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Martha's Vineyard
Jonathan Lambert arrives on Martha's Vineyard. He is the first known deaf person there. Over the years, the hereditary deafness gene became more prevalent on Martha's Vineyard. -
Fateful Encounter
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet met Alice Cogswell. Gallaudet was visiting family and noticed the little girl sitting outsider her physician father's home. She was not participating in play with the other children. Gallaudet was informed that Alice could not hear thus she had no language. He went to her, put his hat on the ground, and spelled "HAT" in the dirt. Alice had learned her first word. -
American School for the Deaf
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet traveled all over Europe at the request of Alice Cogwell's father to find a way to teach the deaf. He encountered many people and after several failures, he finally found success with Laurent Clec. Clerc agreed to return to the United States with Gallaudet and they opened America's first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. -
Merging of Languages
With the opening of the first school for the deaf in American spawning other schools for the deaf opening, the Martha's Vineyard deaf children began attending these schools with MVSL as their primary mode of communication. With Clerc's introduction of French Sign Language, the two languages began to merge and we see the first signs of today's American Sign Language. -
Growth of Deafness on Martha's Vineyard
By 1880, the census notes that there were 19 deaf people in 159 reporting households. MVSL (Martha's Vineyard Sign Language) was being used by everyone and some hearing people thought deafness was contagious! -
Recognition As A Language
William Stokoe publishes his findings that recognize individual syntax and other parts of American Sign Language which ultimately receives its recognition as a distinctive language.