This Twitter series spotlight unfamiliar histories of deaf/hard-of-hearing people, technologies, and events.
Considered to be “the most accomplished deaf lady of her race in America,” this week’s Deaf History Series spotlights teacher & activist Blanche Wilkins Williams (1876-1936). Read More.
Cuban-American Emerson Romero (1900-1972) was a silent film actor, innovator of deaf technologies, and one of the first to devise a technique for film captioning. Read more.
Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941), the “Computer” whose work mapped the field of astronomy and impacted the way the sky is seen. Read more.
The glamorous Miss Charlotte Lamberton dancer & “IT girl” of the 1930s and 1940s, performed by feeling music through vibrations across her body. Read more.
“I am fighting so others like me will fight for happiness too.” Eugene “Silent” Hairston (1929-2014), was the first pro Black Deaf boxer & winner of two Golden Glove titles whose biggest fight was against Jake “Raging Bull” LaMotta. Read more.
The first Black man enrolled in Gallaudet University, Andrew Foster spent his life advocating education for Black deaf people in North America, Europe & Africa. Read more.
The dilsiz (Turkish; bizebani in Persian–meaning “tongueless”) were the mutes and deaf-mutes who served the Ottoman courts during the 1400s-1900s. Favored by the Sultan, they obtained privilege status & their system of sign language was even adopted by hearing courtiers. Read More.
Reformer & activist, Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879-1958) had a busy life: she wrote 40 books, spoke 5 languages, led WWI relief efforts, managed education programs & promoted prison reform. She also spent decades hiding her deafness. Read More.
“I try to recover time talking with my shadow.” Don Jaime, Duke of Segovia: The deaf Prince who renounced, then revived, his claim to the Spanish throne. Read more.
A deaf & black man incarcerated Jim Crow South, Junius Wilson’s (1908-2001) life is a painful story of oppression & injustice. Read more.
Nicknamed “Queen of the Mountain,” American archaeologist Theresa B. Goell (1901-1985) spent thirty years searching for the resting tomb of Antiochus I (69-36 BCE), king of Commagene, an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom. Read more.
He’s described as “America’s first culture-shocking misfit” & a poster child for “queercrip.” Tony Bennett called him the Father of Rock & Roll. Deaf, effeminate, bisexual, Johnnie Ray was a pop sensation who performed authentically. His hearing aids were part of his performance. Read more.