Ray Charles Research Paper

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Ray Charles- The Blind Genius Ray Charles was known as a pioneer of soul music, a blind genius, and a legend. Even though he was blind, he was very independent and never gave up. He was one of the greatest artists of all time and was admired by many. Blindness affects more than one million Americans (Marcovitz 6). Experts say more than two-thirds of blindness can be avoided through timely prevention or treatment (7). An estimated amount of three-hundred million people will suffer from blindness by 2020. Ray was born on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia. (Sloate 8). At age seven Ray starting losing his eyesight more and more every day. When Ray woke up one morning he could not open his eyes so his mom, Aretha, took him to a clinic. The …show more content…

One reason he overcame his disability was by meeting new women. Ray had many relationships in his life and ended up having twelve children with nine different women (Brown 58). In Ray’s free time he played chess against people who were not blind and won almost every time (Sloate 29). He spent hours practicing the piano and sang songs (9). Ray did not want a cane or a dog to help him because he wanted to be very independent (Brown 31). He drove cars with help from a friend, did chores, cooked dinner, did laundry, shopped, rode a bicycle, got an apartment, and even flew his own private plane with barely any help (Sloate 24). Ray saw life primarily as an example of what anyone can accomplish (Tate). Ray said, "I was going to do what I was going to do anyway. So blindness didn’t have anything to do with it. It didn't give me anything. And it didn't take …show more content…

He fought against discrimination and blind rights. He worked hard to end segregation and raised money for Martin Luther King because he could not march (Sloate 23). Ray also refused to perform at segregated concerts and inspired many by his bravery and independence. Ray said,“Got to go and do what I want to do, what I think is right for me.” During the time to end segregation it was hard for Ray but he kept trying to just do what was right. He said, “I would like people to know that you can recover from a lot of adversity that you might have in your life if you keep pressing

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