White Nation, Black Deportation, Deaf Education: The Agenda of the Founders of Sign Language Education in the United States

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Bibliographic Details
Title: White Nation, Black Deportation, Deaf Education: The Agenda of the Founders of Sign Language Education in the United States
Language: English
Authors: Sayers, Edna Edith
Source: American Annals of the Deaf. 2020 165(2):136-156.
Availability: Gallaudet University Press. 800 Florida Avenue NE, Denison House, Washington, DC 20002-3695. Tel: 202-651-5488; Fax: 202-651-5489; Web site: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/annals/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 21
Publication Date: 2020
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Deafness, Special Education, Educational History, American Sign Language, Racial Bias, Special Schools, United States History, African American History, Slavery, Land Grant Universities, African American Education, Advocacy
Geographic Terms: Connecticut, Alabama
ISSN: 0002-726X
Abstract: Deaf education and American Sign Language emerged in Connecticut during the early 1800s as part of a reactionary social and political agenda that included church control of government and public schools, antifeminism, anti-Catholicism, and, the topic of the present article, White nationalism. Topics discussed include the racist views of early advocates of deaf education, including Mason Fitch Cogswell and Amos Kendall; evidence that Alabama land granted to the American School for the Deaf by Congress involved ASD in the selling of slaves; and T. H. Gallaudet's exploitation of his reputation as a teacher of the deaf to fund-raise for the deportation of African Americans to Liberia. Popular legends that Edmund Booth and Lewis Weld were abolitionists and that Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc helped the "Amistad" captives are debunked. The three mixed-race boys enrolled in ASD during the 1820s and 1830s are discussed in this context.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2021
Access URL: https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/annals/archives.htm
Accession Number: EJ1282782
Database: ERIC
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Description
Abstract:Deaf education and American Sign Language emerged in Connecticut during the early 1800s as part of a reactionary social and political agenda that included church control of government and public schools, antifeminism, anti-Catholicism, and, the topic of the present article, White nationalism. Topics discussed include the racist views of early advocates of deaf education, including Mason Fitch Cogswell and Amos Kendall; evidence that Alabama land granted to the American School for the Deaf by Congress involved ASD in the selling of slaves; and T. H. Gallaudet's exploitation of his reputation as a teacher of the deaf to fund-raise for the deportation of African Americans to Liberia. Popular legends that Edmund Booth and Lewis Weld were abolitionists and that Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc helped the "Amistad" captives are debunked. The three mixed-race boys enrolled in ASD during the 1820s and 1830s are discussed in this context.
ISSN:0002-726X