Deaf Literature Sampler: Historical Chronicles
Asterik * indicates a D/deaf
author. All book reviews are either from Amazon, the Einstein Catalog, publishing
catalogs, bibliographies in the back of anthologies, Janet Rosen, a librarian
from Washington, DC, and articles by Robert Panara. Efforts have been made to
include as many genres as possible—nonfiction (autobiographies, personal
narratives, biographies, essays, interviews and articles), drama, fiction (novels,
historical fiction) poetry (ASL and English) and ASL Literature. All formats
are covered, including videos.
For more books on this topic,
check the Einstein Catalog and search by keywords deaf and history http://albert.rit.edu/.
For more articles on this topic, check out the Gallaudet Index to Deaf Periodicals
which includes citations to Deaf Life and other popular deaf publications. http://liblists.wrlc.org/gadpi/home.htm. Another database you might want to try is the NTID Deaf Index. Go to the Deaf Studies databases and explore. http://wally.rit.edu/electronic/topic/deafstudies.html
If a book is not housed at Wallace Library or ETRR , try Connect NY http://www.connectny.info/screens/opacmenu.html
to see if area college libraries have it. If not, send your request via
Interlibrary Loan http://wally.rit.edu/myaccount/ill.html.
Your book usually arrives within a few days.
Also, The Tactile Mind is a literary print publication for the signing
community. http://www.thetactilemind.com/.
We have this publication on the CMS and in bound periodical format (back
issues). 2nd floor PER PS508.D43T335. Another journal you might find useful is Sign Language Studies available
online via the Einstein Catalog in the Project Muse database. http://albert.rit.edu/search/tsign+language+studies/tsign+language+studies/1,2,9,B/frameset&FF=tsign+language+studies&7,,8/indexsort=-
Check out Deaf History
Journal and Deaf International History Newsletter, kept on the Current
Magazine Shelves, 2nd floor.
Historical Chronicles
or Documentaries
Clerc----Autobiography/Personal Narrative
*Clerc, Laurent. “Autobiography.”
Deaf World: A Historical Reader and Primary Source Book. Ed. Lois
Bragg. New York: NY UP, 2001. 1st REF, 4th floor and ETRR HV2545
.D43 2001. See plays.
Drama
*Baldwin, Stephen C. T.H. Gallaudet and Monsieur Clerc: Coming to Terms.
Script. 1988. RES and Archives, 3rd floor. E-reserve
*Eastman, G.C. Sign
me Alice and Laurent Clerc: A Profile-Two Deaf plays. San Diego, CA:
DawnSignPress. 3rd floor, RES and ETRR. PS3555.A717 S5 1997.
Comes with a companion teacher’s guide RES PS3555.A717 S52 1997. These
plays are works about deaf people and deaf culture. Profiles Laurent Clerc.
Video Biography
My New Family. By Harlan Lane. Dir. Dennis Cokley. Perf. Patrick
Graybill. Sign Media, 1993. 38 mins. Color/Signed/Voiced/Captioned. ETRR VIDEO
5975 no.1 and ETC VH 1692 A.
Based on Harlan Lane’s book “When the Mind Hears”, this series
of 13 videos (each video corresponds to a chapter in the book) is told from
Laurent Clerc’s viewpoint.
Canada Heritage
*Carbin, Clifton F. Samuel Thomas Greene : A Legend in the Nineteenth Century Deaf Community. Belleville, Ont. : Epic Press, 2005. 4th floor and ETRR HV2426.G74 C37 2005.
*Carbin, Clifton F. Deaf Heritage in Canada: A Distinctive, Diverse & Enduring culture. Toronto; New York, NY: McGraw Hill Ryerson, 1996. (Oversized collection, 4th floor- HV2576 .C38 1996-2 copies).
Numerous topics are covered: early attitudes toward educating deaf people, deaf settlers in prairie provinces, occupations, and organizations of deaf Canadians, and the little-known story of their involvement in two world wars.
Deaf American History
Barnartt, S.N. and R.K. Scotch. . Disability Protests : Contentious Politics 1970-1999. Washington, D.C. : Gallaudet UP, 2001. (4th floor, HV1553 .B37 2001.
Barnartt (sociology, Gallaudet University) and Scotch (sociology and political economy, the University of Texas-Dallas) offer a sociological analysis of 30 years of protests, organization, and legislative victories within the deaf and disabled populations. They reveal increases in both cross-disability actions as well as disability-specific actions, and confront the question of who is "deaf enough" or "disabled enough" to represent their constituencies. They give special attention to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the 1988 Deaf President Now protest. B&w photos of protests and leaders are included. c. Book News Inc. (From Einstein Catalog)
Baynton, Douglas C. Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign
Against Sign Language. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
4th floor (2 copies), , 1st floor RES and ETRR HV2471.B39 1996.
Baynton (history and American Sign Language, U. of Iowa) narrates the campaign
by Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans to suppress the use of
sign language among deaf people from the middle of the 19th century to 1920.
He finds traits of American culture in the characterizing of the deaf as outsiders,
beings of silence, innocent, and mysterious. An advocate of ASL, he looks at
how the metaphors and images generated by the debate still influence educators.
Branson, Jan. Damned
for Their Difference: The Cultural Construction of Deaf People as ‘Disabled’:
A Sociological History. Washington, DC: Gallaudet UP,
2002. 4th floor and ETRR HV2380.B685 2002.
Branson (La Trobe Univ.) and Miller (Monash Univ.) examine how Western culture
has defined being deaf. Focusing on Great Britain and Australia, the authors
articulate how "disabled" people have been defined as "other."
As with women and minorities, readers see the same historical themes: second-class
status, segregation or integration, and occasional acceptance of people as they
are. A chilling example: initially, Gallaudet College did not train deaf people
as teachers! Specific to the deaf situation are long-standing battles over medical
solutions, signing versus oralism, and the (over) emphasis on hearing. Chapters
on science, including eugenics, powerfully illustrate how higher status people
can define normality, exclude minority teachers, and literally decide who may
live and prosper. The authors clearly have their positions, arguing in favor
of signing, "deaf ethnicity," and community signing languages as linguistic
human rights. They discuss various individuals and movements, of less interest
to the nonspecialist. The text's strength is the larger, intellectual framework;
its weakness is its one-sided perspective.
Buchanan, Robert.
Illusions
of Equality: Deaf Americans in School and Factory, 1850-1950. Washington,
DC: Gallaudet UP, 1999. 4th floor and ETRR HV2530.B83 1999. Available
as an ebook. Click on title.
Buchanan thoughtfully explores the plight of deaf Americans, a group generally
ignored even in studies of social movements. Focusing on the period between
the mid-point of the 19th and 20th centuries, Buchanan highlights the often-painful
experiences of deaf men and women who sought to enter the workforce. In the
process, they confronted all sorts of impediments, including many resulting
from well-intentioned but paternalistic people. Most damaging of all, Buchanan
convincingly argues, was the favoring by countless governmental and educational
administrators of oral communication over sign language, something resisted
by many deaf people and their champions. Gender and racial considerations also
came into play, as deaf individuals of color and those who were female had additional
hurdles to overcome. The author acknowledges that deaf leaders were sometimes
divided among themselves regarding the role government should play in affording
employment opportunities, while pointing to incomplete reform efforts undertaken
in a state like early-20th-century Minnesota and by Franklin D. Roosevelt's
New Deal. The marked success of deaf workers in industrial plants during WW
II refuted theories regarding their purportedly limited abilities in the workplace.
Burch, Susan. Signs
of Resistance: American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 to WW II. New York:
NYU UP, 2002. 4th floor (2 copies) HV2530.B87 2002.
The resistance to oralism and eugenics, the assertion of sign as a beautiful
and important linguistic accomplishment, the determination to be included in
work, sports, film, dance, theater, politics, and education, and the emergence
of the Deaf/deaf community in the US from 1900 to 1942 are documented in this
important cultural history. Burch (history, Gallaudet Univ.) makes a significant
contribution to readers' understanding of racism and disability when she traces
the exclusion of deaf African Americans from the dominantly white Deaf/deaf
political activism and club movement. The book provides a foundation for understanding
the still problematic positioning of Deaf/deaf women within their own community.
Today's assertive Deaf woman often finds herself not at home in either the Deaf
or hearing worlds. Her historical exclusion from clubs, leadership positions,
and professions where Deaf men had entry are all part and parcel of the ongoing
discrimination she faces. The historical exclusion of Deaf men by hearing women
in Deaf schools adds to this unfortunate history of sexism. Summing Up: Highly
recommended. Collections supporting disability studies, deaf studies, ethnic
studies (particularly black and Native American studies) and women's studies
courses and programs.
*Fischer, R., & Lane,
H. (Eds.). Looking Back: A Reader on the History of Deaf Communities and
Their Sign Languages. Washington, DC: Gallaudet UP, 1993.
4th floor (2 copies) and ETRR HV2367 .L66 1993.
Researchers detail historical developments around the world in a book organized
into six core topics: deaf biographies, deaf communities, sign languages and
sign systems, deaf education and daily life at school, sociological and philosophical
issues as well as methodological and theoretical issues.
Flourney, J.J. The
Big Bull in a Court House: A Tale of Horror: By Jacobus, Jackson County,
Georgia. Athens, GA, 1843.
Vituperative tract written in dramatic and narrative form which attacks the
county in GA for denying equality and justice to deaf persons.
*Gaillard, H. Gaillard
in Deaf America: A Portrait of the Deaf community, 1917. Washington,
DC: Gallaudet UP, 2002. 4th floor and ETRR, HV2545 .G35513 2002.
See video.
A French deaf advocate and newspaper editor kept a journal about his 1917 visit
to the first US school for the deaf on its centennial, and observations of other
advances and debates of the American deaf community.
*Gannon, Jack R. Deaf
Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America. Silver Spring, MD: NAD,
1981. REF, 4th floor (3 copies), OVER 4th floor, RES and ETRR (4 copies) HV2530.G36.
See video.
This in-depth history of Deaf America contains photos, illustrations, vignettes,
and biographical profiles. Special sub-chapters chronicle the multifaceted dimensions
of deaf culture. A supplementary workbook is available. 4th floor HV2545 .A449
1984.
Groce, Nora Ellen. Everyone
Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1985. 4th floor (2 copies) and ETRR
HV2561.M49G76 1985. See video.
Presents a detailed, vivid description of daily life in the early 1900s when
an entire community on Martha’s Vineyard, deaf and hearing alike, learned
sign language.
Joyner, Hannah. From
Pity to Pride: Growing Up Deaf in the Old South. Washington, DC: Gallaudet
UP, 2004. 4th floor and ETRR HV2561.S74 J68 2004.
*Lang, Harry. Phone
of Our Own: The Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell. Washington, DC: Gallaudet
UP, 2000. 4th floor, 3rd floor-Archives, ETRR. HE 8846.A55 L35 2000.
Lang (NTID, Rochester, NY) documents in great detail the deaf community's quest
for telecommunications access. He has obviously done meticulous research into
the life of Robert Weitbreeht, the deaf engineer who invented the teletype (TTY)
and spent his professional lifetime struggling to make it available to deaf
people. Massive obstacles arose in the form of the corporate world's proprietary
attitude and unwillingness to manufacture or market the technology. The theme--the
hearing world's paternalistic refusal to allow deaf people to participate in
finding the most effective ways to meet their needs--is quite prominent in this
book, as it is in many other documents pertaining to Deaf culture. The book's
main weakness is its inadequate description of technology. Although the writing
seems to be geared toward a general audience, it presupposes knowledge not likely
to be held by most readers. In particular, more background is needed on the
old RTTY machines used in the modern TTY's early development. The writing style
also varies drastically from page to page, as Lang jumps from deeply personal,
almost eulogistic narrative, to more impartial historical documentation. In
general, an important addition to the corpus of knowledge of Deaf history.
Van Cleve, John V. (Ed.).
Deaf History Unveiled. Washington, DC: Gallaudet UP, 1993. 4th
floor and ETRR HV2367 .D4 1993.
Fourteen essays by well-known scholars highlight the latest findings on the
history of deaf people throughout the world during the past four centuries.
Presents new evidence of self-determination of deaf people, and examines patterns
of suppression.
Historical Biography
Seale, Jan. The Eyes and Ears of the Texas Army: "Deaf" Smith.
McAllen, TX: Knowing Press, 1986. 4th floor (2 copies) , HV2534.S55 S42 1986.
Drama
Baldwin, Stephen. Deaf Smith: The Great Texan Scout. May 25, 1985.
Archives, 3rd floor PS3552.A549 A19 1978b and E-Reserve. See video below.
Deaf Smith: The Great
Texan Scout. By Stephen Baldwin. 1985. 39 mins. Color/Voiced/Signed.
Archives, 3rd floor PS3552.A549.
Deaf President Now
Christiansen, John B. and Sharon N. Barnartt. Deaf President Now!: The
1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University
Press, 1995. 4th floor (2 copies) and ETRR HV2561.W18 C48 1995.
This tells the story of the “civil rights movement of the deaf” –
the protest in March 1988 over the appointment of another hearing president
at Gallaudet University. It is an exciting study of how they triumphed in the
appointment of the first deaf president in Gallaudet’s 124-year history.
*Gannon, Jack R. The
Week the World Heard Gallaudet. Washington, DC: Gallaudet UP, 1989. 4th floor (2 copies) and ETRR HV2561.W18 G36 1989 .
*Kelley, Walter P. Victory
Week. Rochester, NY: Deaf Life Press, 1998. OVER 4th floor HV2561.W18
G385 1998.
A child's-eye view of the March 1988 "Deaf President Now" protest.
The story of DPN retold in a very simple and easy-to-read text, just for children,
but can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Fully illustrated with 19 stunning
full-color watercolor paintings.
*Ramos, Angel M. Triumph
of the Spirit: the DPN Chronicle. Twin Falls, ID: R & R Publishers,
2003. 4th floor, HV2561.W18 R366 2003.
First-hand account of the Deaf President Now (DPN) protest.
Drama
*Baldwin, Stephen C. Who’s Gonna be the Next Gally Prez?
1985. Archives, 3rd floor PS3552.A549 A19 1978b and E-Reserve.
*Holcomb, Thomas H. The
Week the World Heard Gallaudet. 1993. RES PS3558.O536 W44 1993 and E-Reserve.
Videos: Deaf
President Now!
Dir. Rick Fansher. Prod. Mary Lou Novitsky. Hosts Gil Eastman and Mary Lou Novitsky.
Gallaudet University, 1988. 27 mins. Color/Signed/Voiced/Captioned. 4th floor
HV2561.W18D3271988 and ETRR VIDEO 5880 no.17
In this segment of Deaf Mosaic, the events leading up to the appointment of
Gallaudet University's first deaf president are recounted.
Gold Rush
*Ballin, Albert. “Coming to California”. Deaf World: A Historical
Reader and Primary Sourcebook. Ed. Lois Bragg. New York: NYU UP,
2001. 27-32. 4th floor, REF and ETRR HV2545 .D43 2001.
*Booth, Edmund. California
As I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900
. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Library, 2003. On-Line
Books. <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/calbkbib:@field(TITLE+@band(Edmund+Booth++1810-1905++forty-niner;+))>
Edmund Booth (1810-1905) forty-niner; the life story of a deaf pioneer, including
portions of his autobiographical notes and gold rush diary, and selections from
family letters and reminiscences. Edmund Booth (1810-1905) of Massachusetts
lost his hearing and part of his sight by the time he was eight years old. Despite
these disabilities, Booth led a full and adventurous life, leaving his Iowa
farm in 1849 for nearly five years in the California gold fields. On his return
to Iowa he left farming for journalism and became editor of the Abolitionist
Anamosa Eureka. Edmund Booth (1810-1905) forty-niner (1953) contains Booth's
diary and letters chronicling his overland crossing; prospecting at Feather
River, Hangtown, and Sonora; visits to Sacramento, Columa, Columbia, and Stockton;
and return voyage via Nicaragua, 1854.
*Lang, Harry. Edmund
Booth: Deaf Pioneer. Washington, DC: Gallaudet UP, 2004. 4th floor, Archives and ETRR HV2534.B64 L35 2004.
Medieval
Cartagena, de Teresa. The Writings of Teresa de Cartagena. Translated
by Dayle Seidenspinner-Nunez . Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 1998 ca 1450. 4th
floor BX2186.T47213 1998.
Teresa de Cartagena was born in Burgos in about 1415-20, into a powerful family
of Jewish origin. All we know of Teresa comes from her work: she was deaf and
not physically strong, she was a nun, and - perhaps the source of her resilience
-she was well-educated, above all in religion and moral philosophy. Deaf from
early womanhood, her consolatory treatise Grove of the Infirm is a reflection
on the spiritual benefits of illness; her second work, Wonder at the Works of
God, was apparently written to counter the contention of her critics that a
disabled woman had nothing of value to say. This artful manipulation of the
familiar devotional genre of `the treatise of consolation' reveals a woman writer
intimately familiar with the cultural practices of her era; overall, both works
allow a rare glimpse into the world of women in fifteenth-century Spain.
Historical Fiction
Andrew, Prudence. Ordeal by Silence: A Story of Medieval Times.
New York: Putnam, 1961. 3rd floor, PZ4.A5525 Or and Archives Panara collection.
Novel about a "holy fool," a deaf miracle-worker in Medieval England.
By suffering in silence, he serves as an example of goodness to men of incontinence,
violence and fraud.
*Burnet, J.R. Tales
of the Dumb and Dumb, with Miscellaneous Poems. Neward, NJ: B. Olds,
1835. 4th floor, HV2545.b8 1971.
Includes two tales of Burnet, deaf since 8, on themes of deafness, written in
sentimental, religious vein.
Defoe, D. The History
of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell. London: W. Meers,
1720. 4th floor BF1815.C2D4 1720.
Picaresque novel based on the real life figure of a deaf gentleman in England
who is an inspiration to other deaf people. Information on deaf education in
the 18th century is included.
Hugo, Victor. The
Hunchback of Notre Dame. New York: New American Library, 1965. 3rd floor
(3 copies) PQ2288.C6 1965.
In spite of his deafness and society's unwillingness to communicate with him,
Quasimodo, the bellringer of Notre Dame is able to use his superior intellect
and powers of observation interacting with the world around him. The story is
set in 15th century Paris, and reflects the historical, social and political
conditions of that period. Quasimodo uses home signs, speech, paper and pen
for writing and lipreading to communicate. (Rosen, 1993).
Wallace, Lew. The
Prince of India; or, Why Constantinople Fell. New York: Harper and Brothers,
1893. 3rd floor PS134.P7 1893a v. 1 and 2.
Historical romance in which the hero surrounds himself with deaf slaves, two
of which are important to the plot and courageous, nobel, and trustworthy in
character.
Legends
Fletcher, C.W. The Deaf and Dumb Boy, A Tale, With Some Account of the
Mode of Educating the Deaf and Dumb. London: J.W. Parker, 1843. 4th floor, HV2380.F53 1843a
Story of a little boy born deaf who gains his hearing at age 4 with the aid
of a "surgeon-aurist" and a loud band playing in a park. Despite the
fantastic recovery, the author purports the account to be based on fact and
there are examples of letters written by deaf people of the times.
Videos
*Jack Gannon: The Impact of Deaf History on Our Lives. Dir. Jack
Gannon. Sign Media, Inc., 1991. 37 mins. Color/Signed/Voiced/Captioned.4th floor, HV2474.I5847 1992 and ETRR VIDEO 5961.
Jack Gannon gives a lecture on how and why deaf history affects his life and
the lives of others. Jack gives specifics when he talks about the impact of
deaf history on his life.
French Beginnings.
C. Barral (Laurent Clerc et Jean Massieu Dans La France DuXVI Siecle), R. Fischer
- (18th Century Language d'action), and A. Quartararo (Republicanism and Deaf
Identity: Henry Gaillard). Sign Media, 1992. 1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced. 4th
floor, HV2474.15847 1992 Vol.12. See Gaillard’s book.
Deaf History: Selected
Topics. N. Abbott Thomas-Hart Benton's Association with the Deaf Residents
of Martha's Vineyard. T. Leaky-Vocational Education in the Deaf American and
African American Communities. N. Abbott - Gallaudet's First British Isle Students.Sign
Media, 1992. 1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced.4th floor, HV2474.I587
1992 Vol.9. See Martha Vineyard book.
Harlan Lane-Medicalization
of Cultural Deafness in Historical Perspective. Sign Media, 1992. 1
hr. Color/Signed/Voiced. 4th floor, HV2474.15847 1992 Vol.
4.
T.H. Gallaudet and
A.G. Bell. P. Valentine-Thomas H. Gallaudet: Benevolent Paternalism
and the Origins of the American Asylum. M. Winzer-Visible Speech and Oral Revolution:
From Intent to Imperative. Sign Media, 1992. 1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced. 4th
floor, HV2474 .I5847 1992 Vol.7. See books on Clerc.
American Sign Language
in the 19th Century. D. Baynton-Decline of Manualism in the 19th Century.
R. Buchanan-The Silent Worker Newspaper and the Building of a Deaf Community,
1887-1929. Sign Media, 1992. 1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced. 4th floor,
HV2474 .I5847 1992 Vol.8.
American Schools and
Depression Years. M. Reis-Student Life at Indiana School for the Deaf
During the Depression. J. Dick-Interest Group Activities of the Deaf and Social
Services in the 1930's. Sign Media, 1992. 1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced. 4thfloor,
HV2474.I587 1992 Vol.15.
History Sources.
L. Fischer-Wanted by the National Archives-Deaf History Researchers. T. Jones-
America's First Multi-Generation Deaf Families. Sign Media, 1992. 1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced.4th floor, HV2474 .I5847 1992 Vol.17.
Deaf History: Theory
and Applications. G. List-Deaf History: A Suppressed Part of General
History. J. Hay Ediinburg-Deaf Education: Adult Basic Education Scheme with
the Pre-Lingually Deaf. B. White Visual History, Deaf Mosaic. Sign Media, 1992.
1 hr. Color/Signed/Voiced. 4th floor, HV2474 .I5847 1992 Vol.
18.
Websites:
History Through Deaf Eyes
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/deafeyes/
Deaf History Time Line http://members.aol.com/deafcultureinfo/deaf_history.htm
Deaf History International
Organization http://dhi.gallaudet.edu/
Deaf History Journal http://www.deaf-history.org.uk/
Deaf President Now! http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/DPN/
Guide created by Joan Naturale 31
March 2004.
Email: JXNWML@rit.edu
Links checked 17 August 2004.
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