The true story of a black musical savant in the era of
slavery.
Born into slavery in Georgia, Tom Wiggins died an international
celebrity in New York in 1908. His life was one of the most bizarre
and moving episodes in American history. Born blind and
autistic-and so unable to work with other slaves-Tom was left to
his own devices. He was mesmerized by the music of the family's
young daughters, and by the time he was fourTom was playing tunes
on the piano.
Eventually freed from slavery, Wiggins, or "Blind Tom" as he was
called, toured the country and the world playing for celebrities
like Mark Twain and the Queen of England and dazzling audiences
everywhere. One part genius and one part novelty act, Blind Tom
embodied contradictions-a star and a freak, freed from slavery but
still the property of his white guardian. His life offers a window
into the culture of celebrity and racism at the turn of the
twentieth century.
In this rollicking and heartrending book, O'Connell takes us
through the life (and three separate deaths) of Blind Tom Wiggins,
restoring to the modern reader this unusual yet quintessentially
American life.