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Genesis of a Community, Screen Shot 2021-03-25 at 11.09.49 PM - Coggle…
Genesis of a Community
The Seventeenth Century
The earliest of recorded civilizations here in the US, such as Native Americans, had some proof of deafness among them.
During this time, the tribes questioned if deaf people could receive the word of god due to their deafness. A church leader named Roger Williams from the colony of Rhode Island stated that some of the Wamapanoag children were "born deaf and so dumb." This statement is evidence of attitudes towards deaf people at the time.
Puritan beliefs at the time, shaped the way that disabilities were seen. Deaf people were seen as less than their hearing neighbors. Hearing people believed that they were incompetent and were not capable of holding jobs, owning land, or even getting married and starting a family even though this was not the case at all.
these attitudes and notions of deaf people were incorrect of course, in fact several of them owned land at the time. Mathew Pratt and Jonathan Lambert were two successful deaf men who owned land and had families of their own.
The Eighteenth Century
During the 18th century, there Is documented evidence that deaf people had families, owned or conducted businesses and attended religious activities such as mass.
In 1776, there was a magazine article published that featured a manual alphabet, It was titled "Dumb Speech." This Is Indication that signed languages have been around for quite some time.
Some deaf kids during this time may have had access to tutoring, although It Is difficult to tell because records are very scarce, but the only kids who were able to access tutoring would have been kids who came from wealthy families or knew people who could tutor them, which was unfortunately not a common occurance.
However, not all deaf people were seen as equal or respected, there was one woman, Rebecca Nurse who was hung after she was accused of witchcraft. This was at the height of the Salem Trial frenzy. Some people advocated for her innocence but because there were communication barriers, she was ultimately hung.
Revolutionary War
One example of the violence they faced was a man named "Deaf and Dumb Jimmy" who was captured, kidnapped and kept away from his family for over 20 years. It is not clear what happened to him during this time, but it is believed he was kept as a slave.
Several people were excused from serving in the military because of their deafness, but they often still suffered violence from Natives or from the British at home.
Deaf experiences during the war were vastly different, but bottomline was they were not very respected and they were often mistreated. Deaf people experienced lots of violence during this time.
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