The Deaf Way: Perspectives from the International Conference on Deaf Culture

The Revolutionary Ideal and the Deaf Community in France, 1792-1795

The, 7<£VOlutlonaY(j IdeaL a'Yl1i the, Veqfcommunity in France,j 1782-1785 ANNE T. QUARTARARO he purpose of this paper is to analyze a very small part of deaf history in the context of the French Revolution. As France celebrates the bicentennial of the French Revolution, and historians assess its impact on the lives of French citizens at the end of the eighteenth century, this paper will focus on the popular phase of the Revolution, 1792-1795, and use selected archival documents to evaluate what benefits, if any, deaf people drew from the revolutionary period. Hidden from "traditional" history because of social stereotyping and economic misery, deaf people do not often playa direct role in the political debates so often studied among Revisionist historians, who view the Revolution as a power struggle, a battle of "rhetoric and ideology" devoid of class conflict. This view is in opposition to the Marxist school of thought, which sees class conflict as the driving force behind social change. While a Marxist interpretation, with its categories of social class, may no longer be useful, the interplay of economic development and social status could significantly broaden the Revisionist approach to the Revolution (Furet, 1981). The socioeconomic condition of deaf people during this time can be a measure of how "rhetoric and ideology " affected the lives of this outsider group in a revolutionary society. (The plea for more socioeconomic study in the Revisionist school came recently from Colin Jones in his paper entitled, "Was the French Revolution a Social Revolution?") One of the many goals of the revolution that broke out in France during the summer of 1789 was the "improvement of humanity," as historian R. R. Palmer has written (1985). Although Palmer uses this concept to study the progress of education between 1789 and 1799, I would like to use this idea of "improvement of humanity" to focus on another aspect of the revolution that affected the lives of ordinary citizens and, in particular, deaf citizens. The Revolution of 1789 marks the first time in modern history that a nation made a public commitment to help relieve the economic misery of its citizens. While the revolutionaries certainly did not invent the notion of social welfare, they made it a central part of their plan for a revolutionary state. Alan Forrest, in his study entitled The French Revolution and the Poor, points out that the men who made public policy in the Revolution were a product of the mid-eighteenth century Enlightenment (1981). They grew up with the writings of philosophers who believed in the perfectibility of humankind. It is not surprising that, once in power, these 168 THE DEAF WAY ~ Deaf History men would try to alleviate the misery that they believed was sapping the moral strength of the nation. Poverty, seen as a national humiliation, would be contrary to the goals of a new and improved society. As one observer put it, "The first debt of society and its first commitment ... is to give to all its members ... the happiness that they can enjoy. Society must, if it is well-organized, protect the weak [and) ... support the indigent" (Archives Nationales (AN), 1790). For deaf citizens, this attitude meant that the national government would theoretically intervene on their behalf to improve their lot in life. In the hearing community, people began to acknowledge that deaf people lived in a society that rejected them and that they "only [seemed) to live for suffering" (AN, 1790). As we shall see, however, this government intervention was not comprehensive enough to affect the lives of the majority of deaf people, who continued to live in poverty. During the early years of the Revolution, the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies created special committees to study the problem of poverty and coordinate requests for financial assistance. The Comite de Mendicite concentrated on defining the extent of poverty and was responsible for developing solutions. By 1791, this committee had compiled data from a survey of more than half the departments (departments are geographical and administrative divisions) in France. By its overall estimates, one in eight people in France was living in poverty (Forrest, 1981). These figures no doubt put pressure on another committee, the Comite des Secours Publics, which was in charge of allocating national funds for the poor and answering complaints directed to the representatives in Paris. Through the Comite des Secours Publics, citizens could directly petition their national government for public assistance, and many families with deaf children did just that during the era of the National Convention . After the monarchy was abolished in 1792 and the Jacobins rose to power, these two committees wielded even greater authority in the interest of social welfare, and their actions had the potential to improve the lives of deaf people. During the height of the popular phase of the Revolution, in the summer of 1793, members of the Comite des Secours Publics sent a letter to all departments requesting information about the number of deaf people in each of their districts (AN, 1793). From their responses, it is clear that local officials took this charge quite seriously: Responses began to arrive at the Committee as early as August 1793. They noted the age and occupation of each deaf person and sometimes made additional comments about physical ailments, family problems, or personal character. In one response from the district of Grenoble in the department of Isere, authorities listed fifty-five deaf people. Only thirty-two were reported with any sort of occupation (AN, 1793), and six of these thirty-two were listed as "beggars." Only five of these thirtytwo were listed as skilled or semiskilled laborers, such as carpenters or wigmakers. Most, both male and female, were laborers of one kind or another, and almost all of the six children in the group from Grenoble had parents who were day laborers. The one exception was the daughter of a policeman. Despite limited data, we can still try to place the socioeconomic condition of deaf people in 1793 in a broader perspective. The promise of "the improvement of humanity" still seemed illusory for deaf citizens. More than 90 percent of deaf adults listed from the Grenoble region were surviving at the lowest level of the economic ladder and most likely did not have the financial or educational resources to change their lives in any Significant way. Even if local authorities inflated these numbers to make the case for more national funding, the percentage of the deaf population hovering near the poverty level would still have been very high. The Revolutionary Ideal and the Deaf Community in France, 1792-1795 From the list of occupations, it is clear that gainful employment was a serious problem for deaf adults. The narrow range of professions given on the list from Grenoble suggests that there were few job prospects for deaf people in this community, and those who did have a trade were the exception rather than the rule. Jean Baptiste Cartin, thirty-two, a cobbler singled out by local authorities for his intelligence, may have been the best, if practically the only, example of a local success story. It was much more typical for authorities to stress the hardships faced by deaf people, as they did with the Combe family, poverty-stricken and supporting a fifteenyear -old deaf daughter. The list from Grenoble was replete with such families, who lived on the margin of subsistence. We also can assume that the deaf people listed as "beggars" were indigent and living from public or private charity. On this list, they were all men ranging in age from nineteen to forty-three, in the prime of their laboring years and yet unable to find employment. The men sitting on the Comite des Secours Publics were aware that in order to improve deaf people's social and economic prospects, they would have to reach this population at an early age and give them a stake in the new revolutionary society (Palmer, 1985). One limited method of social welfare was to have the national government pay room and board stipends for deaf children to attend special schools. This would relieve the economic burden on families who had limited resources to care for children who could not contribute to the family economy. Education was one concrete way to offer the promise of a better life to deaf people. By the last days of the National Convention, the Comite des Secours Publics formally organized two schools, one in Paris and the other in Bordeaux, for deaf children up to age sixteen (AN). Each department would be responsible for recommending which indigent deaf children would attend the five-year, state-funded school program. The large pool of available deaf children for these two national schools underscores the fragile socioeconomic condition of many families with deaf children. Moreover, some families seemed desperate to have their children admitted to the government schools. It is difficult for us today to understand the precarious economic condition of the lower-class family in late eighteenth-century Europe. In order for the family to survive as a unit, each member, whether adult or child, had to contribute financially to the group. As Louise Tilly and Joan Scott point out, "The demands of the family enterprise or the need to earn wages for the unskilled could not be postponed or put aside to care for children who, in their earliest years, represented only a drain on family resources" (1978). Children became an important resource for the family economy when they could be put to work for a useful wage. This transformation usually took place about the age of seven or eight. Children were treated no differently than adults in the burden of labor they were expected to undertake (Tilly and Scott, 1978). This condition of the lower-class family is even more significant in the context of deaf history. Because children must be employed to help maintain the family unit, families with deaf children probably felt even greater economic pressure. Parents would have extra mouths to feed, but no prospect of additional labor to balance the noticeable deficit (Schwartz, 1988). Unlike hearing children, who could eventually become laborers, deaf children would grow to adulthood dependent on parents and later on brothers and sisters. It is therefore not surprising that many lower-class families eagerly anticipated placing their deaf children in the new schools for deaf students in Paris and Bordeaux. The national government afforded them perhaps the only chance to improve their eco169 THE DEAF WAY ~ 170 THE DEAF WAY ~ Deaf History nomic condition. The rest of the family might survive by sending a deaf child away to boarding school. In turn, the child would learn a useful skill and could become a productive member of society. The family unit, society-at-large, and deaf children would all benefit. Or so these revolutionaries logically might have reasoned. In one request for schooling, from the department of the Somme, we can glimpse the misery and limited opportunities for deaf children and their families. The mayor and municipal officials of the town of Montdidier asked the Comite des Secours Publics in Paris to consider the case of Felix-Fran<;:ois Laine, who had become deaf at the age of four after an illness (AN). His father, Pierre Laine, was a window-glass maker and could scarcely support his eight children. The local officials expressed the hope that this young boy could learn some basic skills at school that might, in turn, help his brothers and sisters. It was difficult for young deaf children to be admitted to the Paris and Bordeaux schools, although the law stipulated that indigent deaf children under age sixteen would automatically be qualified to attend either the Paris or the Bordeaux school (AN). But a father would first have to certify that his child was unable to hear or speak, that the child was not mentally handicapped, and that the family could be classified as indigent (AN). Any child younger than age ten could not be accepted for the five-year program (AN). (Department of the Indre-et-Loire to the Minister of the Interior, 26 messidor an IV. The report requests the admission of two girls, ages five and seven, to the Paris school, but they are still too young for consideration.) From the department of the Marne, we have lists of deaf children being considered for the government schools. Twenty young people between the ages of nine and fourteen are listed. In 75 percent of these cases, authorities described the families as indigent, with no resources to support their deaf or hearing children. Only one child from this list, however, would eventually enter the Paris school. Pierre Jean-Baptiste Ory came from a family of six children and at age 11 began his schooling. The other eligible children could reapply for admission, but the shortage of available slots made their chances of admission slim (AN). Another list from the department of the Vosges in eastern France, drawn up in 1794 as was the list from the Marne, indicates the breadth of the socioeconomic problems facing officials. These officials seemed compelled to list every deaf citizen within their jurisdiction on school application lists, including a three-year-old child and men well past the age of 60 (AN). In total, the Vosges officials notified the Comite des Secours Publics in Paris that there were fifty-three deaf people in their area, more than 90 percent of whom were described as indigent. Rare was the reference to a person who was self-supporting, even through unskilled labor. Two children would be chosen from this particular list to attend the Paris school: Jean-Baptiste Frayard, an orphan, and Fran<;:ois Tanneur, a child from a very poor family (AN). (This listing even makes a distinction between indigent and very indigent. Officials were forced to make rankings of the poverty level.) What do all these lists mean to historians of the French Revolution and of deaf society? We can conclude that the concept of "the improvement of humanity" did affect deaf people during the popular phase of the Revolution, but to a limited degree. Authorities did try to get some perspective on the situation of deaf citizens. Never before had the national government tried to determine the size of the deaf population and its economic make-up through official surveys. The few results of the data we have considered here indicate that deaf people suffered from deep-seated economic and social misery. Their jobs were largely unskilled, and deaf men had few prospects for economic advancement. The Revolutionary Ideal and the Deaf Community in France, 1792-1795 Revolutionaries did seem to recognize that only educational opportunity would break this cycle of poverty and isolation. However, if the creation of schools for deaf students in Paris and Bordeaux was the epitome of the revolutionary ideal, then that ideal fell far short of meeting the needs of deaf people. The limited recruitment and the large number of deaf children who were unable to obtain help underscore the continuing tension between the high-minded goals of the Revolution and the practical needs of its deaf citizens. References Archives Nationales. FI52584, untitled document, 1790-1795? ---. pis 2584, Responses from various departments about number of deaf people in their areas, July 30, 1793-August 1793. --- . FIS 2584, Condition of deaf people from birth in the district of Grenoble, department of the Isere, 4 nivose an II. ---. F IS 2459, Comite des Secours Publis, an Ill. ---. F15 2586-2587, Petition to the Comite des Secours Publics, department of the Somme, 4 nivose an III. ---. F IS 2459, Comite des Secours Publics, an III. ---. FI5 2586-2587, Response to Citizen Bourgeois about his son entering the deaf institution, 24 Thermidor an IV. ---. FIS 2586-2587, Department of the Indre-et-Loire to the Minister of the Interior, 26 messidor an IV. --- . F IS 2586-2587, General list of deaf from the department of the Marne, 25 prairial an III. --- . pis 2586-2587, General list of deaf from the department of the Vosges, 28 floreal an III. Forrest, Alan. 1981. The French Revolution and the Poor. New York: St. Martin's Press. p.23. Furet, Francois. 1981. Interpreting the Revolution, trans. Elborg Forster. New York: Cambridge University Press. Jones, Colin. May 5, 1989. "Was the French Revolution a Social Revolution?" Paper delivered at the International Congress on the History of the French Revolution. Place unknown. Palmer, R. R. 1985. The Improvement of Humanity: Education and the French Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 80-85. Schwartz, Robert. 1988. Policing the Poor in Eighteenth-Century France. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 107-112. Tilly, Louise, and Joan Scott. 1978. Women, Work, and Family. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. pp. 58-59. 171 THE DEAF WAY ~ ...