Scholars who have studied Wiggins have suggested that his reported behavior and abilities could have been indicators of autism, and that, should he have been living after autism was described, he would have been considered an autistic savant (“Blind Tom Wiggins,” n.d.). He was an excellent mimic and could recreate entire conversations and sounds. He was considered a musical prodigy on the piano, and by age five had composed “ The Rain Storm” as a partial interpretation of the sound of rain on the roof. It was at this time that his interest in music was discovered, perhaps by General Bethune’s daughters. His blindness restricted him from the jobs that would normally be given to an enslaved child, so he was reportedly left to play and explore in the Bethune house. Tom Wiggins, later known simply as Blind Tom, was born into slavery and sold with his parents to General James Neil Bethune, a lawyer and newspaper editor in Columbus Georgia. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3b30858.
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