Blind Tom Wiggins
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Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins (May 25, 1849 - June 13, 1908 was an African American autistic savant and musical prodigy.
Born blind, the first historical record of Thomas Wiggins is from 1850 when his slave mother, Charity Wiggins, was sold to general (or colonel) and lawyer James N. Bethune alongside with her blind child. The new owner gave the boy name Thomas Greene Bethune or Thomas Wiggens Bethune (according to different sources).
Because he could not work, Blind Tom wandered around the Bethune plantation and became interested in the music played by Bethune's daughters. He is recorded to have played tunes he had heard at the age of 4, before he had learned to speak. At the age of five, he composed a tune The Rain Storm. Bethunes hired professional musicians to play for the boy and Tom reproduced the music he had heard perfectly. Although Tom's vocabulary was only about 100 words, eventually he learned perhaps 7000 pieces of music, mainly from classical composers.
In 1857 Blind Tom made his first concert in Columbus, Georgia. Newspaper reviews were favorable, so General Bethune took Tom with him on tour. Tom always introduced himself in the third person—i.e. "Tom is pleased to meet you". In 1860, Blind Tom played in the White House before president James Buchanan. Local musicians wanted to check if his act was mere trickery and made him repeat two brand-new compositions. He did so perfectly. The "challenge" later became a regular part of his performance.
Tom also played his own compositions on occasion. One of the regulars at his concerts was Mark Twain. In 1866, at the age of 16, Tom went on a world tour.
After the death of general Bethune, the care of Tom was transferred to Betune's son John. After John died in 1883, Tom retired but had a series of concerts in New York City in 1904 and went back into retirement.
Blind Tom died June 13 1908 in Hoboken, New Jersey and was buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. People of Columbus, Georgia, raised a commemorative headstone for him in 1976.de:Tom Wiggins