Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

December 10, 1787 September 10, 1851

! On the weekends, Gallaudet would return to his family to take care of his younger siblings. One day while watching his younger brother play with the neighboring children, Gallaudet noticed one girl awkwardly standing off to the side void of social interaction. Later that afternoon, Gallaudet asked his younger brother who the girl was. His brother informed him that the 9 year old was Alice Cogswell.

Thomas met Alice

! At age two, Alice became ill with cerebra-spinal meningitis and became profoundly deaf. At the time, deafness was viewed to be a mental illness which left Alices father, Dr. Mason Cogswell with few options. Head strong, Dr. Cogswell cared for Alice at home and refused to send her to the asylum as suggested by his colleagues. After years of failed attempts to educate his daughter, Alice was language-less until she met Gallaudet that afternoon. Dr. Cogswell came home to nd Gallaudet teaching Alice to write, hat in the dirt.
August 31, 1805 December 30, 1830

! D r. C o g s w e l l i n v i t e d Gallaudet into their home to d i s c u s s A l i c es l a c k o f education. Cogswell explained that the only education offered at the time was speech therapy which had little success and unsatisfying results. Cogswell told Gallaudet of a place in Europe where a language was communicated through gestures and hand shapes.

Gallaudet and Cogswell decided to campaign that the American deaf population needed a formal education and persuaded to their colleagues to fund Gallaudets trip to Europe. During his travels, Gallaudet met a deaf Frenchman, Laurent Clerc who taught at the Royal des Sourds-Muets institute in Paris. Laurent became Gallaudets mentor and French Sign Language teacher.

December 26, 1785 - July 18, 1869

After Gallaudet became fluent, Laurent joined him back to Hartford. Together they raised private and public funds to establish the American School for the Deaf. Alice was the first of 7 American students to admit to the school.

! After his death, his son, Thomas Gallaudet Jr. established Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. The rst and only university designed specically for the needs of the deaf. All classes are taught in American Sign Language with interpreters for the hearing students that decide to attend there. Gallaudets legacy has and still does impact the lives of deaf Americans today.

All of the children of silence must be taught to sing their own song."
- Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

Sources
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!"Alice Cogswell." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. "The Legacy Begins." - Gallaudet University. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.! "Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet." Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.! "Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.! !! ! Photographs provided by:! Wright, George F. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. 1851. Photograph. N.p.!

N.d. Photograph. The Project Gutenberg EBook of Alice Cogswell Bemis. Anonymous, 12 Sept. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http:// www.gutenberg.org/les/33713/33713-h/33713-h.htm>.! Cogswell Home in Hartford, Connecticut. N.d. Photograph. American School for the Deaf Museum. Deaf Is... 2007. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.deas.org/history/who/cogswell_pictures.php#>.! Gallaudet University, Gallaudet University, Washington D.C. Personal photograph by Jacob Lowe. 2006.! History of Deaf Education in America. 2006. Photograph. Www.asd-1817.org. ASD. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.asd-1817.org/ page.cfm?p=430>.! Bonet, Juan P. Juan Pablo Bonet. N.d. Who Invented Sign Language? Space City Rocket Pioneers. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http:// www.rocketcityspacepioneers.com/space/who-invented-sign-language>.! Quatrime, Anne. Laurent Clerc. 1869. Les Centres Rgionaux DInformation Sur La Surdit. 1 July 2008. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cis.gouv.fr/>.