 He moved to Oakland, California in 1953 and joined the faculty of the newly established California Orientation Center for Blind Adults.In that same year (1953), he also became fully active in the "organized blind movement" and became a noted civil rights leader in earnest for the remainder of his life.In a 1954 Jernigan document, when he was challenging the California school system to hire qualified, blind teachers, there is early evidence of his passion for justice for the blind.