American Sign Language History

American Sign Language history is incredibly rich. The story of sign language's development represents the evolution of deaf culture in the world.

American Sign Language history represents the best of what deaf culture has to offer. By learning the history of this powerful language, we can gain a great deal of insight into the resolve of hearing-impaired people.

Generally speaking, American Sign Language traces its origins to the 16th century. At that time, an Italian doctor named Geronimo Cardano stated that the hearing-impaired could understand written symbols by linking them with the things they represented. Later, in 1620, Juan Pablo de Bonet published the first book on teaching sign language that contained the manual alphabet.

A little more than a century later, Abbe Charles Michel de L'Epee of France established the first free school of the deaf. He's also credited with developing a system where individual signs represented certain concepts — the forerunner of modern American Sign Language.

The American Story

The American leg of the story began in Hartford, Connecticut, where a man named Gallaudet founded the first school for the deaf in the U.S. The deaf school movement quickly grew, with similar schools emerging in a number of different states, including New York and Pennsylvania. In fact, by the year 1863, some 22 schools for the deaf had been established in America.

The Collegiate Experience

A year later, history was made when Gallaudet, a college specifically geared toward the deaf, opened its doors in 1864. It is still the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the U.S. at this time. The college has served as a focal point for the deaf civil rights movement, and many of the gains that people have made in hearing society can be attributed to Gallaudet. If you wish to take the pulse of deaf thinking today, you can easily discover it just by visiting the campus of Gallaudet.

American Sign Language history is certainly something for the deaf to be proud of. The language is rich and expressive and is an elegant means of communicating thoughts, memories, and desires. When an individual learns American Sign Language, a fascinating whole new world opens up to him or her — a world that he or she is likely to share with friends and family.

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