Kenneth Jernigan was born totally blind in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up on a farm in the hills of Tennessee. Beginning at the age of six, he was educated at the Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee for his undergraduate work, and he went on to earn his Master's Degree in English from Peabody College in Nashville. He excelled at that institution both academically and in leadership development. Among other things, he was listed in "Who's Who" among colleges and universities, and received an award in 1949, the Captain Charles W. Brown Award, presented each year by the American Foundation for the Blind to America's most outstanding blind college student. As leader of the National Federation of the Blind, Jernigan would participate in major conflicts with the American Foundation for the Blind.