Thomas Greene Wiggins was born on May 25, 1849, to Mungo and Charity Wiggins, slaves on a Georgia plantation. He was blind and autistic but a musical genius with a phenomenal memory. In 1850, Tom, his parents, and two brothers were sold to James Neil Bethune, a lawyer and newspaper editor in Columbus, Georgia. Thomas Greene Wiggins was born on May 25, 1849, to Mungo and Charity Wiggins, slaves on a Georgia plantation. He was blind and autistic but a musical genius with a phenomenal memory. In 1850, Tom, his parents, and two brothers were sold to James Neil Bethune, a lawyer and newspaper editor in Columbus, Georgia. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay Young Tom was fascinated by music and other sounds and could make out tunes on the piano from the age of four years. He made his concert debut at age eight, in Atlanta. In 1858, Tom was hired as a slave musician, for a price of $15,000. In 1859, at the age of 10, he became the first African-American artist to perform at the White House when he gave a concert for President James Buchanan. His piano pieces “Oliver Galop” and “Virginia Polka” were published in 1860. During the Civil War he was back with his owner, raising money for Confederate aid. In 1863 he performed his own composition, "Battle of Manassas." By 1865, 16-year-old Tom Wiggins, now "under contract" to James Bethune, could play difficult works by Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven and Thalberg. He also performed plays after just one audition and memorized poems and texts in foreign languages. The advertisement claimed that Tom was uneducated, but in fact he was tutored by a music teacher who traveled with him. James Neil Bethune took Tom Wiggins to Europe where he collected accounts from music critics Ignaz Moscheles and Charles Halle, which were printed in a booklet "The Marvelous Musical Prodigy Blind Tom." Thanks to these and other supports, Blind Tom Wiggins became an internationally renowned artist. By 1868, Tom and the Bethune family were living on a Virginia farm in the summer and touring the United States and Canada the rest of the year, earning an average of $50,000 a year in concert income. James Bethune ultimately lost custody of Tom to his late son's ex-wife, Eliza Bethune. Charity Wiggins, Tom's mother, was a party to the lawsuit, but she did not take control of her son or his income. One of the most famous American artists of the 19th century, Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins was an African-American musician and composer. Blind from birth and born a slave, Wiggins became well known for his piano virtuosity. Although he was not diagnosed at the time, it is likely that he was also autistic. Thomas Greene Wiggins was born near Columbus on May 25, 1849, to Charity and Domingo Wiggins, slaves owned by Wiley Jones. After discovering that the child was blind, Jones refused to feed or clothe him. Wiggins' mother intervened to save his life, and several months later, Wiggins, his two older siblings, and his parents were sold at auction to General James Bethune, a Columbus attorney. The Bethune family had seven musically gifted children who played the piano or sang, and Wiggins would stand by, delighted, while the children practiced. Soon he begins to reproduce the music he hears on the keyboard and Bethune realizes that his young slave is a musical prodigy. Piano lessons were given to him, and Wiggins' abilities quickly surpassed those of his teachers. Bethune recognized his talent as a source.