The Texas Archive of the Moving Image  has posted footage showing a day at Austin's Texas School for the Deaf in the 1960s. The activities include students in the classroom, playing basketball, and in their dormitory.

One of the first deaf actresses to have a major role on a TV series died on this day (April 22, 2015) in Fremont, California. CBS Photo archive Audree Norton was 88 years old. A founding member of The National Theatre of the Deaf, Norton appeared on the CBS show Mannix in 1968 and later on The Streets of San Francisco and Family Affair. When she was cut out of a role just because she was deaf, Norton filed a complaint with the Screen Actors Guild. John Schuchman suggests in h

On this date (April 20) in 1786, John Goodricke died. Goodricke only survived to the age of 21, but the deaf astronomer made a major impact on his field. Working with Edward Pigott, Goodricke learned to measure the variation of light coming from stars. This would eventually lead astronomers to figure out the distance of galaxies from the Earth. While still a teenager, the Royal Society of London awarded him the Copley Medal, making him the youngest person to be given its high

Ursula Bellugi, the first to demonstrate that ASL is a true language, died at the age of 91, four years ago today ( April 17, 2022). Credit: Salk Institute Bellugi's research focused on how the brain processes language. She proved it is just as complex, abstract and systematic as spoken language, reports the New York Times . A leading researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies  for nearly 50 years, she studied the linguistic structure and neurological basis of Am

It was on this day (April 15) in 1817 that the American School for the Deaf, the oldest permanent public school for the deaf, opened its doors. Founded by Laurent Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet, the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut is more than 200 years old. Read more about the school here . Meanwhile, the New York School for the Deaf also was established that day on April 15, 1817. They open its doors in 1818.

It was on this date, April 8, 1864, that President Abraham Lincoln signed the charter to establish what became Gallaudet University.

It was on this day, April 5, in 1887, when Helen Keller grasped the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the manual alphabet with the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan. Her blind and deaf pupil had learned to memorize words but failed to connect the words to their meanings. When Anne took Helen to an old pump house, Helen, she finally understood that everything has a name. Sullivan put Helen’s hand under the stream and began spelling “w-a-t-e-r” into her palm, first

On March 29, 1976, Louise Fletcher accepted an Academy Award for her role in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest." She had played the memorable role of Nurse Ratched. She made an emotional and unique acceptance speech at the Oscars that year for her best actress award. The actress decided to honor her parents, who were both deaf, by using American Sign Language. Fletcher told the audience: “I wanted to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come t

It was 38 years ago today (March 13, 1988) that the Deaf President Now movement succeeded. It happened when I King Jordan became the first deaf president of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Read the details of what happened here .

‘CODA’ Star Troy Kotsur won the best supporting trophy at the Film Independent Spirit Award on March 6, 2022. Image: Variety That makes him the first deaf actor to win the award. Kotsur plays deaf fisherman Frank Rossi in the film CODA.  In accepting the honor, Kotsur thanked the film’s producers and applauded them for their vision. He went on to thank his wife and daughter. Backstage he said: “You know how long it took me to get here? And it takes doctors a long time to get

It was on this date (March 4, 2013) an episode of Switched at Birth  was aired that made history. The dialogue of the entire show was in ASL. Producers of the ABC Family program (now known as Freeform ) say this was the first time a scripted series on mainstream television used only American Sign Language.

On this date (March 3, 1887) Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller's home in Alabama to work with their deaf and blind daughter, Helen. Through their work together, Helen Keller would go on to become one of the most influential people in history. Below is a video about Helen Keller from Biography.com or you can read the material here .

Luther "Dummy" Taylor was born on this day (Feb. 21) in 1875. Luther Taylor, known as Dummy Taylor, played for the San Francisco Giants when they were in upper Manhattan, and later for the Cleveland Bronchos a in the early 1900s. Taylor was an important pitchers on the Giants' championship teams of 1904 and 1905. He not only "bridged a gap between hearing and nonbearing athletes," he "remains a unique link between Kansas City and the Giants." Read more in the New York Times

Hilbok was Gallaudet University's student body president during the 1988 Deaf President Now protest. image from gallaudet.edu Profoundly deaf since birth, Hilbok was the first deaf law student at Hofstra University. He oversaw the FCC's Disability Rights Office from 2010 to 2016 and now serves on the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees.  Hilbok is  currently Chief Legal Officer for video relay service providers ZVRS and Purple Communications. Read more here .

It was on this day in 2001 (Feb 1), Joseph Mesa, Jr. murdered Benjamin Varner in his Gallaudet dorm room. Mesa stabbed his classmate more than a dozen times. This wasn't Mesa's first fatal attack. A few months earlier, Mesa beat Eric Plunkett to death in his dorm room as well, leaving the school's campus shaken. Mesa turned himself in to the police ten days after the Varner killing. In July of 2002, a DC judge gave Mesa six life terms without the possibility of parole. Prosec

A deaf bank customer helped stop a bank robbery on this day (Jan 30) in 2003. A bank teller in Rochester, New York, tipped off the man as he was going through the drive-through. The robber had entered a branch of HSBC, yelled that he was robbing it, then jumped on a counter and pistol-whipped a teller. Another teller at the drive-up window just happened to be helping a deaf customer at that moment. She mouthed the words "we are being robbed." The lip-reading customer then dro

It was on this day (Jan. 28, 2021) that the film CODA had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. In the movie CODA, Emilia Jones plays the only hearing member of a deaf family. She has to decide whether to leave and pursue her music dreams or stay at home to help her parents. The story is based on the French film La famille belier. The costumes for the actors, including Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin, come from the imagination of veteran designer Brenda Abbanda

Downs, one of the most responsible people for newborn hearing screening in the U.S., was born this day (Jan. 26) in 1914. Audiologist Marion Downs published two books and over 100 articles on the topic during her lifetime. The Marion Downs Hearing Center is located at the University of Colorado Medical Center. WVXU radio in Cincinnati has more on this remarkable woman here . She was 100 years old when she died on Nov. 13, 2014. Read more about her here .

A driving force in the Deaf community died on this date (Jan. 20) in 2008. James LeVoy Sorenson passed away at a Salt Lake City hospital at the age of 86. Utah's richest man was estimated to be worth $4.5 billion by Forbes magazine. Perhaps best known for co-developing the first real-time computerized heart monitor and for founding Sorenson Communications, he donated more than $5 million to Gallaudet University. Read more about his life here.

A 16th century Spanish monk is recognized by most historians as the first teacher of deaf children. Pedro Ponce de Leon lived from 1520 to 1584. However, some point to Spanish painter Juan Fernández Navarrete as the first. He lived in the early part of the century. Ponce de Leon was a Benedictine monk who took a vow of silence and developed a form of sign language to communicate. He apparently taught finger-spelling to deaf children who probably arrived at his monastery alrea