Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section25/W. Moses Holleman

Overview
Wilton Moses Holleman (born 1893), known as "The Blind Mattress Maker," was the owner of a mattress manufacturing company in Wilson, North Carolina in the early twentieth century. He was interviewed by Stanley Combs for the Federal Writers' Project in 1939.

Early Life
Wilton Moses Holleman was born on a farm in an unknown region of North Carolina on July 18, 1897. Both his father and mother worked on the farm, with his father working in the lumber business during the winter. As a child, Holleman worked on his family's farm and attended school alongside his three brothers and three sisters. Around the age of fifteen, Holleman became blind due to what doctors described as "a weak nervous system and a general weakening of the nerves of the eyes." His younger brother also developed blindness in his teenage years, and his older brother's vision also weakened. After his loss of vision, Holleman attended a school for the blind where he learned "manual training."

Career
After his primary education, Holleman attended a university in North Carolina. He had hoped to become a teacher, either in a school for the blind or at another university. However, after completing his first two years of college, Holleman was unable to pay for tuition and decided to move to Wilson, North Carolina in 1922 to earn a living. There, he began to make mattresses with "a very limited amount of capital." He started the Wilson Bedding Company, and hired and trained local males to help him make different types of mattresses as well as repair old ones. Despite his blindness, Holleman used his sense of touch to do quality inspections of the mattresses that were made and sold. The company grew slowly, but eventually became large enough to be affected by the Social Security Act of 1935.

Personal Life
In his interview with the Federal Writers' Project, Holleman was described as someone who was "quiet in manner and [talked] intelligently." Holleman attributed a lot of his knowledge to the invention of the radio, which he was able to buy using the profits from his mattress company. He also expressed approval for Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency and for his Fireside Chats, saying that he would vote for Roosevelt if he were to run for a third term.

When he moved to Wilson, N.C, Holleman married a woman named Effie Sullivan, though little information is known about her.

Death
Holleman died on July 3, 1963 in Wilson, N.C due to coronary artery disease.

Education for the Blind in the Early Twentieth Century
Schools that were designated specifically for blind individuals were called "residential schools," which were originally established for deaf children in Paris in local communities. Residential schools for the blind were created with the intent of offering specialized education that was separate from those who could see while also providing living accommodations. These schools were first established in the United States in the early 1830s and were open to blind individuals of all ages. Samuel Gridley Howe, a teacher in the U.S, argued for the importance of training the blind to become independent in society. He opened the Perkins School for the Blind in 1831, which influenced the establishment of many other schools with the same model. The majority of schools in the U.S that were designated for the blind were state funded. As the number of advocates for blind visibility increased, support for education for blind children in the public school system grew. The first braille class offered in American public schools began in 1900 in Chicago, Illinois. With braille classes spreading to other public schools, a trend toward integrating blind and non-blind children became present. From this, residential schools in the U.S shifted towards preparing blind children for general society through methods such as sending high school students to public schools while letting them live at the residential school. Until 1948, when the first cases of retrolental fibroplasia cases began to enter school, less than 10% of blind children attended public school.



Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats"
With the increase in the number of home radio sets and radio networks across the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to communicate with the American people in an unprecedented way. Through what are known as his "Fireside Chats," Roosevelt spoke directly to the American public regarding his activities as President. Throughout his presidency, Roosevelt delivered twenty-eight Fireside Chats, with the first one being given eight days after he assumed office. The timing of each Fireside Chat was carefully decided in accordance with major events such as the beginning of war in Europe or the declaration of war on Japan. With these Chats, Roosevelt intended for directness and intimacy with the listeners, and therefore exclusively referred to himself as "I" and the American public as "you." Ultimately, the Fireside Chats were a demonstration of the ability of Roosevelt to "bring the people right into the White House." The Chats were often referred to as "the first time in American history the people of the nation were made to feel that they knew their President personally." The framing of the Chats gave the American people the sense that they played a direct role in shaping federal government policies. Many attribute Roosevelt's Fireside Chats to his popularity among American voters, in spite of opposition from the press and Congress.