April 15: American School for the Deaf Opens (1817)
Prayer Idea
Pray for people who are deaf and for their family members.
History Note
Thomas Gallaudet was a minister in Hartford, Connecticut. He met Alice Cogswell, a nine-year-old girl who was deaf. Alice’s family had heard about schools in Europe that helped deaf people learn.
Thomas Gallaudet went to Europe to research educational methods. He returned to America with a deaf man from France named Laurent Clerc. Gallaudet and Clerc opened a school in Hartford on April 15, 1817. Alice Cogswell was one of the first 33 students.
President James Monroe visited the school in 1818. His visit helped raise awareness and increase support for the education of people with disabilities. When Monroe visited Hartford, he wore a tricorner hat. Students of the school made up a sign for him. They formed the shape of his hat with their hands. That sign is still used as the sign for “president” in American Sign Language.
The American School for the Deaf continues to provide programs and services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals from birth through adulthood.
Thomas Gallaudet’s son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, helped to establish Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. This is the world’s only university designed for deaf and hard of hearing students. This 1889 statue by David Chester French on the campus portrays Thomas Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell. Photo by Larry Prock / Shutterstock.com.
Learn More
This video features Deaf people telling the story of the founding of the American School for the Deaf in American Sign Language. You can turn on the captions for the hearing.
Explore more resources at Homeschool History.
