Each year, Deaf History Month is observed from March 13 until April 15 to highlight three key dates in deaf history. Despite being a relatively overlooked month in the public imagination, one of those key dates holds local significance.

Deaf History Month begins by commemorating the March 13, 1988, Deaf President Now movement’s successful push to make I. King Jordan the first deaf president of Gallaudet University, the world’s only university specifically for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Another key date Deaf History Month recognizes is April 8, 1864, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the charter for Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., more than 100 years before that university had its first deaf president.

Finally, the close of Deaf History Month commemorates April 15, 1817, when the first permanent public school for the deaf, the American School for the Deaf, opened in Hartford. It became a model for other schools for the deaf that opened elsewhere.

In commemoration of Deaf History Month, the Library is sponsoring a four-week Zoom course on American Sign Language Basics. Anyone who is willing to commit to all four Monday evening courses may attend. Enrollment is limited, and interested participants must register on our website or by calling the library by Saturday, March 13, at 4 p.m.

The course begins Monday, March 15, from 6-6:45 p.m. and will run on Mondays through April 5. Signing Basics, based in Springfield, Mass., teaches the course. Throughout the four weeks, students will learn the manual alphabet, days of the week, sentence structure, asking questions, and some basic conversational phrases in American Sign Language.

Don’t forget you can contact us at reference@mysticnoanklibrary.org or call us at (860) 536-7721 to request books or more information about this topic.

Erik Caswell is the adult services librarian at Mystic and Noank Library.