Fall 1986: Gallaudet College became a University! I was a senior there then, but missed the historic ceremony because I had fallen asleep in my dorm room exhausted after working literally all night on a special edition of the Buff and Blue student newspaper to commemorate the occasion.
Gallaudet University in Washington, DC was not always a University. It actually began as an elementary school. The basic facts:
- 1850s - Amos Kendall donates land to establish a school for the deaf and the blind (Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind )
- 1864 - President Lincoln signs the bill to authorize the school to grant college degrees. New name: National College for the Deaf and Dumb.
- 1865 - Another new name. The blind students left, and the Institution became Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, while the college became National Deaf-Mute College.
- 1887 - First women admitted to college; 1889 - Gallaudet University Alumni Association begins.
- 1893 - College becomes Gallaudet College, to honor Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.
- 1969 - Gallaudet established the Model Secondary School for the Deaf. In 1970, Kendall Demonstration Elementary School was established.
- 1986 - the Education of the Deaf Act awards Gallaudet the status of being a University.
- 1988 - the historic Deaf President Now movement takes place.
- 2000-2001 School Year: Murders of two students at Gallaudet.
More Detailed Histories
- Gallaudet University's history page - detailed.
- Info to Go's Gallaudet History publication - includes photographs.
Books on Gallaudet History
The only book I know of solely about Gallaudet history is the historic History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907.This book is a detailed history of Gallaudet, written by Edward Miner Gallaudet. (compare prices)
