http://goo.gl/3ygpvs
Just look through a few people generally accepted as fitting the criteria for autistic savant by virtue of the observations of characteristics each expressed while others documented their savant abilities.
Thomas Fuller
"Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins was an African American musical prodigy on the piano. He had numerous original compositions published and had a lengthy and largely successful performing career throughout the United States. " Wikipedia
Thomas Fuller
"Thomas Fuller, an African sold into slavery in 1724 at the age of 14, was sometimes known as the “Virginia Calculator” for his extraordinary ability to solve complex math problems in his head. Rumors circulated that he was a savant, since he could not read or write, but that was not uncommon among slaves at the time. Some believed that he may have gained his skills with math in his homeland in Africa. His owners, Presley and Elizabeth Cox of Alexandria, Virginia were also illiterate. They never sold him so that all his life he remained in one place'.
"Thomas Fuller was significant in that his abilities were used as proof that enslaved Blacks were equal to whites in intelligence, which fueled some pro-abolitionist discussion." (Wikipedia)
Thomas Wiggins
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| Tom Wiggins 1861 credit Wikimedia Commons |
Tom was blind at birth and descriptions of his behavior onstage and off have experts concluding he was an autistic savant.
Tom was also called "The Last Slave In America" because his owners had him declared on compos mentis in order to continue ownership of him after the Civil War.
Born: May 25, 1849, Harris County, Georgia, GA
Died: June 14, 1908, Hoboken, NJ