Bessie Blount

Innovative nurse and inventor who advanced assistive technologies and forensic science.

Bessie Virginia Blount (1914–2009) was a trailblazing African American nurse, physical therapist, and inventor whose work revolutionized assistive devices and forensic document analysis. Despite racial and gender discrimination, Blount’s ingenuity led to patents for feeding devices for disabled veterans and contributions to forensic science that are still used today.

Born in Hickory, Virginia, Blount trained as a nurse at Community Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Newark. During World War II, she worked with amputee soldiers at Bronx Hospital, where she noticed the struggles of patients with limited mobility. Determined to help, she invented an electric self-feeding device in 1951. The device allowed users to bite a tube to dispense food, empowering them to eat independently. Blount famously refused to sell her patent to the U.S. government, instead donating it to the French military for free.

Blount also developed a portable receptacle support, a neck brace that held cups or bowls, and pioneered techniques to teach amputees to write with their feet or teeth. Her compassionate approach earned her recognition in medical journals and the New York Daily News.

In the 1960s, Blount shifted her focus to forensic science. She became one of the first Black women to work as a handwriting analyst for police departments in New Jersey and Virginia. Her expertise in identifying document authenticity aided criminal investigations, and she later advised Scotland Yard. Blount’s legacy is a testament to her relentless pursuit of solutions that bridged healthcare and justice, breaking barriers in multiple fields.

Blount’s inventions and forensic methods remain influential. She was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2021. Her life underscores the power of interdisciplinary innovation and resilience in the face of systemic adversity.