By: Leah Ogunnupe
May 29 2021
When we talk about Deaf culture or the Deaf Community, we usually talk about it
as a whole and it is not broken down further as how the Black Deaf experience is
different from the Deaf experience as a whole. Before integration, Black people
were not allowed to get an education including Black Deaf people, they were Deaf
but they were still Black. A school for Deaf children was created in 1817 but
Deaf Black children didn't get education until the 1850s. Black Deaf children
knew ‘home signs' before they were educated. These signs systems are made in
families with deaf children raised by hearing parents who are isolated from the
Deaf community, specifically the White Deaf people who created ASL. Black Deaf
culture and Deaf culture as a whole share similarities which comes with being
Deaf, but there are also differences with Black Deaf people mostly being raised by
Black hearing parents and the effect Black culture had on shaping Black Deaf Culture.
ASL is influenced by French Sign Language and was used to educate Deaf students
by Laurent Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet, they opened a school for Deaf children in
1817. The school taught this language to students and teachers of Deaf children
which they then brought back to schools in regions all over the country. And
like languages all over the world including North America dialects (variations
of a particular language) are formed. Black ASL, although a doubted existence,
is ASL signed in a different manner than ASL known to most Deaf people in North
America. As previously stated most Black Deaf children are born to hearing
parents and are a part of Deaf culture as well as Black American culture, and
will exhibit linguistic characteristics of both cultures (Toliver-Smith, A., &
Gentry, B. 2017). ASL and African American English (AAE) mix to form Black ASL
as a result of ASL and displayed traits of AAE coming into contact from Black
Deaf signers. Noticeable features of Black ASL are more expressive and larger
signs which may be hard to hold a conversation with people who do not use this
dialect.
"The 1980s witnessed the beginning of the Black Deaf renaissance", the 1980s are
referred to the beginning of the Black Deaf renaissance because of the emergence
of the National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) and a published book by Ernest
Hairston and Linwood Smith called "Black and Deaf in America: Are We That
Different?", which discussed Black and White Deaf communities and was a source of
inspiration for "The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure" by
Carolyn McCaskill, Joseph Christopher Hill, Robert Bayley, and Ceil Lucas which
deepened the understanding of Black ASL (Anderson, G., & Dunn, L, 2016).
Black ASL signers noticed a difference when they integrated to White Deaf
schools and found that they could not understand White Deaf People. Some of the
differences noted was the use of two handed signs versus one handed signs, the
location of signs was lower as Black ASL signed more towards the forehead area, White
signers used a smaller signing space, and the incorporation of AAE in their
signing.
Even though there are Black and White people who share the identity of being
Deaf, social and geographic differences shape a group of people to form a new
culture. The intersectionality of being Deaf and Black defined a group of people
and formed a new culture within both communities.
References:
Hill, J. (2017). The Importance of the Sociohistorical Context in
Sociolinguistics: The Case of Black ASL. Sign Language Studies, 18(1), 41-57.
Retrieved May 26, 2021, from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26478211
Toliver-Smith, A., & Gentry, B. (2017). Investigating Black ASL: A Systematic
Review. American Annals of the Deaf, 161(5), 560-570. Retrieved May 26, 2021,
from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26235307
Anderson, G., & Dunn, L. (2016). Assessing Black Deaf History: 1980s to the
Present. Sign Language Studies, 17(1), 71-77. Retrieved May 26, 2021, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/26189130
Notes:
Notes: