Ray Charles

Ray Charles

In the 1930s many black musicians where coming out of the south. One especially who would soon top the charts and hit fame and fortune starting in his young years, Ray Charles. After conquering poverty, blindness and many other things, success was possible. In his young age he had a few losses in his family and near after came down with a disease which was causing him to go blind. He later came over the blindness and was able to learn and compose music with the help of his skills in mathematics. After enduring a harsh childhood and blindness, Ray Charles was able to over come his handicap and follow his dream in music.

Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1903 to a very poor family. Although no birth record exists, his mother, Retha Robinson, dubbed him Ray Robinson, which he later changed so as to not be confused with Sugar Ray Robinson, a famous boxer (World Book 383). Ray Charles, or as everyone called him RC, was born to a mother only sixteen years old and she had another coming. By RC's first birthday, his little brother George was born. "None was sure who George's father was, but all remembered that Mr. Pit and Mis Georgia, who had no children of their own, adopted George to take the added burden off Retha"(Michael 7). While Retha was not able to watch over RC, he was cared for bye her friend Mary Jane, who was split up with her husband and had lost her son.

At the age of five, RC and George where both active in chores and would go to church every Sunday (Michael 6). Not too soon after Ray turned five years old, there was a very tragic accident at their house. While RC's little brother was in the bath tub he drowned. At first Ray was unsure that he was drowning and thought that he was just playing going to the bottom of the washtub to get a shiny penny, but then Ray realized his splashes and kicks weren't from him playing around. When Ray realized, he attempted to pull him out since he was only one year older than his brother, he lacked the strength to pull him out, so he yelled for his mother. Retha ran out but by the time she had pulled George out of the tub, it was to late (Michael 9).

A few months after this tragic event RC was having trouble with his vision, he was having problems with puss coming from his eyes and would wake up every morning with his eyes stuck shut. After his vision was just getting worse and worse, his mother took him to a doctor, Doctor McLeod. He was then prescribed ointments and eye drops and was also instructed to visit a clinic fourteen miles away from their home (Michael 9). Soon after Retha was told that her son was going blind, so she admitted him to a new school. He was then put on the train and sent to Saint Augustine's school for the def and the blind (10).

At the age of seven RC went completely blind. At this new school, St. Augustine's, RC was able to learn and become a great basket weaver; he was also able to build his musical skills. Since racial discrimination was still around in Ray's section of the school, the part for the colored students was where all the hand-me-downs from the white students would go. "We got their old brail books with the bumps so mashed down the children could hardly read them"(Michael 14). Even though there was this problem in the school, Ray was able to very quickly learned how to read brail at just a very young age. Once Ray was in the