A Mighty Change: An Anthology of Deaf American Writing, 1816-1864

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION
‘‘I need not tell you that a mighty change has taken place within the last half century, a change for the better,’’ Alphonso Johnson, the president of the Empire State Association of Deaf-Mutes, signed to hundreds of assembled deaf people in 1869.1 Johnson pointed to an important truth: the first half of the nineteenth century was a period of transformation for deaf Americans, a time that saw the rise of deaf education and the coalescence of the nation’s deaf community. In 1816, no schools for deaf students existed in the United States, and people commonly perceived ‘‘the deaf and dumb’’ as ineducable. Many deaf individuals lived scattered, largely isolated from each other, and illiterate. Fifty years later, the nation had more than twenty-five schools for the deaf. These schools enabled deaf people to come together, gain an education, develop American Sign Language (ASL), and find their own collective identity: after their establishment, deaf organizations and publications gradually began to appear. Deaf people also became more visible in society, making an impression upon the nation’s consciousness and challenging traditional stereotypes. When, in 1850, over four hundred deaf people assembled in Hartford, Connecticut , the event showed just how strong the deaf communal identity had become. And when, in 1864, Congress authorized the National Deaf-Mute College, the act affirmed just how much xi xii INTRODUCTION society’s views of deaf people had evolved. Now, many Americans recognized deaf people as full human beings with talent and intellectual potential. This volume contains original writing by deaf people that both directed and reflected this remarkable period of change. It begins with works by Laurent Clerc, a deaf Frenchman who came to the United States in 1816 to help found the first permanent school for deaf students in the nation. Through his writing, Clerc impressed hearing Americans—most of whom had never met an educated deaf person before—with his intelligence and humanity. Other deaf writers soon followed, sharing their views with society through the democratic power of print. Included here are selections by James Nack, a deaf poet who surprised readers with his mellifluous verse; John Burnet, who published a book of original essays, fiction, and poetry; Edmund Booth, a frontiersman and journalist; John Carlin, who galvanized the drive for a national college for deaf people; Adele Jewel, a homeless deaf woman living in Michigan; and Laura Redden Searing, a high-achieving student who would go on to become an accomplished reporter. The final sections contain documents related to deaf events and issues at mid-century: the grand reunion of alumni of the American Asylum for the Deaf in 1850; the dedication of the Gallaudet monument ; the debate over the idea of a deaf state; and the triumphant inauguration of the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet University) in 1864, which in many ways climaxed this period of change. Taken together, these disparate texts provide a record of cultural transformation. They give us a direct glimpse of the experiences , attitudes, and rhetoric of deaf Americans during this time. The selections also demonstrate the complicated role that the written word played in the emergence of the American deaf community . Writing served as a bridge between deaf and hearing people , giving deaf Americans a means to demonstrate their reason and humanity to the hearing majority. It also enabled deaf Americans separated by distance or time to communicate, and aided col- INTRODUCTION xiii lective memory by preserving deaf experience in print. Yet writing also had limitations. Since English cannot truly convey ASL, which was often referred to as the ‘‘natural language’’ of deaf Americans, in a sense it misses one of the most essential components of the deaf community. Deaf writers sought to express their views in the language of hearing people. To say they did so despite great challenges does not begin to convey the heroic proportions of their accomplishment. The Deaf American Creation Story Most deaf Americans know the tale of the beginning of deaf education in the United States. The story has been (literally) handed down from generation to generation; it is also well-documented in written records. The narrative tells how Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet , a hearing minister from Connecticut, and Laurent Clerc, a deaf teacher from France, came together to establish the first permanent school for deaf students in the country.2 It goes like this: In the spring of 1814, a...