The Laurent Clerc Info Quest

Laurent Clerc: "Apostle to the Deaf People of the New World"

Q #1. What is Clerc's full name?
A: Louis Laurent Marie Clerc

Q #2. Why was his family well-known in La Balmes-les-Grottes, France?
A: His father was the royal civil attorney, justice of the peace, and mayor of the village. The males in the Clerc family had served the king from the 15th century.

Q #3. As a child, what were the two most important things Clerc did not have because he was deaf?
A: As a deaf child, Clerc had no education and no systematic means of communication.

Q #4. What changed Clerc's life in 1797?
A:His uncle enrolled him in a Deaf institution.

Q #5. How did Jean Massieu help Clerc?
A: Massieu, Clerc's first teacher, mentored him and became his lifelong friend.

Q #6. Why did Clerc refuse to learn to speak again?
A: Clerc bit his tongue badly when Abbe Margaron gave him a blow under his chin for mispronouncing some syllables.

Q #7. What would make you think that Clerc was an outstanding student?
A: In just eight years, he was chosen to become a "tutor in trial" or a teacher-in-training at his school. The next year, he became a salaried teacher. Within the next ten years he became Sicard's chief assistant and the teacher of the highest class at the Institute.

Q #8. Why was Gallaudet in Europe?
A: There were no deaf schools in America at the time. So, Gallaudet was sent by relatives and supporters of deaf people in America to learn the best methods for teaching deaf people.

Q #9. How did Clerc and Thomas Gallaudet meet?
A:Gallaudet attended a lecture and demonstration by Sicard, Massieu, and Clerc. Sicard introduced Gallaudet to Clerc.

Q #10. What did Gallaudet ask Clerc to do?
A: In 1816, Gallaudet invited Clerc to come with him to America to help establish deaf schools there.

Q #11. What things affected Clerc's decision?
A: He knew that it could be a permanent move and that the challenge was great. Sicard was not too happy about his leaving, and his mother tried to discourage him. But he could not deny his adventurous nature. And ultimately, he deeply felt the need for deaf education where none existed.

Q #12. How was Clerc going to communicate in America?
A: To begin with, he already had a working knowledge of English. During their voyage, he and Gallaudet tutored each other on their languages. Soon, they understood each other enough for Gallaudet to voice-interpret for Clerc.

Q #13. Did Clerc think that Alice Cogswell can still learn (or was educable)? Explain.
A: Even on their first meeting, Clerc found Alice to be very intelligent and eager to learn.

Q #14. Would you agree with the way Clerc and Gallaudet raised money for their school?
A: Making speeches and giving demonstrations of Clerc's teaching and communication techniques at public and legislative forums, interviewing parents of deaf children, and communicating with prospective students - were very successful strategies. They raised about $12,000 from the public and $5,000 from the Connecticut General Assembly.

Q #15. What was historical about the Connecticut General Assembly's approving $5,000 for Clerc's and Gallaudet's mission?
A: Their vote created the first appropriation ever for the education of handicapped people in America.

Q #16. What was the name of the school founded by Clerc and Gallaudet - the first school for the deaf in the Western World? What is it called today?
A: The school was called American Asylum at Hartford for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. It is now the American School for the Deaf.

Q #17. What was historical about Clerc's going to Washington, D.C. in January, 1818?
A: He went there to gather support from Congress, and he was successful in doing so. He also became the first deaf person to ever address the Congress.

Q #18. Who was the American President when the first deaf institution was founded? How did he support the school?
A: When the school opened in 1817, the President was James Monroe (elected in 1816, reelected in 1820). President Monroe, who had attended one of Sicard's demonstrations in London, readily approved the bill which granted 23,000 acres of government land to the school.

Q #19. What event ensured a continuous income for the school's operations?
A: In 1819, with President Monroe's approval, a bill granted the school with 23,000 acres of land in Alabama. That land was sold for around $300,000. Part of the proceeds was used to start an endowment to provide continuous income for the school.

Q #20. How did Clerc influence Deaf education in other parts of the nation at that time?
A: Clerc trained teachers who spread out around the country, using Clerc's teaching and communication methods. Many of the Asylum's graduates went on to establish other schools for deaf people. After the Asylum at Hartford, more than 30 other deaf schools were founded in the nation during Clerc's lifetime.

Q #21. What did Clerc do after teaching for some 40 years and retiring?
A: Clerc continued to express interest in the school. He guested in many events, speaking for deaf educationand supporting the use of sign language in communicating with deaf people.

Q #22. Did Clerc ever come to Gallaudet?
A:In June 1864, at age 79, Clerc was the guest of honor at the inauguration of the National Deaf-Mute College, now Gallaudet University.

Q #23. What honors were bestowed upon Clerc for his work on deaf education?
A: Clerc was the first deaf person to address the U.S. Congress, a special honor. In addition to special recognitions, Clerc received several honorary degrees from various colleges in New England.

Q #24. How did Clerc influence American Sign Language?
A:He taught in his native French signs. However, among themselves, his American students blended their local and "homegrown" signs with the French signs (indeed, Clerc complained that his students were changing his signs). The Hartford Asylum students and their teachers took those signs with them when they spread around the nation and used them increasingly in their educational and social interactions. Eventually, the French and American signs evolved into the American Sign Language.

Q #25. Has an educational institution for the deaf ever been named after Laurent Clerc?
A: On December 7, 1999, Gallaudet University's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center was officially renamed Gallaudet University's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. (press release)

—by Loida Canlas