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    The Blind History Lady Presents; John Swearingen-Know Your Place Blind Boy!
    The Blind History Lady Presents; John Swearingen-Know Your Place Blind Boy!
    The Blind History Lady Presents; John Swearingen-Know Your Place Blind Boy!
    Ebook143 pages2 hours

    The Blind History Lady Presents; John Swearingen-Know Your Place Blind Boy!

    By Peggy Chong

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    About this ebook

    Blinded at age 13, John Swearingen faced a fierce battle to receive an education as a blind youth in his home community. As an adult, he met prejudice and roadblocks to enter college, graduate, find employment as a teacher and acceptance in the state of South Carolina. Because of his own experience with discrimination, John developed a strong vision of a quality education for all, no matter their status in life. Years after graduating from college at the top of his class and not allowed to prove himself as a teacher in the public schools of South Carolina, John ran for the office of State Superintendent of Education for the state of South Carolina—and won. The contributions he made during his lifetime to public education, family and his community are still felt in the state of South Carolina today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeggy Chong
    Release dateAug 11, 2017
    ISBN9781370474585
    The Blind History Lady Presents; John Swearingen-Know Your Place Blind Boy!
    Author

    Peggy Chong

    Peggy Chong is a long-time researcher and Historical author of many articles on the blind in the United States. She has written for publications that include The Braille Monitor, Dialogue Magazine, Future Reflections, The Minnesota Bulletin and the Iowa History Journal. In her growing series, The Blind Lady Presents, she introduces to sighted and blind alike, the many average blind persons in the United States who had to overcome not-so-average barriers to lead a normal life, support their families and succeed. She recounts all they had to do to become chemists, newspaper editors, plumbers, barbers, piano tuners, boat builders, teachers, lawyers, politicians and so much more.

    Read more from Peggy Chong

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      Book preview

      The Blind History Lady Presents; John Swearingen-Know Your Place Blind Boy! - Peggy Chong

      The Blind History Lady Presents;

      John Swearingen

      Know Your Place Blind Boy!

      By Peggy Chong

      Edited by Marsha Dyer

      Distributed by Smashwords

      Copyright 2017

      Look for other articles by the Blind History Lady through your local ebook retailer.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or if it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Meet Mr. Swearingen

      John E. -- Masculine or Feminine

      The Changes At Age Thirteen

      Yes, I Want to Go to College—I Want a Career

      Meet Mr. Superintendent

      Working Toward a Married Life

      Avoiding Obscurity

      Philosophy on Life

      The Swearingen Legacy

      End Notes

      Introduction

      In this book we will meet a man who took all the good, bad, and indifference that he found in the world and made the most of it—not only for himself, but for others as well.

      Born after the Civil War in the depleted South, there was much to be sad about—greed, anger, and bitterness—but not in John. Resources were scarce. Discrimination was the norm. Connections and image were everything. Family honor and respect, as well as strict observance of tradition, was expected from its citizens.

      As a boy, born after the Civil War into an established Old South family, he had prestige and connections. The money was gone, but the family land (much of it anyway) was still there. The old traditions and lessons were taught to him; the lessons of his county and family's past were still observed in his family and his neighbors. Tradition dictated that he, the oldest son, would inherit the family farm and carry on as his grandfather and his grandfather's grandfather before him had done for more than a century in South Carolina.

      But blindness as a teen brought a change to everything. Choices had to be made. But who would make the choices, he or others? Expectations needed to be realigned, but who would determine and design the new expectations? Options were nonexistent in his home community. Hope was something he was not even sure he had. Who would be the best to make his life's choices and take control of his future? Who would care for him? Would he marry or have children?

      As I researched this man, it seemed that there was an internal self-knowledge and wisdom beyond his years and experience that guided him, without his awareness it often seemed. As a teen, some of the decisions were not yet able to be made by him. Yet all of the decisions made in that year after his blindness would set the stage for the rest of his life. From the very day of his accident he took the driver's seat in his life, speaking his mind and even demanding his wishes be adhered to.

      Although steeped in tradition and a certainty that a disabled person was less than half a person, John's self-awareness and confidence inspired others in his family who would have never given another blind person the same chances or advantages to put their faith and support behind the blind youth. Or was it that the times were changing, and his family (unbeknownst to them) was changing, too?

      Back to top

      Meet Mr. Swearingen

      John Eldred Swearingen was born on January 9, 1875, in Edgefield County, South Carolina, the second son of John Cloud (J. C.) and Anna Tillman-Swearingen. Sadly, their first son Bennie had just recently passed away, making John E. the eldest of the children. He quickly became their little angelic darling with blonde hair and blue eyes. A set of twins, George and Sophie, were born just two years later to round out the J. C. Swearingen family. From the beginning of John's life, it seemed that he was destined for greater things. John was a bright and ambitious child, and he enjoyed learning, discovering, and reading.

      Life on the Swearingen farm was typical at that time for the Edgefield County, South Carolina, landowners. There were many different animals in and around the farm to care for: pigs, cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, dogs, and goats to name a few. His father also had packs of bloodhounds and fox hounds trained for hunting on the varied seasons for each year. Crops were grown, and there were chores to do every day—caring for the animals, hauling firewood, getting water for the house, repairs, and more.

      As a young child John had a pet billy goat he called Blue Billy Goat. The two were fast friends. John would ride on his back when he was very young or hitch him to a cart and play all kinds of imaginary games. The two, boy and goat, would romp around the farm together almost each day in their imaginary worlds.

      When John was about ten, his father gave his two sons their own little plot of ground to plant, tend, and raise their own cotton. This was to teach the boys early their lessons on becoming a farmer and being ready to become successful with their own crops and farm when they grew up.

      John loved to learn as well as play. The love of learning pulled even more at him than outside games. When mother would call out to him to come in for lessons, John was right there. To his mother's joy, John loved to read and write. His handwriting was flawless from the beginning as he practiced it frequently with his mother in their home-school classes and when there were other opportunities. His mother had a few wonderful books that had survived the war years to interest the children and use as schoolbooks. In their area, there was no school of any kind to send the children to, white or black, in this post-Civil War era.

      South Carolina had suffered greatly during the war, and re-building would take decades. Schools and all their content had been burned or destroyed. Many of the homes and farms had been occupied by Union troops. Many of the buildings and the land were heavily damaged or destroyed by such occupations. Bridges were destroyed. Indeed much of the infrastructure of South Carolina was set back by decades. Changes brought by the war, such as the black South Carolinians, were no longer to be treated as slaves, which meant that the plantations would need to do more than just feed, clothe, and shelter their workers—they would now need to pay them. Slavery itself had been a lucrative business, and now that was not allowed any longer. The South of ten years ago was now a distant memory to families such as John's.

      Hearing the Civil War stories from family and neighbors who had been so much a part of the war as soldiers or those who hid from the Union Army and the proud history of his family lineage, John romanticized their tales in his mind and wanted to grow up and become a general in the army. He wanted to attend West Point. His mother told him that this was a great goal but to achieve it, he would need to study and study hard; this John did eagerly. His father took him to military parades where John saw the men in uniform, carrying their rifles and the like. It greatly impressed him and filled him with reflected pride and a yearning to be just like them and his ancestors.

      The Swearingen family clan can trace their lines back to St. Mary's, Summerset, Maryland, in the 1660s. Thomas Swearingen, born in St. Mary's, was the first American Swearingen, born to Gerret Van Sweringen of Holland. (The spelling changed when coming to the new world, and the Van from the beginning of the last name was dropped.) Thomas's son Samuel signed his name to a letter of grievances to King George III in 1768 while living in North Carolina. Thomas's grandson, Samuel Jr., fought in the Revolutionary War. Samuel Sr. was the first ancestor to come to Edgefield County, South Carolina, with his family after spending many years in North Carolina where the Swearingen's were community and church leaders.

      The Swearingen family take pride in stories of ancestors who had their brush with fame. Samuel Jr.'s son, Van was a captain in the Revolutionary War and had met General George Washington when he came through South Carolina and stopped at his tavern. General Washington presented Van with a sword that hung proudly in Van's establishment. The sword was later destroyed in the Civil War. Van's son, Moses, had a large plantation with several slaves in Edgefield County. In 1838 he found himself short on funds and was forced to sell about 200 acres of land to the highest bidder, yet he still had a substantial amount of land holdings. Moses acted as executor for many of his relatives’ estates with the courts of the county, denoting that he was a trusted man of finance and the law. He was also a minister in his parish, Mount Zion Baptist Church in Edgefield County. The Swearingen's were devout members of the Horns Creek Baptist Church.

      John Cloud, the son of Moses, was the twelfth of seventeen siblings. John C. lost his father Moses in 1854 when he was only thirteen. At a young age, he became a man and helped to operate the family farm.

      Education had always been a strong value in the Swearingen family for generations. Just as the Civil War broke out, John and his younger brother were preparing to enter college. The war changed everything for John, his brother, his family, and for the entire county. John was one of the first to sign up and fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War. He served as an officer from Edgefield County. John Sr. fought in some of the more famous battles. On his first march, he was one of the many soldiers to capture Fort Sumter. He fought at such battles as Gettysburg and Lookout Mountain. He was wounded in both battles yet did not return home or leave the military until the war was over. His dream of going to college was pushed aside because after the war there was little left of the family and their land to provide for an income. Much work needed to be done at home to rebuild.

      Coming back home, John Cloud became a member of the Red Shirts. The Red Shirts were white supremacist paramilitary groups that were active in the late 19th century in the South. Parades of the Red Shirts took place before elections in hope to frighten the black voters into voting the right way. J. C. took part in these parades. If he took part in any raids or illegal activities, no records confirm this. For many in South Carolina, the war had changed how they lived, but not how they felt.

      John Cloud liked to be a father and took his boys hunting and showed John E. how to use a gun. Hunting was not just for sport; all through John's childhood and young adult years, hunting provided food and protected their land and livestock. For John E. this was a great time with his father, bonding them closely for the rest of their lives. John C. showed his young son how to handle a gun properly and frequently took him target practicing. John E. became a good shot with his dad's guns to the consternation of his mother.

      His mother, Anna Tillman, was the sister of

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