Commentary: Black Scientists, Explorers, and Inventors
By dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
Bessie Virginia Blount, (also known as Bessie Blount Griffin November 24, 1914 – December 30, 2009), was an American writer, nurse, physical therapist, inventor and forensic scientist,, was born in Hickory (today Chesapeake), Virginia, on November 24, 1914. In the sixth grade, she had to discontinue her elementary education, although she would later earn a GED after her family moved to New Jersey. She studied nursing at the Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Newark, while there developing a passion in the field of physical therapy, a profession not formalized and established until shortly after Blount’s birth.
Blount attended Panzer College of Physical Education (now Montclair State University) and Union County Junior College (Union County College) where she obtained certification in physical therapy. As one of the few African American physical therapists at the time, she blended interpretive dance, an avocation of hers, to enhance her patient’s treatments.
The World War II years witnessed thousands of American soldiers in need of physical therapy as they returned to the United States. Blount practiced at various veterans’ hospitals restoring physical function to wounded soldiers. It was while working with amputees that inventive ideas were cultivated to assist her patients in regaining their independence. By 1951 Blount was living in Newark, New Jersey and teaching Physical Therapy at the Bronx Hospital in New York.
Recognizing that much of the equipment in use at the time was inadequate, Blount found innovative ways to rehabilitate her patients. In particular, she helped arm amputees compensate by teaching them to use their feet. She also created a food receptacle equipped with an electrical motor that propelled food through a protruding tube. The tube was inserted into the patient’s mouth, and upon biting down on it, a small portion of food was pushed into his mouth. The apparatus allowed patients to eat independently and comfortably in an upright or level position. Blount received a patent on her “Portable Receptacle Support” on April 24, 1951, three years after filing a patent. That same year Blount married Thomas Griffin, and the couple would have one son, Philip.
While her inventions had the potential to revolutionize the lives of many people, getting them patented and marketed for use by patients was not easy in the United States. Frustrated by the lack of interest by the American Veteran’s Administration, Blount sold the rights to her other inventions over to the French government in 1952, with the statement that she had proven "that a Black woman can invent something for the benefit of humankind."
The French Government purchased the patent rights of the Portable Receptacle Support and put it to widespread use in military hospitals across the country and in some of its colonies. This ingenious apparatus positioned Blount as one of the earliest inventors in the burgeoning field of physical therapy. Around this time she became a close friend of Theodore M. Edison the son of the Thomas Edison the maybe America’s greatest inventor.
Blount additionally invented a disposable cardboard emesis basin, a device still standard in Belgian hospitals today. In 1953, she was the first black woman to appear on the television program The Big Idea, which exposed her inventions to a popular audience.
In 1969, Blount began a second career in forensics as a chief examiner for police departments in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. She was the first American woman admitted as a student at the Document Division of the Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory in London, England (Scotland Yard) in 1977. She maintained a private practice as a consultant to law enforcement and law firms on legal strategy and procedure until 1983. Blount also enjoyed a brief stint in journalism; made breakthroughs in research in medical graphology; held high-ranking memberships in numerous respected organizations; and was an outspoken advocate of equal rights for the marginalized. She was bestowed several honors in her lifetime, including the New Jersey Joint Legislative Commendation.
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Dwight Jackson filed the lawsuit against the Shinola Hotel on July 3, alleging he was denied a job when he applied as “Dwight Jackson,” but later offered an interview when he changed his name to “John Jebrowski.”
The lawsuit alleges Jackson was denied a job in “violation of Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act.”
Between January and April 2024, Jackson, a 27-year-old Black man, applied to multiple positions at the Shinola Hotel in downtown Detroit, including a role in reception, according to the lawsuit. On its website, Shinola Hotel says it is a “luxury” hotel.
Jackson’s attorney, Jon Marko, provided CNN with a copy of Jackson’s resume, which details consistent employment, including previous roles as a “Front Desk Agent” at Detroit’s Marriott Westin Book Cadillac and David Whitney Hotel, which use the words luxury and luxurious to describe their respective hotels.
“Mr. Jackson had applied for a job that he was eminently qualified for,” Marko, a civil rights attorney, told CNN. However, Shinola Hotel did not offer Jackson an interview.
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Here's how one gesture has been used by Republicans, socialists, fascists, white supremacists and Black athletes alike. Newsone: The Varied Political History Of The Raised Fist
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The raised fist has been employed by a wide variety of groups for several different purposes. In the early 20th century, for example, it was associated with socialism, communism and labor unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. In these contexts, it was typically viewed as a symbol of solidarity with others who shared their views.
In the 1960s, however, the raised fist became associated with the Black Power movement. One of the iconic – and controversial – images from the 1968 Olympic Games shows athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who had won medals in the 200-meter event, raising gloved fists over their heads as the U.S. national anthem played.
Forty-five years later, particularly after the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and followed by the 2020 murder of George Floyd, it became a potent symbol of Black Lives Matter protesters.
But the gesture has also been adopted by the far right, with the Aryan fist becoming a symbol of white pride during the 1980s.
In many respects, the raised fist has become a generalized gesture of defiance that has been employed by groups as diverse as the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 and students protesting education budget cuts in the Philippines that same year.
The gesture is still seen as transgressive. In 2016, Black female cadets at West Point raised their fists for a photo, and this led to an inquiry by the school, although no disciplinary action was taken.
West Point’s superintendent, in a letter to the cadets, wrote, “We all must understand that a symbol or gesture that one group of people may find harmless may offend others. As Army officers, we are not afforded the luxury of a lack of awareness of how we are perceived.”
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While Donald Trump, the former president and current presumptive Republican nominee, has distanced himself from Project 2025 – a conservative policy agenda billed as a playbook for his potential return to the White House – political leaders and elected officials are escalating their rhetoric about it and its implications, particularly for Black and brown communities.
Austin Davis, Pennsylvania’s first Black and youngest lieutenant governor, told theGrio that elected officials must be “clear-eyed about what a second Trump term will mean for Black Americans.”
The 34-year-old said the conservative agenda laid out in Project 2025 will “destroy diversity, equity and inclusion programs, affirmative action programs, [and] many of the things that have helped push Black families to the middle class.”
He continued: “They are seeking to erase and are seeking to take us backward.”
Many of the policy proposals in Project 2025 are likely unpopular with Black Americans and other marginalized groups. The project calls for eliminating programs and federal rules related to racial and gender equity and discrimination, eliminating tens of thousands of federal jobs, and undertaking mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
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For Irvika François, navigating life in this gang-plagued city requires a series of precautions. The Haitian educator and feminist has moved her family. She never travels more than a mile from home.
Several hundred Kenyan police officers have deployed to this Caribbean nation, the first members of a U.N.-backed security mission to beat back the heavily armed paramilitaries that control 80 percent of the capital, allow new elections and give Haitians like François a chance to breathe.
The Kenyans, better armed and equipped than Haitian police, have joined their hosts on street patrols. The gangs, who warned they would resist the deployment, appear unperturbed. They’re still setting homes ablaze, attacking police stations and killing with impunity.
“I don’t feel the effect of the Kenyans’ presence,” François, whose cousin was kidnapped by a gang last year, said. “Nothing has changed in my life, and I don’t have increased confidence in my security. … I don’t understand why the Kenyans are here.”
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Some lighthearted summer fun. On a quest to find love, a simple red balloon and a pin holds all the power in this popular social media dating series.
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If you’ve spent any time on the dating and relationship side of TikTok, then you may have come across the popular Pop the Balloon or Find Love series.
The goal? To find a match. The premise? Upon initial introduction, the man or woman stands before a row of the opposite gender who are all holding red balloons. If based off initial attraction, vibe, energy or whatever the kids call it these days, its a no—then pop goes the balloon. If there are some people left holding the balloon, then more questions and information is divulged until there’s ultimately one person standing.
While the premise gives me MTV Next vibes, I can’t lie and say that it’s not entertaining. And based off the viral clips that find their way on Instagram and Twitter/X—it’s safe to say that others are eating this up as well. So it’s in that vein that we thought we’d share a handful of the clips that’ve made the rounds and sparked a laugh and a conversation or two starting with…
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