away from home was at the Canadian Embassy
in
Washington last month when he was given an international leadership
honor,
the Winston Gordon Award, for giving blind people 'measurable
independence'
through Newsline.
'The real problem of blindness is not loss of eyesight,
but
misunderstanding and lack of information,' Mr. Jernigan said. 'If a
blind
person has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to
the
level of a physical nuisance.'
He was a communicant of St. Joseph's Passionist Monastery Roman
Catholic
Church. A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. tomorrow
at
the church on Old Frederick Road and Monastery Avenue.
In addition to his wife and his daughter, he is survived by a
brother,
Lloyd Jernigan, of Dearborn, Mich.; three grandchildren; and
four
great-grandchildren.
More obituaries next page
Pub Date: 10/14/98
Copyright The Baltimore Sun 1998
----------
----- Forwarded Message Follows -----
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 20:20:18 +1300
From: Jonathan Mosen <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] (Multiple recipients of NFBnet NFB-Talk Mailing List)
Subject: A Tribute From New Zealand
Most of us probably find ourselves thinking once in a while about our
legacy. It would be nice to conclude our life's work knowing that in
some way the world is a better place for us having lived in it. But few
of us will ever have the kind of legacy that is Dr Kenneth Jernigan's.
I want to try and explain why I wept openly when I heard that Dr.
Jernigan had died, why I in New Zealand, many thousands of miles away
from the United States Congress, NAC, and a history of paternalistic
American State agencies feel such a profound sense of loss. I do it
partly as a therapy exercise for myself. When I'm at an emotional
extreme, I like to write. But I also do it to say "thank you" to the
National Federation of the Blind and Dr Jernigan's family for sharing Dr
Jernigan with the world.
When I was in my late teens and at University, I was confident of my own
abilities and scared of the future. I had decided that as a blind
person, I was limited not so much by my abilities, but by other people's
perceptions of my so-called "disability". For various reasons I was in
the media spotlight every so often, and used to describe blindness as a
characteristic. But I was despondent about the seemingly unbeatable
odds I was battling. I thought society wouldn't let me have a future,
and that I may as well do the world a favour and surrender the battle.
I was at the lowest ebb to which any human being can descend.
I have always been an adopter of technology, and at about this time
found myself on the Disabilities Forum of CompuServe. A man named David
Andrews posted a message announcing the latest issue of a magazine
called the Braille Monitor. I downloaded it, read it, and found hope.
I have read almost every Braille Monitor since then.
So what is this hope I found? Obviously as someone who has been
interested in blindness advocacy in some form or another since I crossed
swords with the school for the blind at the age of six, the work of the
Federation interested me. But American politics interests me too as a
political science and history graduate. What made my reading of
Federation material different, and what gave me hope, was that the
Federation not only mirrored my own views about blindness being a
characteristic, and about the real problem of blindness being
attitudinal, but they had proved it through their actions and
programmes.
With the advent of the Internet, I gained access to much more. I read
"Walking Alone and Marching Together", and it was at this point that I
really came to admire Dr Jernigan. Dr Jernigan was many things to the
blind of the world. Firstly, he was a philosopher. One of his most
famous pieces, "Blindness - Handicap or Characteristic" is in my view
the most important and empowering philosophical work on blindness of
this century, and there were many other such writings. He had a
remarkable ability to process and enunciate thoughts clearly and
logically. That takes someone who is a good listener as well as a clear
thinker and talker.
Secondly, he was a man who chose the right tactics for the right time.
He knew when the time was right to ask people to join him on the
barricades, but he also knew when the time was right to embark on the
highly successful public education programme that is the Kernel Books.
"we will do what we have to do," he said on many occasions, and that's
exactly the strategy he adopted. He was about outcomes, not about
making a noise for its own sake.
Thirdly, he was the most outstanding orator I have ever heard. Reading
a Jernigan speech is inspiring. Listening to one delivered live was
thrilling and captivating. I have attended two NFB Conventions and was
privileged to be present for the Banquet address delivered by Dr
Jernigan last year, as well as other addresses he gave to the two
Conventions I have attended. I have also heard many recordings of his
speeches. He never had to shout or rave to electrify an audience. His
delivery was calm, and quite moderately paced. What made listening to
him special was the conviction with which his speeches were delivered,
the flawless structure of his speeches, and the message of hope they all
conveyed. But most important of all, his speeches touched us all
deeply. I remember sitting with my sighted wife listening to a
recording of a speech in which Dr Jernigan read a letter from a sighted
woman going out with a man named Jimmy. The letter he read expressed
the frustration this woman felt about the way her blind boyfriend was
treated. It was a sincere letter, and I have no doubt it was familiar
to many couples where one person is blind and the other is sighted. My
wife and I found ourselves hugging each other and crying. We knew the
speech could have been talking about our own experiences.
Fourthly, he was an educator. He helped so many people to realise that
blindness wasn't the insuperable barrier they thought it was. He did
this through his work in the teaching and rehabilitation professions,
through the Federation, and just through being Dr Jernigan the role
model and mentor. He educated the blind about blindness, and the
sighted too. I know through reading the forewords to the Kernel Books
that he was particularly proud of the difference this work was able to
make in terms of changing attitudes on the part of the sighted.
I could go on for many pages yet, but let me draw this to a close. Dr
Jernigan, the world is so much a better place because you lived in it.
Your writings taught me that I not only had a future, but as someone
with skills in advocacy and writing I had a duty to hang in there and do
my bit to ensure that the future got brighter for all of us. You taught
us that there were times to be angry, and times when you shouldn't throw
the nickel, times to march and times to negotiate. You taught us to
believe in ourselves and that through organisation and unity of purpose
came first class citizenship. Thank you for your philosophy, your sense
of strategy and your sense of proportion, your oratory, and your
education and wisdom.
I would of course have sent a message of condolence on behalf of the
blind of New Zealand, but in this case it was important for me
personally to say so much more. We will mourn, but Dr Jernigan's family
I'm sure know that he was one of the great Americans of the 20th
century. I extend my sympathy to Mrs Jernigan and family, and to
President Maurer as he leads the Federation through what will be a time
of deep sorrow, yet a time to celebrate the achievements of a truly
remarkable human being.
Jonathan Mosen
President
Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand
--
This mailing list is sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind, NFB.
For more information about the NfB, please call (410) 659-9314, point your
internet browser to http://www.nfb.org or Telnet to nfbnet.org.
|
