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Laurent Clerc
Nathan Talbot
20 May 2017
Laurent Clerc
Laurent Clerc was born into an important family that served the king at the time, on December 26, 1785 in southeastern France. When he was one year old, Laurent fell from a high chair near the fire and resulted in him badly burning his face. The injury left him without a sense of hearing and without a sense of smell. The incident left a distinguishable scar on his right cheek which would become his name sign which consists of the middle and index finger brushing downward across his right cheek (Canlas, 1999).
When Laurent Clerc was twelve years old, his uncle entered him into the Royal Institution for the Deaf which was directed by Abbe Roch-Ambroise Sicard. In his early years, going through the Institution, Laurent Clerc greatly excelled and following his graduation became an instructor of advanced courses at the Institution (Crowley). While teaching at the Institution, Laurent Clerc met Thomas Gallaudet, who was interested in learning how to learn and teach sign language so that he could educate the Deaf, specifically Alice Cogswell who lacked education due to her deafness. Gallaudet found it troubling that there were no deaf schools in America at the time. After some time as Gallaudet's sign language teacher, Gallaudet offered that Clerc accompany him to teach sign language to the Deaf in America, which Clerc accepted (Goodstein, A. & Walworth, M., 1979).
The trip to America took the two fifty-two days to complete in which their teachings directly accommodated each other. Gallaudet taught Clerc the English language and Laurent Clerc taught Gallaudet sign language. "Clerc used that time to teach Gallaudet "the method of the signs for abstract ideas." In return, he received tutoring in the English language from Gallaudet" (Goodstein, A. & Walworth, M., 1979).
Laurent Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet arrived in America on August 22, 1816 and on the same day Clerc was introduced to Alice Cogswell and he "communicated with her through sign associations" (Canlas, 1999). The two of them traveled and made speeches interpreting for one another and raised a significant amount of money. This allowed the Laurent Clerc and Gallaudet to open the first Deaf school in America and the first person to enroll was Alice Cogswell. Laurent Clerc taught with French signs with which his students mixed with their native signs and eventually evolved into American Sign Language (Canlas, 1999).
During one of Gallaudet's speeches, Laurent Clerc was also the first Deaf person to ever address the Connecticut Legislature and with the sponsorship from Congressman Clay was able to attain 23,000 acres in Alabama, as sanctioned by President Monroe, for which Clerc was to use for constructing school buildings (Canlas, 1999). Laurent Clerc married one of his students, Eliza Crocker Boardman and together they had six children. In 1858, Laurent retired from teaching and July 19, 1869, died in the United States (Goodstein, A. & Walworth, M., 1979).
Laurent Clerc has had a large influence on the advancement of education for the Deaf Community. His work with Thomas Gallaudet opened many doors for the Deaf. He opened the door for Deaf people such as John Brewster (Crowley).
References
Canlas, L. (1999). Laurent Clerc: Apostle to the Deaf People of the New World. Gallaudet University Laurent Clerc National DeafCenter. http://www3.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center/info-to-go/deaf-culture/laurent-clerc.html. Retrieved 16, May 2017
Goodstein, A. & Walworth, M. (1979). Interesting Deaf Americans. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University. http://www.gallaudet.edu/tutorial-and-instructional-programs/english-center/reading-(esl)/practice-exercises/laurent-clerc. Retrieved 16, May 2017.
Crowley, J. "Monsieur Laurent Clerc," Disability History Museum, http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=39.Accessed: 16, May 2017
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