Five Blind Boys of Mississippi

Five Blind Boys of Mississippi The group was formed in the mid-1930s by students at the Piney Woods School, located outside Jackson, Mississippi, one of many Southern schools for poor, handicapped children. Like most of these schools, Piney Woods emphasized music as part of its curriculum, with the idea that a musical career was one way for a blind person to make a living in the South. The group’s leader was vocalist Archie Brownlee (sometimes spelled Brownley), who enlisted his fellow students…