Deaf History Month: Alice Cogswell and the Birth of American Sign Language
Image Description: A dark colored sculpture of Alice Cogswell, a young girl with long hair and a voluminous dress, and her neighbor and instructor Thomas Gallaudet, a man with a sculpted jacket and shirt. The sculpture appears to near a tree-lined area. Sculpture was created by American sculptor Daniel Chester French, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial.
Alice Cogswell was a 9-year-old girl who participated in the development of American Sign Language and Deaf Education in America. Alice was born in 1805 to Mason Cogswell and Mary Austin Ledyard. Dr. Cogswell was a renowned doctor who performed the first cataract surgery. Alice was born hearing but at age 2, became ill with “spotted fever,” which was likely either cerebral-spinal meningitis or the measles. Due to her high fever, she lost her hearing and eventually her ability to speak.
In 1814, the Cogswell’s neighbor Thomas Gallaudet, a young preacher who just graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary, returned to his family home due to a chronic lung illness. Thomas observed his siblings playing outside and noticed there was a little girl watching. He asked his brother who she was. He learned her name was Alice Cogswell and that she was Deaf. Determined to communicate with Alice, he started drawing pictures and words in the sand with a stick. To his surprise when he pointed to his hat, Alice then wrote in the sand H-A-T. When Dr. Cogswell came home from work that day, Alice showed him how she could write in the sand with her new friend Thomas. Dr. Cogswell was so impressed that he devised a plan to help his daughter.
Dr. Cogswell had heard about a breakthrough in educating the Deaf, and asked Thomas if he would travel to Europe to learn how to teach his daughter. Thomas agreed and set sail to learn the teaching method coined by Thomas Braidwood. The Braidwood family had been educating the Deaf with lip reading and speaking. Thomas Gallaudet did not think that speaking was natural for the Deaf. He wanted to learn more about the manual alphabet that Dr. Cogswell had informed him about. While in London, Thomas attended a lecture given by Abbe Siccard, a priest who taught a French Signed Language to Deaf pupils at the National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris (or the National Institute for Deaf Children of Paris) that was founded by Abbe de L’Eppe who was also known as “The Father of the Deaf.” Abbe Siccard also had his two best teachers with him named Jean Massieu and Laurent Clerc. Gallaudet was so enthralled with Siccard’s teachings that he approached him with the idea of starting a school for the Deaf in America. Abbe Siccard invited Thomas back to France to attend his school and take in as much as he could to bring back to America.
Image Description: Black and white portrait of Thomas Gallaudet. image is of a white man with sweeping dark hair, a wrinkled face, and a high-necked jacket and top.
Image Description: A painted portrait of Laurent Clerc, shown in profile. He is a white man with dark hair and a high-necked white shirt and dark jacket.
After a few months, Thomas realized how much of an undertaking this was and that he could not do this alone. Thomas invited the Deaf instructor Laurent Clerc back to Connecticut to help him teach Alice. Clerc agreed and they set sail to America. On the ship, Clerc taught Gallaudet sign language and Gallaudet taught Clerc how to read and write English. When they returned, Alice was so excited to see her teacher Thomas and his new friend Laurent Clerc. Laurent immediately began working with Alice and gave her a sign name..
Dr. Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet, and Laurent Clerc met with investors to get funding for a formal school for Alice. The American School for the Deaf (formerly known as the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), was founded on April 15th, 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut. Gallaudet was the principal, and Laurent Clerc was the first teacher of the Deaf. Alice was the first student enrolled and six others shortly followed. Clerc arrived from France knowing French signing. Students came to the school using hand signals they had developed at their homes. Students from Martha's Vineyard, where Deafness was unusually common, came with their own system of communicating. The teachers and students combined all those communication methods to form ASL as we know it today.
President James Monroe paid a visit to the school and was so impressed that he gave them funding, land, and a building to expand. The students noticed his two-cornered hat and improvised the sign, “President,” which is still used to this day.
From that point forward, Gallaudet and Clerc started over twenty different schools for the Deaf. After Thomas Gallaudet retired, Edward Minor Gallaudet carried on his father’s legacy and became the superintendent of the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind in 1857. Edward Gallaudet then petitioned Congress to allow the Deaf to receive college degrees. Abraham Lincoln signed that charter into law in 1864. Edward then expanded the school and renamed it Gallaudet College and eventually Gallaudet University in honor of his father.
Thomas Gallaudet's work with the American School for the Deaf was one of the country’s earliest efforts to diversify education, reaching people who had historically been excluded. In addition, his work helped develop American Sign Language, the most widely-used form of communication for the Deaf community in the world. Without Alice however, Deaf education as we know it may be non-existent.
Alice Cogswell was the catalyst for so many societal changes for the Deaf communities in America. Unfortunately, her life was very short. On December 10th,1830 Dr. Mason Cogswell passed due to complications of pneumonia. Alice was so distraught at the loss of her dear father that she passed away on December 30th, 1830 at the age of twenty-five. Some say she died from such horrible depression that she stopped eating, while others say she died of a broken heart. Today we honor Alice Cogswell and Laurent Clerc, two Deaf people that changed the world with the help of Thomas Gallaudet and Mason Cogswell.
Image Description: Image is of the face of Kristy Whilden, a white woman with light blue eyes, and wavy, auburn hair that runs past her shoulders. Kristy is smiling in the photo.
About the Author: Kristy Whilden (she/her small d deaf late deafened adult) is a former music teacher with a BA from Rutgers University that owned a music school for over 10 years. Five of her students even won the right to play piano at the great Carnegie Hall in New York City! In 2014 Miss Whilden was diagnosed with hereditary Progressive Sensorineural Hearing loss. The thought of not being able to hear the music that once shaped her life was devastating. She went back to school and obtained a degree in Deaf Studies and American Sign Language from Rowan College at Burlington County. At this point her focus turned from music to musical theatre. She wanted all d/Deaf eyes on the stage and not always having to rely on the interpreter on the floor. Hands Up Silent Theatre non-profit was born. At Hands Up she encourages d/Deaf students to learn more about the performing arts and encourages hearing children to learn ASL and interact with d/Deaf peers. Together they create performances for the d/Deaf and hearing to enjoy as one. Miss Whilden is now back in school getting her Master’s in Deaf Education at St. Joseph’s University and will soon finish her Master in Business from Western Governors University. Although her life is Deaf Theatre, her real love is Deaf History. As an aspiring author and playwright, Miss Whilden is hoping to spread awareness and importance d/Deaf Culture and History. It is also her goal to encourage everyone to learn ASL to help bridge communication gaps between the d/Deaf and hearing communities and to promote inclusion and access in every aspect of life.
