Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South

“I began losing my hearing when I was about 8½ years old. By the age of ten, I was completely deaf. I decided to write my story because I wanted my children to have a lasting document that chronicled my experiences growing up as a deaf person in Iron Mine, North Carolina. I also decided to write my story for my many deaf friends because my story, in many ways, is also their story. There are many stereotypes that persist about deaf people. “This book roughly covers the period of time from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s, when I had to make the transition from a hearing world to one of total silence. The book describes my ongoing adjustment as I travel back and forth each year between my deaf world at the School for the Deaf and Blind and my ‘hearing’ world at home.” --From Mary Herring Wright’s Foreword to Sounds Like Home Mary Herring Wright’s story adds an important dimension to the current literature in that it is a story by and about an African American deaf child. Her story is unique and historically significant because it provides valuable descriptive information about the faculty and staff of the North Carolina school for Black deaf and blind students at that time from the perspective of a student as well as a student teacher. In addition, this engrossing narrative contains details about the curriculum, which included a week-long Black History celebration where students learned about important Blacks such as Madame Walker, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and George Washington Carver. It also describes the physical facilities as well as the changes in those facilities over the years. In addition, the story occurs over a period of time that covers two major events in American history, the Depression and World War II. Wright’s account is one of enduring faith, perseverance, and optimism. Her keen observations will serve as a source of inspiration for others who are challenged in their own ways by life’s obstacles.