Bessie Blount Griffin was born on November 24, 1914 in the Hickory, Virginia community of Princess Anne County (now … See more

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 Ame… See more

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 th… See more

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, a… See more