Study Materials for Test #4 - Seattle Central Community College

Decline of Residential Schools for the Deaf

1880 - 1920

AGB tried to reach the

Public than teachers of deaf children. They built broad public support for their policies and beliefs.

In 1882, only 7.5% of 7,000 taught orally.

In 1900, 47% In 1905, over 50% first time In 1919, nearly 80%

Denominational Schools

The Catholic Church had been interested in educating children for a long time. Father Timon, who later became a bishop in Buffalo, New York, was very much interested in helping deaf people. He and two French nuns started a school for deaf children in Saint Louis, Missouri. That school is still there. Later, Father Timon invited the same nuns to open a school in New York. They started the Saint Mary’s School for the Deaf in Buffalo, New York. They opened their school in 1859 in three tiny cottages.

 In 1837, two sisters of St. Joseph from Lyon, France  Met by the Rev. John Timon in New Orleans  Took the boat up the Mississippi River to Saint

Louis in Missouri  One year later, they mastered enough English  Opened at the convent in Carondelet in the Saint Louis area  The school called the Mariae Consilia Deaf Mute Institution  Through a number of name changes and merged with Saint Joseph’s School for the Deaf in around 1910.

The Sisters of St. Joseph • In 1859, they opened the LeCouteuiz St.Mary’s School for the Deaf in Buffalo, New York.

The Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross  By 1840, in Loretto, Ketucky  Began admitting deaf girls to their school  The Sisters were taught by a sister who had

also been trained at a Catholic school for the deaf in France.  That school was short-lived and closed due to lack of funds and small attendance.

In 1907, four Catholic schools for the Deaf in the State of New York, which had a deaf population of about 10,000.

There were 593 children being cared for.

4,744 children in Catholic schools for the deaf outside of the State of New York • The other Catholic institutions are almost entirely dependent upon the charity of religious sisterhoods.

Detroit, Michigan  The Lutherans in Detroit decided to open an

orphanage, a home for children who do not have any parents.  Mr. Speckhardt, a minister, was chosen to manage the orphanage.  Mr. Speckhardt had taught deaf children in Germany. He accepted two deaf girls into the orphanage. The news spread all over Michigan. In a few years, there were twice as many deaf children as orphans.  In 1874, the orphanage changed its name and became a school for deaf students.

Northern California  The first state school opened in 1860. It was

started by 23 ladies who wanted to teach poor and blind children.  They called their new school “The Society for

the Instructing and Maintenance of the Indigent Deaf and Dumb and Blind.”  After 15 years, a fire destroyed the building, and a new school was built.

Ephpahatha Its mission is to worship the Lord Jesus

1880 in August National Convention of DeafMutes  held in Cincinnati, Ohio

 for three days

For centuries, hearing people had been trying to help deaf people. Too often, hearing people also had been deciding what was best for deaf people.

Deaf people had little chance to express their views. The debating and the voting were almost entirely done by hearing people. Deaf people felt frustrated by the results.

What was happening in Europe?  We knew that the European deaf

were protesting against the growth of the pure oral method, but that these deaf people were unable to stop that growth.  The American deaf people did not want that to happen in their country.

To control their own destinies  To bring the deaf of the different sections in

close contact.  Deaf people were capable to enter all vocations in life.  A turning inward by the Deaf community in the face of stress and change.  Deaf people looked to themselves for the leadership and the strength they would need to confront an environment.

1880 was an important year. The National Convention of

Deaf-Mutes was born, and deaf leaders started to emerge, but the Milan Congress made a major decision that changed the lives of many deaf children.

 In 1883 – Second NAD convention

held in New York City with 174 participants from 18 states; members decided to raise money for a statue in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet  In 1887 - $13,000 raised for the Gallaudet memorial statue.

Several organizations of the deaf in America

• Conference of Executives of American School for the Deaf

• The Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf • The Conference of Principles of American Institutions for the Deaf

New England Gallaudet Association of the Deaf The idea of a national association of the deaf dates back to 1850. • gathered in Hartford, Connecticut to pay tribute to Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc.

• discussed the need for a national association, but agreed that the idea was impractical. • Deaf leaders were scattered. Travel was slow and difficult.

• The suggestion of an organization persisted and resulted in the formation of the New England Gallaudet Association of the Deaf in 1853. • named in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

National Convention of DeafMutes  The use of the term “Deaf-Mutes” in the title of the

National Association occurred at a time when the teaching of speech to the deaf was spreading across the country.  Educators were trying to eliminate the use of the term “mute,” in schools for the deaf and particularly in the title of the National Convention of Deaf-Mutes.

By the third convention in 1889, the Association has dropped the offensive term from its name. The members objected to referring to schools for the deaf as “asylums.”

http://extras.journalnow.com/againsttheirwill/timeline/page1.html

Origins  At the turn of the 20th century, the American

industrial machine was moving full steam ahead, fueled by a burgeoning working class and an endless influx of immigrants, mostly from southern and eastern Europe.  In an age of invention, scientists, doctors and economists were elevated to elite status, as they churned out the latest economic and social theories of the day.

A new philosophy, Progressivism  Progressive reformers sought a larger role for

government to address the growing inner-city issues of crime, poverty and hunger that Industrialization left in its wake.  For these social "visionaries," who looked toward science to solve the problems caused by a rapidly changing world, eugenics was a ready-made tonic — prostitution, alcoholism, ignorance, birth defects, poverty, crime, could all be blamed on defective genes.

 Under the auspices of "social responsibility,"

involuntary sterilizations, genetic manipulation, race segregation and imprisonment were justified in order to save America from the high cost of treating defective individuals, who were responsible for the nation’s social ills. In addition, immigration of "undesirables" could be curbed through selective genetic screening and strict immigration quotas.

Eugenicists were especially concerned about hereditary blindness, because the institutionalized blind were considered a burden to society. The ophthamologist Lucien Howe conducted a study on hereditary blindness for the American Medical Association and lobbied for legislation to restrict the marriage of blind persons. Eugenicists considered epilepsy an inherited disorder, and many states sterilized epileptics to prevent its spread. This was another of the eugenicists' misinformed stands -- epilepsy's causes are still not fully understood.

Eugenical Sterilization Law  In 1907, Indiana became the first state to pass a law

permitting involuntary sterilizations on eugenic grounds  at least 30 states would follow suit. Many of them simply adopted a model “eugenical sterilization law.”  By the mid-1920s, more than 3,000 people had been sterilized against their wills. These included the homeless, orphans, epileptics, the blind and deaf. Also sterilized were those who scored poorly on IQ tests, who were diagnosed as being "feebleminded."

 The first law was passed in Indiana at the urging of

the prison physician, Harry Clay Sharp, who advocated vasectomies as a way to prevent the transmission of degenerate traits. At meetings of the American Medical Association, Dr. Sharp convinced many fellow physicians to lobby their legislatures for laws allowing the involuntary sterilization of sex offenders, habitual criminals, epileptics, the "feebleminded," and "hereditary defectives."

"The science of eugenics and sexlife, love, marriage, maternity: the regeneration of the human race," by W.J. Hadden, C.H. Robinson, and M.R. Melendy Date: 1930

Supporters of eugenics wanted to eliminate such social ills as out-ofwedlock births, genetic defects and mental illness thought to be hereditary.

As in many states, officials had pushed a eugenics program in the 1920s and 1930s, but the idea had lost support on both the political and scientific fronts. Sterilizations in North Carolina had peaked at 202 in 1938 and then fallen to 117 in 1945.

which made anyone with an IQ under 70 a candidate for sterilization - to decide who should have the operation. (Intelligence-quotient tests have been around since the early 1900s. They were developed by French doctors to separate developmentally disabled children from other children who were entering school.)

Though more than 30 states had eugenic sterilization programs, North Carolina's record of dramatically expanding the program after 1945 and targeting blacks in the general population was different from most.

Eliminate the “bad” genes from the population, and future generations would flourish, the eugenics movement claimed.

Building a better baby As science advances, it offers more choices for prospective parents.

California passed a sterilization law in 1909, and it led the nation with more than 20,000 operations. Virginia was second, with about 8,000, and North Carolina was third, with about 7,600. Most of the California sterilizations were done before 1945, and most in North Carolina during the 1950s and 1960s.

Schools began to add lipreading and speech to the curriculum. Oral educators advocated eliminating sign language

Oral Training

By 1920, 80 percent of deaf students were taught in oral education programs, without sign language, and deaf teachers were reduced from 40% of the profession in the 1860s to less than 15%.

The drum and the piano were familiar components of rhythm classes in schools

Headsets are some examples of technologies that benefit deaf children in education.

A speech class at the Illinois Institution with students employing mirrors to assist them in imitating the mouth and tongue movements of their teacher.

Candles were often used to teach speech because the flame flickered when a student correctly pronounced letters such as "t," "b," and "p."

Dual Oppression of Deaf Women • Historically, deaf women have experienced double oppression in American society. • They have first had to deal with various general discriminatory norms in the hearing community. • Deaf women have also experienced discrimination within the structure of several deaf patriarchal social organizations related to developing their

Deaf women were not allowed to be active members in National Fraternal Society for the Deaf until 1955. It has been very difficult for deaf women to acquire leadership roles in the deaf community because of negative attitudes that come from society in general. In the past, women were expected to provide entertainment and refreshments at various social activities in their hometowns.

Deaf men have traditionally been very conservative about gender role norms, believing that deaf women belonged in the kitchen of the deaf community.

• Information about the daily lives and struggles of Deaf women is not easy to come by, mainly because, until recent decades, women were not considered makers of history.

Angeline A. Fuller Fischer (18411925) • A leader of the feminists among the American deaf in the 1880’s. • Her number one goal was for National Deaf-Mute College to admit deaf women or she would start a separate college for deaf women only. • She began by writing letters to the editor of the Deaf Mutes’ Journal. • She pledged $5.00 to build a “College for Deaf-Mute Ladies” or a “Seminary for Deaf-Mute Girls”. • Public opinion had changed in favor of higher education for women and National Deaf-Mute College soon became co-educational.

Admittance of Deaf Women • Mattie A. Brown from Minnesota made a determined effort to enter National DeafMute College in 1879. She fought the old argument of insufficient housing for women at the college. • Georgia Elliott from Illinois appealed to the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf in 1886 for a change for deaf women to get a college education. The following year National Deaf-Mute College opened the doors to co-eds. She enrolled the next

National Deaf-Mute College • Until 1889 the college officially accepted women students. • In 1886, arrangements were made to accommodate women students. • The 1887-1889 academic years were declared an experimental period for them. • In those days women were supposed to be housewives or teachers. • It was not until 1970 that the first deaf woman is known to have earned a doctorate.

Alice T. Terry • Alice was the first female President of the California Association of the Deaf in 1923. • At the tenth convention in Oakland in 1925, Alice was reelected. • During her tenure, the CAD went on record as supporting a bill to create a labor bureau for the deaf. This was passed by the Legislature but was ineffective because of no funds were appropriated to run the bureau. • In 1927 the CAD successfully fought and defeated a bill that would have put the Berkeley School up for auction.

In the 1930’s Hearing parents complained of having deaf teachers teaching their children, a common complaint in those days. To defend…. the belief that hearing teachers were being paid more because they could teach better than deaf teachers.

During the depression years in the 1930’s • Many schools for the deaf had problems with budget cuts from their states. • Some schools reduced the husband’salary to pay the wife’s. • In 1922, Augusta K. Barrett, a deaf teacher, told of an incident at the teachers’ convention at Morganton, N.C. in 1922. The convention declared that all the deaf could learn to lip-read lectures and chapel addresses. An expert lip-reader, Augusta asked the convention if they could read her lips speaking without voice.

The early 1900s saw a country shifting from an agricultural to an industrial economy. People were moving from rural farmlands to urban cities for work. With World Wars I and II and the military need for products, factory work was plentiful. Like women and minority groups who gained employment during the war, deaf people found work in large numbers. This concentration of deaf people provided the opportunity to build social clubs, church groups, sports organizations and alliances that would foster community life.

Students from the American School for the deaf in West Hartford, Connecticut display a coverlet they are donating to the Hartford Chapter of the Red Cross.

During the World War I Deaf women assisted in the war effort by raising funds and making needed supplies.

•

Many deaf men and women were employed in wartime industries

In the 20th century, movies and television have reflected and shaped public perceptions of minority groups.

In The Story of Eshter Costello, Heather Sears played a deaf student. The teacher in this 1957 film was played by Joan Crawford "The Story of Esther Costello" © 1957, renewed 1985 Valiant Films Inc. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Jane Wyman played a deaf character, opposite Lew Ayers in the 1948 film Johhnny Belinda. Wisconsin Center for Film & Theatre Research

Alan Arkin is shown signing in this still image from a 1968 film, The Heart is a Lonley Hunter. "The Heart is a Lonley Hunter" © 1968, Warner, All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

From 1902 until 1986, according to one historian's count, over 150 movies and network TV programs had deaf characters. These characters were, until recently, rarely played by deaf actors, nor did they bear much resemblance to the experiences of deaf people. Indeed, the typical media image of the deaf person was a lonely, dependent, uneducated, often tragic figure, rarely an independent member of a closeknit community.

Employing the Deaf Community • During most of the nineteenth century employment had been a secondary issue. • Although residential schools had always offered vocational training, concerns about work did not occupy a prominent place in public debates among deaf people. • Deaf people wanted to establish their educability first to throw off paternalism.

First Reason To Show Educability • By the late nineteenth century, schools for deaf people had shrugged off their eleemosynary (contributed as a act of charity) character. • Deaf people wanted to establish themselves as educated and independent citizens who would be expected to support themselves.

A second reason employment gained importance in late 1900’s • Economic change had revolutionized the nature of work in the United States. • Farm labor and handcrafts required skills that could be learned without hearing. • Individuals could depend on visual observations, long practice, and an intimate acquaintance with coworkers to acquire knowledge and craftsmanship.

After the Civil War • Occupations with craftsmanship declined in importance to the American economy. • Their place was rapidly taken by urban industrial jobs in America’s new, impersonal, wage-labor factory economy. • Deaf workers competed in the face of immigration, industrial policies, against

Civil Service Struggle • Established a new method for selecting low-level government workers. • Provided new employment opportunities. • Deaf people increased their concern about job discrimination. • All federal government jobs had been subjects to the spoils system.

• Individuals received federal positions as rewards for working in support of the winning presidential candidate or party, and any person could be hired or fired at the whim of the current administration.

Under the Civil Service Laws

A three-person Civil Service Commission

Was given the responsibility to hire government workers on the basis of a standard civil service examination that was open to all applicants, no matter what their political party.

Being excluded from federal jobs under the Spoils System • Deaf people usually were not politically active. • Deaf people began to worry that it discriminated against them. • In 1885, the Empire State Association of Deaf-Mutes appointed a committee to convince the Civil Service Commission not to prohibit deaf people from taking the examination.

The Civil Service Commission • Replied that the Empire State Association did not have its facts correct. • R.D. Graham, secretary of the commission, wrote that “there is no provision in the Civil Service Act or Rules which forbids the employment of deaf-mutes.” (This was true in practice during the 1880’s)

The NAD Meeting in Chicago in 1893 • Passed a resolution stating that “the rules controlling admission to the Civil Service of the Government make unfair discriminations against the deaf and deprive them of their rights as citizens.” • The Civil Service Commission found that their

Letters to President Theodore Roosevelt

• From George Veditz, Olof Hanson, and other deaf community leaders to protest discrimination. • In response, the President asked the Civil Service commissioners to explain their decision, and they responded with an odd letter on February

The confused logic of this argument which seemed to imply that too man passed while stating that not enough passed, nevertheless swayed President Roosevelt, and he approv the commissioners’ decision.

The Civil Service Statistics • In 1908, 28 of the 25,000 persons employed under Civil Service classification were deaf. • The proportion of one deaf employee to fewer than 1,000 hearing workers was greater than the overall proportion of deaf people to hearing people in the United States, indicating that the government actually provided a disproportionately high share of jobs for deaf individuals.

Pressure from Veditz, the President of the NAD • President William Howard Taft took a broader view than Roosevelt. • After discussions with Edward Miner Gallaudet, Taft overturned Roosevelt’s decision. • Taft’s executive order of April 7, 1909, stated, “Deaf-mutes may be admitted to examination for all places in the classified civil service of the United States whose duties in the opinions of the heads of the several Executive Departments they may be considered capable of performing.”

• President Taft acknowledged that deaf persons, as a group, should be separated from other “defectives” in the execution of some public policies. • Deaf people asserted their uniqueness as a discrete class of Americans. They insisted on their differentness – they were not inferior or incapable of

Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 (PL 64-347) 1st Federal Vocational Legislation

The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 was the first vocational education act, and it contained several specific elements which contributed to the isolation of vocational education from other parts of the comprehensive high school curriculum. For example, in order to receive federal funds under Smith-Hughes, each state was required to establish a state board for vocational education.

• This law established a state-federal program in vocational education. • It created a Federal Board for Vocational Education that had the authority and responsibility for the vocational rehabilitation of veterans. • It also provided federal assistance grants to states, which they had to match, that supported vocational education. • Each state had to pass “enabling legislation” and establish its own Vocational Education Board. • This relationship, federal money that required state match, is still used today.

This requirement led, in some states, to the establishment of a board separate from the State Board of Education. Thus two separate governance structures could exist at the state level.

Smith-Hughes Act (1917) The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 provided federal funds to support the teaching of agriculture. This act stated that the purpose of vocational agriculture was to train people "who have entered upon or who are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm."

Urbanization At the beginning of this period, more than 80 percent of the population lived in rural areas and on farms. For the average farm boy or girl, life was circumscribed by the family, and the important tasks and responsibilities were learned at home. Although farm children attended school, reading and other intellectual activities were of secondary importance in their lives. In short, formal education was far from a critical necessity.

The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917

The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 is a law which provided federal funds for the salaries of teachers of agriculture, trades, industry, and home economics in secondary schools and stipulated in detail the vocational character of the courses to be taught.

Soldier Rehabilitation Act, 1918, (PL 65-178)

This authorization the Federal Board for Vocational Education (FBVE) to provide programs in vocational rehabilitation for disabled veterans. It became known as the Smith-Sears Act and formed the basis for the later vocational rehabilitation of civilians.

Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1920 (PL 66-236) • This was called the Smith-Fess Act and marked the beginning of the public rehabilitation program. It established the state-federal partnership and provided for equal expenditures between each state and the federal government through a system of matching funds.

Matching funds (federal and state)

80% / 20%

Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1920 (PL 66-236) • To receive matching funds, each state was required to: • 1.) develop a state plan and submit it to the federal government for approval, • 2.) write an annual report to the FBVE • 3.) establish a state program under the state’s Vocational Education Board, and 4.) not spend any of this money on buildings or equipment. Funds were provided for vocational guidance, training, occupational adjustment, prostheses, and placement services.

Services were to be provided only to people with physical disabilities and were vocational in nature. No physical restoration or socially oriented rehabilitation could be provided.

Employing the Deaf Community • During most of the nineteenth century employment had been a secondary issue. • Although residential schools had always offered vocational training, concerns about work did not occupy a prominent place in public debates among deaf people. • Deaf people wanted to establish their educability first to throw off paternalism.

First Reason To Show Educability • By the late nineteenth century, schools for deaf people had shrugged off their eleemosynary (contributed as a act of charity) character. • Deaf people wanted to establish themselves as educated and independent citizens who would be expected to support themselves.

A second reason employment gained importance in late 1900’s • Economic change had revolutionized the nature of work in the United States. • Farm labor and handcrafts required skills that could be learned without hearing. • Individuals could depend on visual observations, long practice, and an intimate acquaintance with coworkers to acquire knowledge and craftsmanship.

After the Civil War • Occupations with craftsmanship declined in importance to the American economy. • Their place was rapidly taken by urban industrial jobs in America’s new, impersonal, wage-labor factory economy. • Deaf workers competed in the face of immigration, industrial policies, against oralism, and eugenics.

Civil Service Struggle • Established a new method for selecting low-level government workers. • Provided new employment opportunities. • Deaf people increased their concern about job discrimination. • All federal government jobs had been subjects to the spoils system.

• Individuals received federal positions as rewards for working in support of the winning presidential candidate or party, and any person could be hired or fired at the whim of the current administration.

Under the Civil Service Laws A three-person Civil Service Commission

Was given the responsibility to hire government workers on the basis of a standard civil service examination that was open to all applicants, no matter what their political party.

Being excluded from federal jobs under the Spoils System • Deaf people usually were not politically active. • Deaf people began to worry that it discriminated against them. • In 1885, the Empire State Association of Deaf-Mutes appointed a committee to convince the Civil Service Commission not to prohibit deaf people from taking the examination.

The Civil Service Commission • Replied that the Empire State Association did not have its facts correct. • R.D. Graham, secretary of the commission, wrote that “there is no provision in the Civil Service Act or Rules which forbids the employment of deaf-mutes.” (This was true in practice during the 1880’s)

The NAD Meeting in Chicago in 1893 • Passed a resolution stating that “the rules controlling admission to the Civil Service of the Government make unfair discriminations against the deaf and deprive them of their rights as citizens.” • The Civil Service Commission found that their information was incorrect.

The Facts • The Civil Service examination was open to all persons. • A decision of the general superintendent of the Railway Mail Service had declared, perhaps for reasons of safety, that deaf people could not be appointed to jobs in this government agency. • The Civil Service adopted a regulation excluding deaf people from federal government careers. The rule stated that persons with certain defects were prohibited from taking the Civil Service examination.

Letters to President Theodore Roosevelt

• From George Veditz, Olof Hanson, and other deaf community leaders to protest discrimination. • In response, the President asked the Civil Service commissioners to explain their decision, and they responded with an odd letter on February 28, 1908.

According to the Commissioners • Permitting deaf people to take the examination would not be fair to them. • Few passed, and second, because only a small number of those who did pass actually received appointments to government positions, which “resulted in constant complaint from persons thus rejected, as they regarded it as a grievance that, although they had passed the test for eligibility, they were rejected after having gone to the trouble and expense of examination.”

The confused logic of this argument, which seemed to imply that too many passed while stating that not enough passed, nevertheless swayed President Roosevelt, and he approved the commissioners’ decision.

The Civil Service Statistics • In 1908, 28 of the 25,000 persons employed under Civil Service classification were deaf. • The proportion of one deaf employee to fewer than 1,000 hearing workers was greater than the overall proportion of deaf people to hearing people in the United States, indicating that the government actually provided a disproportionately high share of jobs for deaf individuals.

Pressure from Veditz, the President of the NAD • President William Howard Taft took a broader view than Roosevelt. • After discussions with Edward Miner Gallaudet, Taft overturned Roosevelt’s decision. • Taft’s executive order of April 7, 1909, stated, “Deaf-mutes may be admitted to examination for all places in the classified civil service of the United States whose duties in the opinions of the heads of the several Executive Departments they may be considered capable of performing.”

• President Taft acknowledged that deaf persons, as a group, should be separated from other “defectives” in the execution of some public policies. • Deaf people asserted their uniqueness as a discrete class of Americans. They insisted on their differentness – they were not inferior or incapable of employment.