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Charles Michel Abbe de l'Epee establishes...
the first free school for the deaf in the world in Paris. By 1870, there are over 200 schools for the deaf founded by people who learned from Epee or his successor, Sicard, and over 500 deaf teachers of the deaf in Europe and America. -
Thomas Gallaudet meets Alice Cogswell
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Laurent Clerc arrives in America
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Connecticut Asylum for the Education...
and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opens. It is later renamed American School for the Deaf. -
Telegraph is a success...
Co-inventor Amos Kendall invests in Colombia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind. Today the school is known as Gallaudet University. -
Erastus 'Deaf' Smith helps win the Battle of San Jacinto...
A county in Texas, national brands of peanut butter, pacake, waffle mix and biscuit mix are named after him. His picture is printed on the Republic of Texas' five dollar bill.
Tombstone reads 'So valiant and trustworthy was he that all titles sink into insignificance before the simple name of 'Deaf' Smith.' -
Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone...
Uses money from Volta Prize to fund establishment of a library on deafness. By 1895 it contained over 50,000 books. -
Establishment of the National Association of the Deaf
page 61 of big book -
Second International Congress of Deaf Education...
Decides that oral instruction is superior to manual instruction for deaf children. The decision has lasting effects on deaf education in America and Europe. -
Henry Winter Syle becomes first deaf man...
ordained as a priest. He establishes an Episcopalian congregation for the deaf. -
North Carolina establishes first school for black deaf children
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Founding of National Fraternal Society of the Deaf...
Provided deaf men with life insurance, asinsurance agencies of the time assumed deaf people to be accident-prone and to have shorter life spans. -
The oral system flourishes in America
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States begin to enact codes prohibiting driving...
by deaf individuals. After several years of lobbying and surveys of the safe driving records of deaf people, most bans are lifted. -
The Great Depression hits...
Deaf workers are badly affected as the few jobs available go to hearing candidates. -
Hearing aids begin gaining popularity...
After the stigma of 'advertising a defect' faded. The decreasing size and increasing efficiency of hearing aids contributed to the increase in usage. -
World War II breaks out...
Deaf people broke production records on the home front. Others snuck into the military and served throughout the war. -
Gallaudet's Cross Country team defeats 6 teams...
to win the Mason-Dixon Conference championship. The 5-man basketball team goes from 8th seed of 8 teams to win the M-D basketball tournament and all five players are chosen for the ALl Start team. Marvin Marshall, at 126 pounds, takes second in the Amateur Athletic Union's Washington DC boxing competition. -
Deaf people make up ~13% of teachers for the deaf
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Gallaudet receives accreditation, accepts 10,000 by 1970
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Life magazine recieves acoolades and criticism...
for having a Gallaudet professor lipread Queen Elizabeth's conversation at a football game. Gallaudet's president later announces that this sort of lipreading is not acceptable. -
Captioned Films for the Deaf enacted by law...
and expanded to television in 1962. By 1970, the organization spent over $3 million per year. -
Several organizations were formed in the '60s...
including the Council of Organizations Serving the Deaf, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Professional Rehabilitation Workers Among the Deaf, and Teletypewriters for the Deaf, Inc. -
National Technical Institute for the Deaf is founded
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Dr. William Stoekoe publishes 'A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles'
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Pope Paul VI allows Sign Language to be used in Mass
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National Theater of the Deaf in founded
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Supreme Court overturns ruling...
allows deaf couple to adopt foster child -
Activism in deaf communitites increases
Deaf associations begin adding deaf board members, protests over rights take place, awareness inititatives are founded. -
39 colleges accept Sign Language as langauge requirement
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Two thirds of schools report using Total Communication
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Tony Award...
Phyllis French as Sarah Norman in 'Children of a Lesser God.' Ran for 887 performances. -
Academy Award...
Marlee Matlin as Sarah Norman in 'Children of a Lesser God' screenplay. -
Deaf President Now!
Students, faculty and staff at Gallaudet University shut down the school in protest of the selection of a hearing president by the Board of Trustees. After 8 days of rallies and intense media coverage, Dr. I. King Jordan is appointed president. -
The American Annals of the Deaf begins publication
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End of the war causes a resurgence of peddling
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Robert Weitbrecht invents acoustic coupler...
allowing deaf people to use telephones.
