WE WERE ALWAYS HERE
Encounters with Four DeafBlind Historical Figures
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You are invited to experience a protactile exhibition featuring storytelling, clothes, and artifacts. Four DeafBlind historical figures who were active between 1850 and 1905 will be co-present during your forty-minute journey through classic
instances of sighted intervention, DeafBlind autonomy, and shifting affordances for communication and travel.
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Schedule
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Three exhibition periods are available for you to choose from:
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Friday, November 22, 3 to 6 p.m.
Saturday, November 23, 10 a.m. to noon
Saturday, November 23, 2 to 4 p.m.
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Tickets are free. Please choose one of the above periods. The exhibition and performances will take place on the campus of the Rochester School for the Deaf. When you R.S.V.P., you will receive the exact address and suggested time of arrival.
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You can R.S.V.P. by sending an email to
deafblind@...
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Figures and Performers
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Laura Bridgman, our first featured historical figure, was the most famous DeafBlind person from the nineteenth century, but for all the wrong reasons. Her most important contributions to our community are not well known, such as her correspondence
with many other DeafBlind.
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Bridgman is represented by Rhonda Voight-Campbell, who has taught DeafBlind and Protactile Studies courses at the Rochester Institute of Technology for eight years.
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Morrison Heady, our second featured figure, was an inventor, businessman, advocate, and, in 1864, the first DeafBlind person to publish a book. A lifelong resident of Louisville, he traveled extensively to raise funds for the American Printing
House for the Blind and other projects.
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Heady is represented by John Lee Clark, who is an author, historian, translator, and Protactile educator.
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Mary Ann Moore, our third featured figure, became, in 1873, the first DeafBlind woman author. A birthright Quaker, she served for a time as women¡¯s overseer for the Deer River Monthly Meeting. Late in life, she joined her family¡¯s migration
to the Midwest.
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Moore is represented by Cristina Hartmann, a Protactile speaker of Brazilian ancestry who holds degrees in history, law, and creative writing.
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James Neal, our fourth figure, was the first DeafBlind person to be employed as a schoolteacher, in his case teaching industrial arts in the segregated ¡°Colored Department¡± of the Tennessee School for the Blind. Before beginning his formal
education at the Tennessee School for the Deaf in 1899, he communicated fluently in a proto-protactile language with his family.
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Neal is represented by Roberto Cabrera, who is a Protactile educator, poet, and director of the S.T.E.M. Academy at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf.
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Patty Starr and Elizabeth Adamson are our hosts.
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This project is supported by a grant from the New York state arts agency that was awarded to the National Technical Institute of the Deaf. Our thanks to Rochester Institute of Technology, the Rochester School for the Deaf, the Susan B.
Anthony House and Museum, and many individuals for additional contributions and making the exhibition possible.
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