Ferguson was born in Jamaica , British West Indies , on January 27 , 1904 . In 1919 , he was sent to the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia for treatment and correction of his very poor eyesight . He was classified as " functionally blind , " as his vision could be only partially corrected . Nevertheless , he said : " I always felt I was only half blind , and never considered myself handicapped . " He lived in the United States for the remainder of his life . He was married twice . He and his second wife , who was White , lived in Birmingham , Alabama , and attended the African-American 16th Street Baptist Church . After the infamous fire bombing of the church in September 1963 , he and his wife decided to leave the South and settled in San Francisco , where there was less racial tension and interracial marriage was more accepted . He had an office on Clement Street in the Avenues , and his wife preceded him in death . He was a prolific author with a larger-than-life personality , and continued to study and write until his death in 1992
infamous fire bombing of the church
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Ira Lunan Ferguson