The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry by Harlan Lane, Richard C. Pillard, Ulf Hedberg Page B
Tags: Psychology, Clinical Psychology
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in symbolism from Deaf history: One side of the pitcher shows Gallaudet and C1ercD leaving France; the ship is at hand and their future school is visible beyond the waves: The Old World brings enlightenment to the New. On the other side of the pitcher there is a schoolroom. On the front is a bust of ClercD s teacher, the abbe Sicard (successor to Epee), and around the neck the arms of the New England states. There were speeches and banquets and resolutions and many participants stayed on through the weekend in order to enjoy a church service interpreted into sign language. The desire of Deaf people to gather and to honor their history by presenting it in engravings indicates a sense of peoplehood that rises above the individual and the family.
The gathering in Hartford led to the creation of the first organization of the Deaf in America. Representatives from each of the New England states gathered for a week at the BrownD home in Henniker to frame a constitution for the New England Gallaudet Association of Deaf-Mutes (NEGA). This document called for a newspaper by and for Deaf-mutes, the Gallaudet Guide and Deaf-Mutes' Companion. One of the earliest periodicals in America printed exclusively for the Deaf, the Guide contained news of Deaf meetings, marriages, illnesses and deaths; discussions of issues like the education of Deaf children, and such broader social issues as slavery and religion. In the fall of 1854 "deaf-mutes" from "all parts of the union" met in Hartford for the unveiling of a monument to Gallaudet.82 On it, bas reliefs showed Gallaudet with the Asylum's first three students and his name in the manual alphabet on the opposite face. The entire monument was the "exclusive product of deaf-mute enterprise."83 Among the Deaf orators at the event, whose signing was interpreted for the hearing people in the audience, Thomas BrownD reviewed the history of Deaf education. A draft constitution for the New England Gallaudet Association of Deaf-Mutes was read out and adopted and officers were elected with Thomas BrownD as president. This was the first formal organization for Deaf people in the United States.
After the second convention of the NEGA in Concord, New Hampshire, and a third in Worcester, Massachusetts, the fourth convention was held in 1860 at the Hartford school, with some three hundred attending. The Reverend Thomas Gallaudet of New York (eldest son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet) was recruited to interpret ASL into English for the hearing people who did not know the sign language.84 BrownD gave the presidential address and Laurent ClercD took the assembly to sites significant in Deaf history, such as the house of Mason Cogswell where ClercD first met young AliceD. In the evening there was a banquet with toasts, talks and resolutions. The self-perception of the Deaf as a distinct group was in evidence. The solidarity felt was so great that there were published proposals to secure land from Congress for the formation of a Deaf state in the west.85 (See Ethnic territory below.) Then, as the graduates of the residential schools found ways to gather with the opportunity to socialize in their own language, there were more large meetings of the Deaf and numerous Deaf clubs were founded. BrownD took on other roles as a Deaf leader and campaigned for a national organization. His hope was realized when in 1880 the preeminent organization of the Deaf in America, known today as the National Association of the Deaf, was founded.
The road leading from ClercD s sign language and its use in the classroom to today's appreciation of ASL veered off course in the late nineteenth century. Industrialization, mass immigration, and the rise of eugenics demanded that all citizens cleave to a narrow identity: white, Protestant, middle class, English-speaking, and able-bodied. Increasingly, schools for the Deaf sought to replace ASL with spoken English, culminating with the implementation of the resolutions of the Milan congress. As
The gathering in Hartford led to the creation of the first organization of the Deaf in America. Representatives from each of the New England states gathered for a week at the BrownD home in Henniker to frame a constitution for the New England Gallaudet Association of Deaf-Mutes (NEGA). This document called for a newspaper by and for Deaf-mutes, the Gallaudet Guide and Deaf-Mutes' Companion. One of the earliest periodicals in America printed exclusively for the Deaf, the Guide contained news of Deaf meetings, marriages, illnesses and deaths; discussions of issues like the education of Deaf children, and such broader social issues as slavery and religion. In the fall of 1854 "deaf-mutes" from "all parts of the union" met in Hartford for the unveiling of a monument to Gallaudet.82 On it, bas reliefs showed Gallaudet with the Asylum's first three students and his name in the manual alphabet on the opposite face. The entire monument was the "exclusive product of deaf-mute enterprise."83 Among the Deaf orators at the event, whose signing was interpreted for the hearing people in the audience, Thomas BrownD reviewed the history of Deaf education. A draft constitution for the New England Gallaudet Association of Deaf-Mutes was read out and adopted and officers were elected with Thomas BrownD as president. This was the first formal organization for Deaf people in the United States.
After the second convention of the NEGA in Concord, New Hampshire, and a third in Worcester, Massachusetts, the fourth convention was held in 1860 at the Hartford school, with some three hundred attending. The Reverend Thomas Gallaudet of New York (eldest son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet) was recruited to interpret ASL into English for the hearing people who did not know the sign language.84 BrownD gave the presidential address and Laurent ClercD took the assembly to sites significant in Deaf history, such as the house of Mason Cogswell where ClercD first met young AliceD. In the evening there was a banquet with toasts, talks and resolutions. The self-perception of the Deaf as a distinct group was in evidence. The solidarity felt was so great that there were published proposals to secure land from Congress for the formation of a Deaf state in the west.85 (See Ethnic territory below.) Then, as the graduates of the residential schools found ways to gather with the opportunity to socialize in their own language, there were more large meetings of the Deaf and numerous Deaf clubs were founded. BrownD took on other roles as a Deaf leader and campaigned for a national organization. His hope was realized when in 1880 the preeminent organization of the Deaf in America, known today as the National Association of the Deaf, was founded.
The road leading from ClercD s sign language and its use in the classroom to today's appreciation of ASL veered off course in the late nineteenth century. Industrialization, mass immigration, and the rise of eugenics demanded that all citizens cleave to a narrow identity: white, Protestant, middle class, English-speaking, and able-bodied. Increasingly, schools for the Deaf sought to replace ASL with spoken English, culminating with the implementation of the resolutions of the Milan congress. As
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