The People Who Spell: The Last Students from the Mexican National School for the Deaf

4. The History of Deaf Education in Mexico and the ENS Signers

66 4  The History of Deaf Education in Mexico and the ENS Signers A Very Short History of Mexico in the 19th Century As Juárez’s 1861 decree to establish a school for Deaf Mexicans was being published, forces more overwhelming than declarations about Deaf education swept into Mexico. Mexico gained independence from Spain in a long war (1810–1821), but for the rest of the 19th century Mexico was unstable and vulnerable. In July 1861, President Juárez suspended debt repayments to England, Spain, and France. The three nations sent fleets led by Napoleon III to invade Mexico and recover the debts.After the fleets landed in January 1862, Juárez negotiated repayment with England and Spain,but the French had their eyes on Mexico’s natural resources (including gold and silver mines), and fought their way fromVeracruz to Puebla. On May 5, 1862, the French were temporarily defeated in the Battle of Puebla, the victory that is commemorated by Cinco de Mayo observances. The French, with replenished forces, took Mexico City on June 7, 1863. The invading French, determined to revive the Mexican monarchy, bolster the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico,and cultivate French civilization in the republic, took advantage of the fact that the Civil War in the United States distracted American leaders from enforcing the History of Deaf Education in Mexico 67 Monroe Doctrine.With the support of Mexican monarchists, Napoleon offered Maximilian, an Austrian Hapsburg archduke, the throne as Emperor of Mexico. He initially declined, and instead traveled to Brazil to study tropical botany. He later accepted the throne, and in May 1864, Maximilian and his wife Carlota arrived in Mexico. Maximilian became emperor of Mexico, and President Juárez went into internal exile in northern Mexico to command republican forces against the French invaders. (The black carriage he traveled in is on display at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City.) As soon as the CivilWar in the United States ended,Abraham Lincoln sent the U.S.army to theTexas–Mexico border to support Juárez’s forces. In 1866 Napoleon’s armies were defeated.They retreated and began to leave Mexico. Maximilian himself was captured by Juárez’s forces in May 1867 and executed the following month. In short, all aspects of normal civic life in Mexico were unstable between 1810 and 1867,but they were terribly disrupted between 1861 and 1867. Nevertheless, during this period the first public school for Deaf students was created in response to Juárez’s 1861 decree: the Municipal School for Deaf Mutes, which later became the National School for the Deaf, ENS. Edouard Huet, a Deaf man originally from France,was named director of the school.Huet came to Mexico from Brazil,where he had founded a school for the deaf in 1857 (Oviedo, 2007). The historical data from this period of Mexican Deaf education are “confusing and contradictory,” especially in regard to who was actually involved in starting the school, how plans were made and implemented during wartime, and exactly how it happened that Huet and his wife Catalina came to Mexico from Brazil (Jullian Montañez, 2001, p. 57). Huet’s descendant, Susana Huet, claimed that Benito Juárez himself sent an envoy to Rio de Janeiro in 1865 to invite Huet, who arrived in Mexico City early in 1866 (Jullian Montañez,2001).However,this would have been during the period when Juárez was moving with his troops around northern Mexico in exile,as well as quite soon after Maximilian’s expedition to Brazil.Although Maximilian’s reign as emperor was brief and the presidency was restored to Juárez, it is not clear how either government managed to send an envoy to Brazil during the interrupted presidency and brief empire. 68 History of Deaf Education in Mexico It is possible that Huet learned about the Law of April 15 and headed for Mexico on his own (Jullian Montañez, 2002). Huet’s family had aristocratic connections,including a friendship with Maximilian’s cousin Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil. Maximilian had visited Pedro II during his botanical tour of Brazil, so it is not impossible that Maximilian himself suggested that Huet go to Mexico. The municipal school in Mexico City began with three students and grew to six. On November 28, 1867, Juárez changed the school’s status from a city school that would serve students in...