Blind Tom Performs for the President Quiz

Answer: blindness

Tom was originally owned by Wiley Edward Jones and lived on Jones' plantation in Harris County, Georgia, but while he was still an infant, he and his parents, Charity and Domingo "Mingo" Wiggins, were purchased by Bethune. It may have been the luckiest thing to happen to Tom, in his unlucky enslaved life, as we shall see.

Answer: he injured his siblings to hear them scream

Tom seemed unable to distinguish between a human crying in pain, a clattering basin or a rooster crowing. It was all the same to him--more lovely sounds--but when he put his younger siblings at serious risk, something needed done.

Answer: put him in a large wooden box

Though it seems cruel to us, it was really a lesser treatment than a handicapped person might have received in the period. Hope you noticed the little clue, "boxed," and it was true, an enslaved mother was pulled several ways--her own tasks, caring for her healthy children, caring for Tom...

There was also a growing sense that more than just blindness was wrong with him. At this point, Gen. Bethune, the owner and man responsible for their care, had not yet gotten involved.

Answer: he escaped as often as he could, danced and listened obsessively by the window

He would escape and get as close to the sound as he could, dancing, mimicking, seemingly in ecstacy at the beautiful music the two beginning piano students produced. Though he was only a slave, everyone gave him a little slack because he clearly loved the music, and they let him listen from a discreet distance.

Answer: Blind Tom playing perfectly without lessons, unable to see the sheet music

Blind Tom was showing his ability to mimic sounds, whether music or spoken words, playing them back from memory, as we would play back a recording. Ironically, he had trouble speaking normally, but copying the words of others was no problem, and he could do it confidently. Today, we could possibly diagnose someone with such skills as an autistic savant, but there was no handy label to put on Tom, other than miraculous.

Answer: bought him his own piano and hired a teacher

Gen. Bethune recognized that he had some sort of prodigy in Tom. One could say he only wanted to exploit Tom's money-making skills, but the result was that Tom got to do what he wanted and was amazingly happy doing it. A neighbor, Otto Spahr, remembered the boy many years later: "Tom seemed to have but two motives in life: the gratification of his appetite and his passion for music. I don't think I exaggerate when I state that he made the piano go for twelve hours out of twenty-four." (Quoted in "The Ballad of Blind Tom" by Deirdre O'Connell.)

Answer: playing to sold-out concerts around the south

Gen. Bethune hired concert manager and promoter Perry Oliver to be in charge of Blind Tom's career. Tom loved to play and had no sense of money, so that worked well for the two white men. They are estimated to have made up to $100,000 a year from him, and Blind Tom became probably the century's highest earning pianist.

He was not just a good pianist, like for example Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who was well paid too. But Gottschalk was a boring white man. Tom's unique background and appearance were sold as part of the amazement at his ability.

He was blind! And black! And a slave!

Answer: Harriet Lane, Pres. James Buchanan's niece and ward

Harriet Lane was the ward of the bachelor president, and she told President Buchanan how impressed she was with Blind Tom's performance at the hotel. She asked her famous stand-in father to arrange for another performance at their shared home, the White House, and Buchanan did so. Musically-minded Miss Lane had scored another great performer for the White House, promoter Oliver Perry had earned another bragging point for his young client, and Blind Tom couldn't wait for his chance to start making music again. No one really thought about the situation at the time, but Tom was the first African-American musician to perform at the White House.

Answer: piano music

Tom was still playing for his own amusement, even if he wasn't up to concert level performance, enjoying the sound of the piano just for the fun of it. He suffered a more severe stroke in April 1908, and died two months later. He is buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens at Brooklyn, New York.

Answer: The Battle of Manassas

The Battle of Manassas was a clever piece, incorporating popular songs from both armies as well as imitatons of the noise of warfare. It fit with Blind Tom's way of "seeing" the world around him through music and sounds. He could only have heard of the battle through newspaper stories, but it was said that he could memorize ten minutes' worth of anything said to him, so learning of the battle through stories would have been easy for him.

There are other sheet music examples of his playing also, and many performances of it available for listening on Youtube.