1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey everyone, welcome to the podcast. I'm Eves 3 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 1: and you're listening to This Day in History Class, a 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: podcast that really takes to heart the phrase you learn 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: something new every day. Today is November. The day was 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: November nineteen fourteen. Bessie Blunt was born in Hickory, Virginia. 7 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: Blunt was a physical therapist and inventor who created tools 8 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: and devices to help people with physical disabilities. Bessie's parents 9 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: were George Woodard and Mary Elizabeth Griffin. She went to 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: Digg's Chapel Elementary School, a school that was built after 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: the Civil War for the children of formerly enslaved people 12 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: and Native Americans. She said that at the school, black 13 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: kids learned how to read by reading verses out of 14 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: the Bible. She was left handed, but one of her 15 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: teachers would beat her on her knuckles for writing with 16 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: her left hand. She figured that quote, if it was 17 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: wrong to right with my left hand, then it was 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: wrong to right with my right hand. So she taught 19 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: herself to write with her teeth and feet. Her family 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: moved to New Jersey, where Bessie studied nursing at Kenny 21 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: Memorial Hospital and attendant Panzer College of Physical Education. After 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: she graduated from Panzer, she studied physical therapy at Union 23 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: Junior College. Once she became a practicing physical therapist, she 24 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: worked at veterans hospitals where she taught soldiers who lost 25 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: limbs or didn't have use of their limbs new ways 26 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: to perform tasks. She taught them how to write with 27 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: their teeth and feet, and she designed inventions that would 28 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: help the veterans with task that could not be compensated 29 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: for with physical therapy. One of those inventions was a 30 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: device that helped people who were unable to use their 31 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: limbs to reach their mouth eat on their own. She 32 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: spent ten months developing her first design of this device, 33 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: and after about four years of further development, she created 34 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: a working model made of stainless steel. One bite of 35 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: food at a time was delivered through a tube. A 36 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: patient would then bite down on the tube, which activated 37 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: a motor and dispensed that bite of food through the mouthpiece. 38 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: The device shut down between bites so the patient would 39 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: have time to chew the food. The chief medical director 40 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: of the Veterans Administration told her the feeding device was 41 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: impractical and that hand feeding was preferred. Medical supply companies 42 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: were not buying into her device, so she donated the 43 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: patent rights to the French government in nineteen fifty one. 44 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: The French government was interested in using the device in 45 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: military hospitals, but it also designed another feeding device, which 46 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: was made up of a tube attached to a dish 47 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: that was connected to a brace that a person wore 48 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: around their neck. In nineteen fifty three, she appeared on 49 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: a television show about inventions called Big Idea. She went 50 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,359 Speaker 1: on to work as a caretaker for the mother in 51 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: law of Theodore Edison, son of inventor Thomas Edison, and 52 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: she designed more inventions, like a kidney shaped vomit basin 53 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: made out of paper machee. The invention wasn't picked up 54 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: in the US, but the Belgian government took interest in it, 55 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: and the basins are still used in Belgian hospitals today. 56 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty nine, Blunt switched career paths, turning to 57 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: forensic science. She became a handwriting analyst and published a 58 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: paper on medical graphology, or the study of handwriting. She 59 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: detected for documents for the Violent Police Department in New 60 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: Jersey and for police departments in Virginia. She applied to 61 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: work in the FBI and was turned down, but in 62 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven she took an advanced studies course in 63 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: the document division at Scotland Yard. She's believed to be 64 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: the first black American woman to train and work at 65 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: Scotland Yard. In her later years, Blunt continued to do 66 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: freelance forensic work, and she authenticated documents for museums. She 67 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: also worked as a consultant in law enforcement investigations. Blunt 68 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: died in New Jersey in December of two nine. I'm 69 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: each STEPF. Coote and hopefully you know a little more 70 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: about history today than you did it yesterday. Keep up 71 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d 72 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: I h C podcast, or if you want to get 73 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: a little more fancy, you can send us an email 74 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: at this Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks 75 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow with another episode. 76 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,479 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart 77 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 78 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: favorite shows.