In its brief 200-year history, ASL has made incredible advancements while having to withstand a series of controversies. The first records of signed languages date back to the 17th century. American Sign Language (ASL) has its roots in the French signed language—langue des signes française (LSF). In 1755, a French priest by the name of Charles Michel de l'Épée founded the first free public school for the Deaf in Paris. He was also the first to standardize the French sign language alphabets and even created a LSF dictionary based on his student’s homemade signs. I felt that this was in interesting piece of history to share as it adds a lot of context to my own language learning journey. Previously, I used to think that all signed languages were more or less universal and very standardized but now I have a greater understanding and appreciation for their uniqueness.
In 1815, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet traveled to Europe to study how Deaf people were taught. He visited Charles l'Épée’s school in Paris where he met Laurent Clerc, a deaf teacher and graduate of the school. He asked Mr. Clerc to come to America and help establish a school for the deaf and this what ultimately led to the forming of the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817. What I found interesting was the motive for Gallaudet’s venture to Europe. As the story goes, in 1814 Gallaudet had returned home to his family when he noticed that his siblings were not playing with another child. The child’s name was Alice Cogswell, and she was deaf. Thomas Gallaudet tried communicating with her by pointing to his hat and spelling the letters out in the dirt. When she understood him, he was inspired to be able to teach her more. As there were no schools for the deaf in the USA at the time, the girl’s father, Mason Cogswell, a wealthy doctor decided to finance Gallaudet’s trip to Europe.
Having spent the last few weeks trying to understand and learn this unique language, I find it insane that the whole reason why we most likely have contemporary ASL was based on a chance encounter Mr. Thomas Gallaudet had with a deaf child. To then single handedly go out trying to establish an audacious project like as a school for the deaf is truly commendable in my opinion. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet’s youngest son Edward Miner Gallaudet traveled to Washington D.C. and started a school for deaf people there. Seven years later in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a charter to establish a national college for deaf students and Gallaudet became the world’s only liberal arts college for deaf and hard of hearing students (hoh).
In 1988, there was a huge protest at Gallaudet University in response to the Board of Trustees’ decision to select a hearing president instead of a deaf one. The protestor’s demands were clear: They wanted a deaf president running the world’s only deaf university hence the acronym D.P.N (Deaf President Now) To me, this to an extent mirrored the ongoing protests at the University of Richmond regarding changing the names of certain buildings. Unlike our protests however, theirs were successful. Elizabeth Zinser promptly stepped down as president and Irving King Jordan became Gallaudet’s eight and first deaf president. To me, the DPN controversy highlighted the struggles and the discrimination that deaf and hoh people have to go through even in matters that relate to their own native language and culture. As I continue to learn more, I hope to be able to confront these prejudices and do my part to further the narrative of social equity and justice as it relates to the deaf community.
Remembering DPN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vnVc5FrpoI
Replies
Hi Nibras, I really enjoy reading your post! The project you describe was truly "audacious" as you put it and has led to so many advancements that people utilize today. I was also not familiar with the role that President Lincoln played in pushing forward deaf education. Thank you so much for your information!
Hi Nibras, I barely have a chance to learn some ASL culture and background history it. Thank you for so much information. Now I have a deeper understanding and appreciation for their uniqueness. I hope I can do more and learn more about ASL.
This was a really interesting post to read because I didn't know much about the ASL language and to read about its history is absolutely fascinating. They always say that most of our inventions are due to chance or luck, and I guess it also factors into this case as well with Mr. Thomas Gaullaudet with the deaf child. I'm glad that that did happen though because now ASL is present today, and there are students like you interested in wanting to learn the language. Though I have always wanted to learn the language, I does seem overwhelming to start since it uses hands rather than words, but I guess we all have to start somewhere. I also thought it was insane that there were protests on ASL, I didn't know the history of this language was this expansive. Thanks for posting and sharing the history!