InfoGuides: Deaf Women: Assignment and Resources

Last Updated: Feb 22, 2024 12:49 PM

Assignment

We now have all issues of American Annals of the Deaf available through the JSTOR database which should make your research easier.

Essay #2: Your essay will be related to an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of De’VIA as follows:
o learn from having seen the artworks (identify: who, what, when, where)
o describe formal art elements such as painting, drawing, and sculpture
o analyze the meaning of “Deaf experiences”
o Is there a gender perspective?

Essay #3
Explore how Mary Herring Wright’s perspective of “deaf” from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s in the South connects to the following questions: What does it mean to be “deaf” in terms of gender? How does the intersection of deaf identity and gender, especially through the historical examples of Deaf women’s lives in the 19th and 20th centuries evolve? Explain the importance of storytelling from her perspective as a deaf black female student. In her own words she writes, “there are many stereotypes that persist about deaf people.”
Sounds like Home covers two major events in American history: The Depression and World War II. In Chapter 7 “The Train Ride to a New World,” Mary was sent to the state school for the deaf and blind in Raleigh in 1935. Describe how she gradually realized the meaning of “home” (her hometown, her family, deaf friends, and school). In Chapter 15 “Accepted at Last,” she described her happiness in several ways. She told stories about other people like Raymond (locked up in the state prison), her baptism, and the summer of 1940. Mary became a teacher in Chapter 17 “From Student to Teacher.” She earned her first pay (p.258). What was her teaching schedule like? Challenges?

Re: Deaf Women and their education, look at Karen Christie's website.

Far from Home "She's got no more business there than a pig has with a Bible." That's what her father said when Mary Herring announced that she would be moving to Washington, DC, in late1942. Recently graduated from the North Carolina School for Black Deaf and Blind Students, Mary had been invited to the nation's capital by a cousin to see a specialist about her hearing loss. Though nothing could be done about her deafness, Mary quickly proved her father wrong by passing the civil service examination with high marks. Far from Home: Memories of World War II and Afterward, the second installment of her autobiography, describes her life from her move to Washington to the present.      Mary soon became a valued employee for the Navy, maintaining rosters for the many servicemen in war theaters worldwide. Her remarkable gift for detail depicts Washington in meticulous layers, a sleepy Southern town force-grown into a dynamic geopolitical hub. Life as a young woman amid the capital's Black middle class could be warm and fun, filled with visits from family and friends, and trips home to Iron Mine for tearful, joyous reunions. But the reality of the times was never far off. On many an idyllic afternoon, she and her friends found somber peace in Arlington Cemetery, next to the grave of the sole Unknown Soldier at that time. During an evening spent at the U.S.O., one hearing woman asked how people like her could dance, and Mary answered, "With our feet." She became a pen pal to several young servicemen, but did not want to know why some of them suddenly stopped writing.      Despite the close friends and good job that she had in Washington, the emotional toll caused Mary to return to her family home in Iron Mine, NC. There, she rejoined her family and resumed her country life. She married and raised four daughters, and recounts the joys and sorrows she experienced through the years, particularly the loss of her parents. Her blend of the gradual transformation of Southern rural life with momentous events such as Hurricane Hazel creates an extraordinary narrative history. The constant in Far from Home remains the steady confidence that Mary Herring Wright has in herself, making her new memoir a perfect companion to her first.
Sounds Like Home: Growing up Black and Deaf in the South New edition available: Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South, 20th Anniversary Edition, ISBN 978-1-944838-58-4 Features a new introduction by scholars Joseph Hill and Carolyn McCaskill Mary Herring Wright's memoir adds an important dimension to the current literature in that it is a story by and about an African American deaf child. The author recounts her experiences growing up as a deaf person in Iron Mine, North Carolina, from the 1920s through the 1940s. Her story is unique and historically significant because it provides valuable descriptive information about the faculty and staff of the North Carolina school for Black deaf and blind students from the perspective of a student as well as a student teacher. In addition, this engrossing narrative contains details about the curriculum, which included a week-long Black History celebration where students learned about important Blacks such as Madame Walker, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and George Washington Carver. It also describes the physical facilities as well as the changes in those facilities over the years. In addition, Sounds Like Home occurs over a period of time that covers two major events in American history, the Depression and World War II. Wright's account is one of enduring faith, perseverance, and optimism. Her keen observations will serve as a source of inspiration for others who are challenged in their own ways by life's obstacles.
Women and Deafness This new collection bridges two dynamic academic fields: Women's Studies and Deaf Studies. The 14 contributors to this interdisciplinary volume apply research and methodological approaches from sociology, ethnography, literary/film studies, history, rhetoric, education, and public health to open heretofore unexplored territory.        Part One: In and Out of the Community addresses female dynamics within deaf schools; Helen Keller's identity as a deaf woman; deaf women's role in Deaf organizations; and whether or not the inequity in education and employment opportunities for deaf women is bias against gender or disability. Part Two: (Women's) Authority and Shaping Deafness explores the life of 19th-century teacher Marcelina Ruis Y Fernandez; the influence of single, hearing female instructors in deaf education; the extent of women's authority over oralist educational dictates during the 1900s; and a deaf daughter's relationship with her hearing mother in the late 20th century.        Part Three: Reading Deaf Women considers two deaf sisters' exceptional creative freedom from 1885 to 1920; the depictions of deaf or mute women in two popular films; a Deaf woman's account of blending the public-private, deaf-hearing, and religious-secular worlds; how five Deaf female ASL teachers define "gender," "feminism," "sex," and "patriarchy" in ASL and English; and 20th-century American Deaf beauty pageants that emphasize physicality while denying Deaf identity, yet also challenge mainstream notions of "the perfect body."

De'VIA Resources

In addition to the resources your professor listed, check out the tab Artists and Photographers. You will find individual books on Nancy Rourke and Ann Silver. Deaf Artists in America also has entries on artists like Susan Dupor and Betty Miller. Check out the Deaf Artists and De'VIA InfoGuide
which includes Patti Durr's website:

Either guide has links to articles about De'VIA. Patti's website lists the articles

Check out the articles: De’VIA: Investigating Deaf Visual Art, Elements of a Culture, and Deconstructing the Forced Assimilation of Deaf People Via De’VIA Resistance and Affirmation Art.

20 Deaf Artists: Common Motifs is a conference presentation found in Deaf Studies VI: Making the Connection: Conference Proceedings

Check out the posters which list common motifs found in Deaf Art.

Related Books are: Deaf-Gain (chapter on Deaf Art) and Introduction to American Deaf Culture (chapter).

Black Deaf Resources

Deaf School Segregation and Black ASL (Note: Joseph Hill, Interpreting Professor is an expert on Black ASL). See some of his work.
The Segregated Georgia School for the Deaf : 1882-1975

The Legacy of Eliza Taylor--DVD,

The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL--- The DVD is also available.

Through the years 1867-1977-Light out of darkness: A history of the North Carolina School for the Negro blind and the deaf. REQUEST via Interlibrary Loan.

Aramburo, A. J. (1989). Sociolinguistic aspects of the black deaf community. In C. Lucas (Ed.), The sociolinguistics of the deaf community. (pp. 103-119). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Aramburo, A. & McAllister, E.(1986). Interpreting for southern black deaf. In M. McIntire (Ed.), Interpreting: The art of cross-cultural mediation. (pp. 107-110). Proceedings of the Ninth National Convention of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Silver Spring, MD. RID Publications.

Hill, J. & McCaskill, C. (2016) Reflections on the Black ASL project. Sign Language Studies, 7, 1, 59-63.

Hill, J. (2017). The importance of the sociohistorical context in sociolinguistics:The case of Black ASL. Sign Language Studies, 18, 1, 41-57.

Lucas, C., Bayley, R., McCaskill, C., & Hill, J. (2015). The intersection of African American English and Black American Sign Language. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19(2), 156–168.

Maxwell, M. M. & Smith-Todd, S. (1986). Black sign language and school integration in Texas. Language in Society, 15, 81-94.

Toliver-Smith, A., & Gentry, B. (2017). Investigating Black ASL: A systematic review. American Annals of the Deaf, 161(5), 560-570.

Woodward, J. (1985, September). Black deaf teachers--short supply. Perspectives for teachers of the hearing impaired, 4, (1), 18-19.
REQUEST via Interlibrary Loan.

Woodward, J. (1976). Black southern signing. Language and Society, 5, 211-218. REQUEST via Interlibrary Loan.

Deaf Black History or Deaf History
Black and Deaf in America: Are We that Different by Ernest Hairston.
Signs of Resistance : American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 to World War II

Deaf Black Women

From Karen Christie's website (2 below)
Chapple, R. L. (2019). Toward a theory of Black Deaf feminism: The quiet invisibility of a population. Affilia: Journal of Women & Social Work, 34(2), 186–198.

Dundas, S. (2016, January-March). Time Capsule: Ida Wynette Gray Hampton. Gallaudet Museum Newsletter, Vol. 4 (1), pg. 2 [www.gallaudet.edu/Documents/Museum/Newsletters/Newsletter-Jan-March-2016.pdf] (Ida Gray Hampton at Gallaudet pdf version)

Obasi, C. (2014). Negotiating the insider/outsider continua: a Black female hearing perspective on research with Deaf women and Black women. Qualitative Research, 14(1), 61–78.

From Karen Christie's website (below)

Wilkins (Williams), B. (1927) Missionary Work

Wilkins (Williams), B. (1929). Colored Deaf Man Has Shoe Repair Shop

Wilkins (Williams), B. (1929) Are Colored Deaf Neglected?

Resources about Blanche Wilkins Williams from Karen Christie's website.

Racism in the Deaf Community
Anderson, G. B. & Bowe, F. G. (1972). Racism within the deaf community. American Annals of the Deaf, 617-619.

Stapleton, L. D. (2016). Audism and racism: The hidden curriculum impacting Black d/Deaf college students in the Classroom. Negro Educational Review, 67(1–4), 149–168.