Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet Noted American pioneer in deaf education Date of Birth: 10.12.1787 Country: USA

Biography of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was born on December 10, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of twelve children in his family. Gallaudet attended Yale University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1805. He had plans to pursue various fields, such as studying law, engaging in trade, and exploring the Sacred Scriptures.

In 1814, he became a preacher after completing a two-year course at Andover Theological Seminary. However, Gallaudet shifted his desire to become a professional priest when he met Alice Cogswell, the 9-year-old deaf daughter of his neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell. He began teaching her words by writing them with a stick in the dirt.

Cogswell then asked Gallaudet to travel to Europe to learn methods of educating deaf students, particularly from the Braidwood family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although Gallaudet found the family and gained some knowledge of their oral communication methods for the deaf, he was dissatisfied with their level of teaching.

While in Britain, Gallaudet met Abbé Sicard, the head of the famous Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris (INJS), and two deaf teachers, Laurent Clerc and Jean Massieu. Sicard suggested that Gallaudet go to Paris to learn about the manual method of communication with the deaf, sign language. Impressed by what he learned, Gallaudet transmitted this methodology to Sicard, who trained Massieu and Clerc.

Gallaudet convinced Clerc to accompany him, and together they traveled across New England, successfully raising funds from public and private sources to establish a school for deaf students in Hartford. This school later became known as the American School for the Deaf. Young Alice Cogswell was the first of seven female students in the United States to be educated at this school. Some hearing students also expressed a desire to learn at Gallaudet's school.

In 1821, Thomas married one of his former students, Sophia Fowler. He passed away in his home in Hartford on September 10, 1851, at the age of 63, and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. Just a few days before his death, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Western Reserve College in Ohio.

His son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, founded the first college for the deaf in 1864, which later became Gallaudet University in 1986. The university also includes programs for elementary, middle, and high school education. The elementary school on the university campus is called Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES), and the middle and high schools are known as the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD).

Another son, Thomas Gallaudet, became an Episcopal priest but also worked with deaf people. A monument to Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell, created by sculptor Daniel Chester French, adorns Gallaudet University. One of the residential buildings for students at Central Connecticut State University in New England is named in his honor. Additionally, the United States Postal Service issued a 20-cent postage stamp in 1981 as part of the "Great Americans" series to commemorate his legacy.