The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry by Harlan Lane, Richard C. Pillard, Ulf Hedberg Page A
Tags: Psychology, Clinical Psychology
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apart from Deaf people as well. In the legend of the abbe de l'Epee, Deaf education began when he led two Deaf women to literacy by employing sign language. Now Gallaudet would do likewise in America with AliceD. The legend continues (translated and abridged) as follows:
AliceD s father, Mason Fitch Cogswell, was a wealthy surgeon; he raised money to send Gallaudet to Europe to learn methods of educating the Deaf. In Britain, Gallaudet found a monopoly on Deaf education that claimed to use speech exclusively with Deaf pupils and would not allow him to learn its methods. At the Paris school founded by the abbe de l'Epee, where sign language was the rule, Gallaudet was welcomed. He studied with Laurent ClercD, who was then a teacher at the school. Together Gallaudet and ClercD traveled to Hartford, solicited funds in several eastern cities, and opened their school, which over the years would bring together hundreds of Deaf children. The Hartford school spawned dozens more in America, all using its sign language, which was based on C1ercDs.
And that's how the Deaf-World began in America-in legend. In fact, Deaf people gathered for mutual support and socializing long before the opening of the Hartford School, as we report in Parts II, III, and IV of this volume. We are informed that many schools for the Deaf perform the unabridged legend each December 10, on Gallaudet's birthday.79 There are many more such legends.80
Opened in 1817, the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (later the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb) was America's first charitable institution and the first enduring school for its Deaf people. Pupils from the large Deaf population on Martha's Vineyard brought their island sign language to school; those from other families with numerous Deaf members brought their manual communication practices; and those raised in a hearing environment brought the "home sign" that served their communicative needs at home. All those pupils learned ClercD s sign language, as did disciples who came from other states, aiming to found schools for the Deaf on their return home. What emerged from the meeting between ClercD s French Sign Language and the pupils' diverse sign systems has been called a contact language-which we now call, in its contemporary form, American Sign Language.81 In America, as in France, the mother school soon sent its teachers and graduates all over the country to teach in Deaf schools and to found new ones. As early as 1834, a single sign language was recognized in schools for the Deaf in the United States. By the time of C1ercD s death in 1869, there were some thirty residential schools in the United States with over 3000 pupils and almost 200 teachers. In that same year, the first school for black Deaf children opened in Raleigh, North Carolina. Nearly half of the teachers in the schools for the Deaf were Deaf themselves. Most Deaf pupils and teachers took Deaf spouses and had Deaf as well as hearing children, and this, too, helped to disseminate ASL. The success of the residential schools led to the creation of high school and then college preparatory classes, which led in turn to the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet University).
A few years before ClercD s death, one of his former pupils, Thomas BrownD of Henniker, New Hampshire, organized the largest gathering of Deaf people ever assembled. (We will have more to say about BrownD and his Deaf clan, in Part II.) Two hundred Deaf people, some from as far away as Virginia, and two hundred pupils of the American Asylum, gathered in Hartford in 1850. The announced purpose of the gathering was to express their gratitude to Gallaudet and ClercD but later events proved that BrownD likely had a political agenda going beyond gratitude: he wanted to counteract the scattering of Deaf people by gatherings to improve their lot. Engraved silver pitchers were presented to Gallaudet and ClercD. The engraving was rich
AliceD s father, Mason Fitch Cogswell, was a wealthy surgeon; he raised money to send Gallaudet to Europe to learn methods of educating the Deaf. In Britain, Gallaudet found a monopoly on Deaf education that claimed to use speech exclusively with Deaf pupils and would not allow him to learn its methods. At the Paris school founded by the abbe de l'Epee, where sign language was the rule, Gallaudet was welcomed. He studied with Laurent ClercD, who was then a teacher at the school. Together Gallaudet and ClercD traveled to Hartford, solicited funds in several eastern cities, and opened their school, which over the years would bring together hundreds of Deaf children. The Hartford school spawned dozens more in America, all using its sign language, which was based on C1ercDs.
And that's how the Deaf-World began in America-in legend. In fact, Deaf people gathered for mutual support and socializing long before the opening of the Hartford School, as we report in Parts II, III, and IV of this volume. We are informed that many schools for the Deaf perform the unabridged legend each December 10, on Gallaudet's birthday.79 There are many more such legends.80
Opened in 1817, the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (later the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb) was America's first charitable institution and the first enduring school for its Deaf people. Pupils from the large Deaf population on Martha's Vineyard brought their island sign language to school; those from other families with numerous Deaf members brought their manual communication practices; and those raised in a hearing environment brought the "home sign" that served their communicative needs at home. All those pupils learned ClercD s sign language, as did disciples who came from other states, aiming to found schools for the Deaf on their return home. What emerged from the meeting between ClercD s French Sign Language and the pupils' diverse sign systems has been called a contact language-which we now call, in its contemporary form, American Sign Language.81 In America, as in France, the mother school soon sent its teachers and graduates all over the country to teach in Deaf schools and to found new ones. As early as 1834, a single sign language was recognized in schools for the Deaf in the United States. By the time of C1ercD s death in 1869, there were some thirty residential schools in the United States with over 3000 pupils and almost 200 teachers. In that same year, the first school for black Deaf children opened in Raleigh, North Carolina. Nearly half of the teachers in the schools for the Deaf were Deaf themselves. Most Deaf pupils and teachers took Deaf spouses and had Deaf as well as hearing children, and this, too, helped to disseminate ASL. The success of the residential schools led to the creation of high school and then college preparatory classes, which led in turn to the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet University).
A few years before ClercD s death, one of his former pupils, Thomas BrownD of Henniker, New Hampshire, organized the largest gathering of Deaf people ever assembled. (We will have more to say about BrownD and his Deaf clan, in Part II.) Two hundred Deaf people, some from as far away as Virginia, and two hundred pupils of the American Asylum, gathered in Hartford in 1850. The announced purpose of the gathering was to express their gratitude to Gallaudet and ClercD but later events proved that BrownD likely had a political agenda going beyond gratitude: he wanted to counteract the scattering of Deaf people by gatherings to improve their lot. Engraved silver pitchers were presented to Gallaudet and ClercD. The engraving was rich
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