About the National Federation of the Blind

Founded in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the nation's largest and most influential membership organization of blind persons. With fifty thousand members, the NFB has affiliates in all fifty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and over seven hundred local chapters throughout the country and in Tennessee. As a consumer and advocacy organization, the NFB is considered the leading force in the blindness field today. (Media Page) For more information about the leadership of the National Federation of the Blind please click (Board of Directors).

Purpose

>The purpose of the National Federation of the Blind is two-fold—to help blind persons achieve self-confidence and self-respect and to act as a vehicle for collective self-expression by the blind. By providing public education about blindness, information and referral services, scholarships, literature and publications about blindness, aids and appliances and other adaptive equipment for the blind, advocacy services and protection of civil rights, development and evaluation of technology, and support for blind persons and their families, members of the NFB strive to educate the public that the blind are normal individuals who can compete on terms of equality.

Services

>Special services of the National Federation of the Blind include:

Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB), a free service to blind persons seeking competitive employment and --> Materials Center containing over eleven hundred pieces of literature about blindness and four hundred different aids and appliances used by the blind and the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind is the world's largest and most complete evaluation and demonstration center for all speech and Braille technology used by the blind from around the world.

Newsline for the Blind

NFB-NEWSLINE^® for the Blind, the world's first free talking newspaper service, offers the blind the complete text of leading national and local newspapers with the use of only a touch-tone telephone.

Jobline

Jobline offers national employment listings and job openings through a telephone menu system to anyone free of charge.

NFB Publications

>Publications of the NFB include the Braille Monitor, which through articles by, and about blind individuals and the activities of the National Federation of the Blind promotes a positive philosophy of blindness and discusses events and activities of the Federation and in the blindness field and Future Reflections, a publication of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a Division of the NFB. Voice of the Diabetic focuses on special interests and needs of diabetics and is a publication of the Diabetes Action Network, also a Division of the National Federation of the Blind.

>It is estimated that about 1.3 million people in the U.S. are blind. Each year 50,000 more will become blind. Studies show that only AIDS and cancer are feared more than blindness. However, blindness need not be the tragedy which it is generally thought to be. In the NFB we say, “The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight, but the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist.”

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

MISSION STATEMENT

>The mission of the National Federation of the Blind is to achieve widespread emotional acceptance and intellectual understanding that the real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight but the misconceptions and lack of information which exist. We do this by bringing blind people together to share successes, to support each other in times of failure, and to create imaginative solutions.

The National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee

The National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee was originally organized during the 1940s and was a vibrant affiliate until 1961. In the early days state affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind went by various names. In its early days the Tennessee Affiliate of the NFB was called the, "Tennessee Association of the Blind." During this time it attracted noted blind individuals to its ranks including Dr. Kenneth Jernigan who would go on to become a leading figure in the blind community and the second President of the National Federation of the Blind. Under the leadership of Dr. Jernigan and others the NFB of Tennessee hosted the first, and only National Convention ever to be held in the State of Tennessee in 1952. The convention was held at the Andrew Jackson Hotel in Nashville that Year and was attended by a large number of deligates and friends from Tennessee and the World. Dr. Jacobus TenBroek, the founding President of the National Federation of the Blind delivered the annual Banquet Address that was broadcast to the nation by WSM Radio in Nashville. Dr. TenBroek was introduced to the banquet and the radio audience by the Honorable Gordon Browning, Governor of the State of Tennessee. This is the only national convention to be held in Tennessee to date.

Civil War

The late 1950s and the early 1960s found the NFB engaged in civil war. Several causes including a greeting card campaign carried on by the federation, dissatisfaction with the performance of certain federation officials, (Namely their legislative representative at the time), and the increasing hostility and reactionary behavior from the established system of agencies and programs for the blind caused descention and disunity among federation members and in a number of state affiliates including Tennessee. Some of the descenters sided with the reactionary agencies for the blind and joined their campaign to block the appointment of federation officials to key positions in Governmental and other agencies where their influance could have served to hasten the passage of the blind from the backwaters of society to first-class citizenship. They saught to discredit the motives of federation leaders, and to undermine the good work done by the NFB at that time in its existance . The Tennessee affiliate, along with a number of other state affiliates were expelled from the NFB in 1961. These later became the American Counsel of the Blind, (ACB.) The ACB's official organizing meeting was held during the Labor Day Weekend in Nashville in 1961 bringing to a close the NFB's Civil War.

Reorganization

Reorganization of the NFB of Tennessee occured in 1969 in Memphis. Since then the affiliate has grown to include several local chapters and state special interest divisions. In the early 1970s state affiliates of the NFB adopted the practice of identifying themselves as an affiliate of the National Fedderation of the Blind by incorporating the NFB in to their names. Today all 50 states including Tennessee are known as the National Federation of the Blind of, (Name of State.) In Tennessee's case it is the National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee. There are currently five local chapters and two special interest divisions in the state. Under the leadership of its current President Michael Seay of Memphis who was elected to the State Presidency in 2000 the National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee continues to be a proud member of the federation family and the collective voice of Tennessee's Blind.

Contact Information

If you would like more information about the National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee, wish to obtain more information about blindness, or want to join a local NFB of Tennessee Chapter please contact our President Michael Seay. He can be reached at the following: