The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) was founded on November 16, 1940 in Wilkes Barre, PA, at a meeting of the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Federation of the Blind (PFB) during its state convention. Led by Jacobus tenBroek (1911-1968), a young blind constitutional law scholar, members of the PFB executive committee and representatives of blind organizations from six other states—California, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Illinois—adopted a constitution and elected their first officers. Their mission was to create a national organization governed by the blind with a majority blind membership that would work to improve the social, economic, and physical well-being of all blind people through mutual aid and common action. This organization would band together the various state associations of or for the blind, along with individual blind members, to deal directly with the federal government and work to advance a national legislative program.

The chief authority of the NFB is the Convention, made up of the membership assembled at the annual national convention. Officers include the president, first vice-president, second vice-president, secretary, and treasurer who are elected biennially by a majority vote of the affiliates present and voting at the national convention. The president serves as the principal administrative officer, implements policies adopted by the Convention, and conducts the everyday affairs of the organization. He also appoints committee members, coordinates the work of officers and committee members, and supervises NFB employees. The organization has had seven presidents, of whom the three longest-serving are regarded as having set the course for the NFB. Serving as president have been:  Jacobus tenBroek (1940-1961, 1966-1968); John Taylor (1961-1962); Perry Sundquist (1962); Russell Kletzing (1962-1966); Kenneth Jernigan (1968-1977, 1978-1986), Ralph Sanders (1977-1978); and Marc Maurer (1986-present).

During the early period of the NFB, the officers were members of an executive committee that included four additional elected members and acted as the governing body when the Convention was not in session. By 1960 the executive committee had been expanded to include four additional members. This was supplemented with an advisory board of directors consisting of the executive committee and up to twelve others appointed by the executive committee and confirmed by the Convention. In 1986, the executive committee and advisory board of directors were replaced by a new Board of Directors made up of the five officers and twelve elected members. Each member serves for a two-year period, and half of the board is up for election each year. This governance structure is still used today.

Under the tenBroek administration, the NFB was headquartered in tenBroek’s home in Berkeley, California. In 1968, Jernigan, then the director of the Iowa Commission for the Blind, moved the headquarters to Des Moines, Iowa, where it occupied offices in the Randolph Hotel (approximately 1970-1979). In 1979, the NFB chose to close the Washington, D.C., office it had operated since the early days of the organization in favor of moving the headquarters to the nearby city of Baltimore, Maryland. Under Jernigan’s direction, the Federation bought and renovated two loft buildings dating to approximately 1910. This facility, located in South Baltimore, was dubbed the National Center for the Blind.

Today, the National Federation of the Blind stands as the largest membership organization of the blind in the United States. It is a nonprofit organization, governed by the blind with a voting membership that is primarily blind. The NFB seeks to improve the lives of blind people through networking, advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs that encourage independence and self-confidence. NFB membership is made up of approximately 50,000 blind people, parents of blind children, and other interested parties. Each year the membership assembles in national convention where they conduct the business of the NFB, elect officers, and vote on resolutions. Other membership activities include participation in divisions, committees, and groups, which are focused on occupations, special interest groups, fundraising projects, recreational interests, and legislative issues, as well as areas related to blindness. Divisions have their own constitutions and elect their leadership, while committee members are appointed by the president and groups are run by chairpersons with the president’s approval. At times, new divisions are formed or a group or committee will be upgraded to a division. All new divisions must be approved by the Board of Directors.

The NFB operates a monthly publication called the Braille Monitor, which has run from 1957 to 1960 and from 1964 to the present day. Publication from 1961-1964 was suspended due to financial problems related to their mass mail program. During this time it was replaced by The Blind American, which was published by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults (AAF). The Braille Monitor has been available in Braille and inkprint since its establishment. In later years Talking Book editions were produced, first on disk (flexible or rigid), and then on cassette. It is now available in digital format.

The International Braille and Technology Center—a comprehensive evaluation, demonstration, and training center focused on access technology for the blind—opened in 1990. In 1995, the NFB-Newsline^® service was launched, giving blind people on-demand access to hundreds of newspapers and magazines in accessible formats through their telephone, by email, through an online portal, or downloaded to a device as an MP3 audio file. In 2004, after an extensive expansion project, the NFB opened the Jernigan Institute, a research and training facility on blindness. In 2010, the name National Center for the Blind was retired and the entire headquarters became known as the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute.

The NFB has affiliates in all fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Each affiliate has its own constitution, by-laws, and charter of affiliation with the national organization. Affiliates are mandated by the NFB Constitution to actively create programs and work toward the betterment of the blind in their territories. They must also hold an annual state convention and send representatives to the national convention.  Officers are elected by majority vote of affiliate members and their governing hierarchies vary among affiliates. As is the case with the national organization, elected officers and the majority of voting members of each state affiliate and local chapter must be blind. They also operate state-level divisions, committees, and groups, which are considered subsidiaries of their national-level counterparts. Affiliates are also subject to all policy decisions made by the national organization. Within the affiliates are over 700 local chapters, each with their own officers and procedures. Members who do not live near a chapter are considered members-at-large, either at the affiliate or national level.

The American Brotherhood for the Blind (ABB) was founded by Florian A. Baker, a member of the Theosophical Society, in 1919. Originally called the American Brotherhood for Free Matter for the Blind in California, it was a nonprofit and nonsectarian organization with a mission to provide free reading material to the blind. More commonly known as the American Brotherhood for the Blind, the name refers to the organization’s belief in the universal brotherhood of all mankind and that services should be provided to all, regardless of race, gender, or national origin. Baker served as its first president until 1939, when the office was passed to Newel Perry—blind educator and mentor to Jacobus tenBroek, who would succeed him and go on to found the NFB.

In 1932 the ABB began publishing The All Story Braille Magazine, a collection of fiction available only in Braille and distributed free to blind people. In 1945, the magazine began adding a legislative supplement which provided information on legislative movements and programs affecting the blind. In 1957 the magazine name was changed to the Braille Monitor and it was proclaimed to be the voice of the National Federation of the Blind. The fiction stories were replaced by news articles concerning matters of interest to the blind. And on January 1, 1959, the ABB Board of Directors voted to transfer the publication and distribution duties to the NFB. From 1961-1964, during a period of fiscal uncertainty related to the NFB mass mail program, the ABB published The Blind American in place of the Braille Monitor and distributed it to members of both organizations. In 1964, the NFB resumed publication of the Braille Monitor and oversees the publication to present day.

The ABB began publishing Twin Vision^® Books in 1962. These are children’s picture books with identical print and Braille text side by side that are given to blind children, blind parents with sighted children, regional Braille libraries, and schools for the blind. In 1962 or 1963 the ABB also began operating the American Brotherhood for the Blind Library—a free lending library featuring Braille books for children—out of its Tarzana, California, office. This was renamed the Kenneth Jernigan Library for Blind Children in 1991. In 1964 the ABB began printing and distributing Braille calendars and in 1965 also began publishing a weekly summary of national news in Braille known as the Hot-Line to the Deaf-Blind. In 1981, the ABB—in partnership with the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (a division of the NFB)—began publishing Future Reflections. The Free Braille Books for Blind Children program and the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest to promote Braille literacy were both established in 1997.

In 1990 the ABB changed its name to the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults (AAF). It was believed that the usage and meaning of the word “brotherhood” had changed significantly since 1919 and the organization wished to reassert its commitment to providing assistance to all blind people. Today the AAF continues to provide reading matter for the blind and deaf-blind, to provide assistance to those losing their sight, to educate the public on blindness, and to act as a consultant for government and private agencies serving the blind. It also offers scholarships to blind students and runs the Volunteer Lawyers for the Blind program. Still a nonprofit, the AAF has offices at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as in Tarzana, California. Officers include a president, two vice presidents, secretary, treasurer, and board of directors who are all blind and work without compensation. It also has a full-time executive director and relies on a nationwide network of volunteers to carry out its work.

The Jacobus tenBroek Memorial Fund (JtB), originally known as the NFB Endowment Fund, was established in 1956 and charged with the raising of capital to finance the work of the NFB. In 1968 the name was changed in honor of NFB founder and first president, Jacobus tenBroek. Overseeing the JtB is a committee comprised of appointees selected by the president of the NFB. Beyond fundraising duties, the JtB owns and maintains the headquarters of the NFB in Baltimore, Maryland.

Note written by Anna Kresmer