Origins of Deaf Learning in America (The Deaf Community in America: History in the Making, Ch2)

Opening of the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb persons

April 15, 1817; 7 students enrolled, age 10-40, four became future teachers; THG was appointed Principal

Comparable findings to MV

Area in Israel discovered by two linguist in the 1990s, 150/3,500 deaf inhabitants (4%), hearing people were proficient in Al-Sayyid Sign Language (ABSL); Nicaragua

Deaf populations according to the 1880 U.S. Census (U.S., Martha's Vineyard, Chilmark, Squibnocket)

U.S. 1/6000, Martha's Vineyard 1/155, Chilmark 1/25, Squibnocket 1/4

Thomas Bolling

3/4 of his children were deaf and classmates with Francis Green's son Charles at Braidwood Academy

Sophia Fowler

14th student to enroll, married THG after she completed school and had 8 children, raised funds for a statue of THG at the University in 1887, considered one of the first lobbyists (Queen Sophia)

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (THG)

1781-1852, first of 12 children; in 1813, met Alice Cogswell (age 9) who had lost her hearing to spotted fever at age 2; met with physician Mason Cogswell who gave him a copy of Sicard's "Theorie des Signes," learned the manual alphabet; taught Alice

James Woodward

1817, discovered deaf have been signing for 100 years at Martha's Vineyard

Francis Green (1742-1809)

4th gen American, sent his deaf son to Braidwood Academy (oral education) where he learned signs and speech, advocated free education for deaf children in America (1801), translated De L'Epee's book "Education of the Deaf" into English

Cay Munro

83 years old, counselor for the deaf, parents deaf on MV, met students from the Learning Center doing a play about MV in 2004

THG's trip to Europe

Asked by Cogswell to go to Europe to learn the methods; went to England (Braidwood Academy), they wanted money in exchange for their teaching methods; went to Sicard's lectures with Massieu and Clerc on how to teach French deaf children; was invited to the National Institute's teacher preparation program for no charge and had full access to all classes and private lessons in methodology, studied signs with Massieu and Clerc; hoped to combine the French and English modes of instruction; persuaded Sicard to allow Clerc to go to America with the goal to establish a deaf school

Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL)

Chilmark Sign Language changed into MVSL which was absorbed into ASL, American Indian Sign Language (AISL) was used by hearing Wampanoags and partially contributed to MVSL

Gallaudet University

College for Deaf people established in 1864 in Washington DC; named after THG, not EMG

First permanent school in 1817

Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb persons, partnership between Mason Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet, and Laurent Clerc

Gardiner Hubbard

Daughter Mabel became deaf at age 4 due to scarlet fever (she later married Alexander Graham Bell), contributed to the Clarke School for the Deaf

Kendall School

Deaf elementary school

Martha's Vineyard

Deaf from Europe in the 17th century moved here, signing was used everywhere by both hearing and deaf, viewed as a difference, not a disability, deaf had full access to communication

Wilson Whiton

First American-born deaf teacher, admitted at the age of 12, taught at the Connecticut Asylum for 47 years

John Carlin

First deaf awarded a Master's honorary degree for his advocacy for deaf people's education

Jonathan Lambert

First deaf person on Martha's Vineyard

Laurent Clerc

First deaf teacher of deaf in America, deaf from fireplace accident, head teacher at the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb persons, married his student Eliza Crocker Boardmen and had 8 children with her (none deaf)

Boston School for Deaf Mutes (1869)

First oral day school, renamed the Horace Mann's School in 1877

American School for the Deaf

First permanent private school for deaf people in America, statue of THG and Alice Cogswell

Alice Cogswell (1805-1830)

First student to enter Connecticut Asylum; model student, demonstrated abstract thought

Samuel Edge (1700s)

Fredericksburg, VA; paid houble tuition to have his deaf son taught in a class with hearing peers

John Braidwood II

Grandson of Thomas Braidwood, head of family school in England for 2 years, moved to America in 1812; asked by Mason Cogswell and Bolling to set up a deaf school in VA, he denied the request; planned on setting up a deaf school in Philadelphia, then Baltimore; taught Bolling's daughters at Cobb's School, which only lasted 1.5 years due to Braidwood's addiction to drinking and gambling

Col. William Bolling

Hearing son of Thomas Bolling, had two deaf children and tried to open an American School for the deaf

Poole Nash

Hearing teacher of deaf students, great grandmother (90) knew 300 signs

Causes for high rates of deafness on Martha's Vineyard

Hereditary, island was isolated and insular, intermarriage was common

Alexander Graham Bell (AGB)

Inventor of the telephone, born to a deaf mother in Scotland, staunch supporter of the oral method and worked as a speech teachers, taught at the Boston Day school in 1871, opened a teacher training school in 1872, Mabel Hubbard was one of his students at Boston University before they married, began working on a device to help his deaf mother hear (turned out to be the telephone), president of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the deaf (now known as the AGB Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, fluent in sign language

Amos Kendall

Invested in Samuel Morse telegraph and became wealthy, approached to help establish a deaf school in 1855 or 1856, entered a bill in Congress to open the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, P.H. Skinner came to DC with 5 deaf children and offered to help him with a house and two acres of land

AGB's anti-deaf agenda

Involved with eugenics to eradicate deafness, considered deafness defective (despite deaf mother and wife), advocated for sterilization of deaf people and the prohibition of deaf marriages, advocated for the prohibition of deaf people becoming teachers, wanted to eradicate the language and culture of deaf people, encourage deaf people to be integrated with society

Chilmark

Isolated town on Martha's Vineyard, 1 in 4 babies were born deaf in certain areas of the town

Eva West Look

Last deaf Chilmark to pass away in 1952

The Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind

Laurent Clerc Center, elementary school opened with 12 children in 1857, EMG appointed Kendall the superintendent and Sophia the matron and board member

Importance of the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb persons

Method for teaching deaf people, first permanent school for the deaf in America, helped others establish deaf schools

Sue Galloway

Non-deaf 6th generation descendent of Clerc, librarian at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf

Bernard Engelsman

Strong believer of oralism, founded the New York School for the Improved Instruction of Deaf Mutes in 1867, founded the Lexington School for the Deaf in 1870

Edward Miner Gallaudet (EMG)

Teacher at the Connecticut Asylum, asked Congress to establish a college, worked as president of the college and superintendent of the Columbia institute, "Normal Department" added in 1891 using the combined method to train hearing people to become teachers of deaf people