Celebrating Black History Month

It’s Black History Month! Check out these Black leaders who have made significant contributions to both the Black and Disability communities. Their accomplishments are important to highlight as we pursue our mission to empower all people with disabilities at Turnstone.

John Register- John Register is a two-time Paralympian, Paralympic Games Silver medalist, veteran, and motivational speaker. John was on his way to compete at the Olympic Games in 1996 when life threw him a major curveball. His left leg was amputated after an accident at one of his training sessions. During his rehabilitation process, John began to swim. After many months of rehab and training, John qualified to compete in the 50-meter freestyle and was the anchor of the 4×400 medley relay during the Atlanta 1996 Paralympics. During the Atlanta Games, John discovered Paralympic Track and Field and decided to pursue that Paralympic sport as well. By 2000, he was able to compete in the Games in Sydney. He ended up setting an American long jump record and won the silver medal. He also ran the 100- and 200-meter races that year. Besides his athletic accomplishments, John has had a successful military career and is a leader in strategic communication and management.

Bessie Blount Griffin (1914-2009)- Bessie Blount Griffin was a pioneer physical therapist, scientist, and inventor born in Virginia. Despite having to discontinue her elementary education, Bessie later earned her GED and pursued a degree in nursing at the Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Newark after her family moved to New Jersey. While pursuing her career, Bessie developed a passion for physical therapy, which was a newly established profession just after the time Bessie was born. Blount attended Panzer College of Physical Education and Union County College to obtain a certification in physical therapy. She was one of the very few Black physical therapists at the time and she integrated lots of interpretive dance and unique practices to enhance treatment for patients. During WWII, Blount worked with wounded soldiers to rehabilitate them. When working with these patients, Blount realized that much of the equipment used at the time was not adequate for her patients’ needs so she came up with innovative ways to help. For example, she taught people with arm amputations to use their feet to compensate. She also created a food receptacle equipped with an electrical motor that propelled food through a protruding tube, which helped patients feed themselves independently and comfortably. In 1952 the French Government purchased the patent rights of Bessie’s feeding invention and put it to widespread use in military hospitals across the country and in some of its colonies. She went on to invent other devices, some that are still used today!

Andre Shelby- Andre Shelby (originally from Jeffersonville, Ind.) was in the U.S. Navy for 18 years before he retired his career due to a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Though his life had changed, Andre maintained his competitive spirit. He discovered adaptive sports during his rehabilitation and tried a variety of adaptive sports such as tennis, basketball, skiing, water skiing, horseback riding, and archery. He had never tried archery before but immediately fell in love with the sport. He attended several clinics to learn and practice. However, as Andre progressed through the sport, he noticed he was one of a few Black athletes competing in Para archery. What started out as a hobby soon turned into an athletic career as Andre began competing in bigger and bigger tournaments. In 2015, Andre qualified for the U.S. National Team and the Parapan American Games; one month later, he won the gold medal in Toronto. Andre helped the U.S. team win gold in his first international competition in Germany. After that, Andre qualified for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games and became the first Black American archer to compete in the Paralympics.

April Holmes- Track and Field athlete, April Holmes, was pursuing a career in telecommunications at Norfolk State University, a historically Black university (HBCU) in the early 2000s. However, a train accident in 2001 resulted in a left leg amputation, which changed the trajectory of her life. Soon after the accident, April rediscovered her passion for track and was competing in her newly-fitted prosthetics just a year later. She competed in her first Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004 where she won a bronze medal in the long jump. April founded the April Holmes Foundation which provides scholarships and medical equipment to those with physical and learning disabilities. She is also a published author of The Winning Way and has worked with leaders like Michelle Obama on programs and campaigns like Let’s Move. She was also the first female on the athlete roster representing The Jordan Brand and was the inspiration behind Air Jordan’s 2009 signature shoe with APT technology.

Brad Lomax (1950-1984)- Brad Lomax was the founder of the Washington D.C. chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and acted as an advocate for Black empowerment, Civil and Disability Rights back in the 1960s. Brad had multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair. In 1972, Brad organized the first African Liberation Day demonstration. After moving to Oakland, CA, from Washington D.C., Brad was unable to access public buses, which led to his involvement in the disability rights movement. In 1975, Lomax worked with Ed Roberts, the founder of the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley, to open another CIL site in East Oakland with support from the BPP. The BPP had no particular disability policy, but Lomax’s active participation in disability advocacy sparked the partnership and solidarity between the two groups. The Black Panther Party began supporting other initiatives related to disability rights, most notably the historic 504 sit-ins to force the government to implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. During the 1977 504 San Francisco sit-in, which lasted three weeks, Brad reached out to the local BPP to help bring protesters supplies after the government shut off the building’s water supply and phone lines. They quickly mobilized and delivered food and other essential supplies, which helped lengthen the demonstration, ultimately leading to success. Section 504 was signed into law on April 28, 1977. After Brad passed at age 33, his legacy lived on and has paved the way for the Black community and Disability community.

Johnnie Lacy (1937-2010)- Johnny Lacy brought to light the intersectionality of race and disability. Her activism tackled ableism in the Black community and racism in the white-dominated disability community. Born in 1937, Johnnie went to segregated elementary schools in the South until she was 10 and her family moved to California. In California, she went to integrated schools, but still felt the separation of races. At age 19, Johnnie was diagnosed with polio which briefly caused her to be paralyzed and use a wheelchair. Around this time, Johnnie decided to pursue a degree in speech-language pathology at San Francisco State University; however, she had many barriers due to her disability and had to fight to even enroll in the school. She was not allowed to participate in graduation or be a part of the school, which only fueled her determination to become an advocate for disability rights. In 1981, Johnnie used her passionate advocacy to help found the Berkeley Center for Independent Living. Johnnie believed in the right of people with disabilities to live independently in the community. Later, she served as the director of the Community Resources for Independent Living for almost a decade. In this organization, she provided advocacy, mentoring, and other services for people with disabilities who lived in the area. Johnnie also served on the California Attorney General’s Commission on Disability, Hayward’s Commission on Personnel and Affirmative Action, and the Mayor’s Disability Council for the city and county of San Francisco. She passed away in 2010 but was a powerful voice for Black people with disabilities.

Bonnie St. John- From rural Vermont, Bonnie St. John has accomplished numerous high achievements despite facing many setbacks. At age 5, Bonnie had her leg amputated due to a birth defect. Her mother fought for her to attend public school in the 1970s. Bonnie was used to having to do more than other students in her class, so it is not surprising that Bonnie’s hard-working nature resulted in her eventually becoming a Paralympic athlete. After a skiing trip with a friend, Bonnie fell in love with the sport and joined an amputee ski group. She soon dreamed of becoming a member of the USA Paralympic Ski Team. She had to teach herself how to race because she didn’t have a coach, but she wanted to start racing. Eventually, Bonnie worked up her skills and traveled to the national ski championships for people with disabilities. Though tuition was high and there weren’t many (if any) Black students with disabilities, Bonnie knew her next step was to get to Burke Mountain Academy to train for skiing. After failing to raise money to attend the school, Bonnie was invited to come to Burke Mountain Academy anyway. She passed the physical testing, but unfortunately broke her ankle on a ski simulator and was unable to train with her peers. Despite this setback, Bonnie came into contact with the National Brotherhood of Skiers whose mission was to place a Black Skier on the U.S. ski team. They sponsored Bonnie and she was able to keep training and racing. After all of the training, Bonnie finally got the chance to wear a U.S. Ski Team jacket when she competed in the Innsbruck 1984 Paralympic Winter Games. That year, she won bronze in the slalom, a second bronze medal in the giant slalom, and a silver medal for overall performance in her events. She was the first Black American to medal in the Winter Games. Besides her impressive athletic feats, Bonnie graduated from Harvard as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master’s degree at Oxford. She worked in sales for IBM and then worked in the White House National Economic Council under President Clinton before embarking on a career as a public speaker and later starting her own leadership company. Since her own Paralympic experience, she has spoken and been involved with USA Olympic and Paralympics on several occasions. Her grit and perseverance have resulted in more representation of and support for athletes with disabilities.