Background	Obstacles	Accomplishments
References	Links	Email Comments

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Background Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was born on December 10, 1787, in Hartford, Connecticut. He was the first of eight children. Thomas was born with a sickness which we now call a very bad case of asthma. It made him weak and he would tire out quickly. Thomas also had very bad chest pains. He was teased a lot. Thomas was very smart, though. He knew he found his dream when he met Alice Cogswell (a deaf girl), and started teaching her sign language. He traveled to Europe, met Laurent Clerc, went back to America, and opened up the first school for the deaf in America. He loved Sophia Fowler, his student who was twenty two so much that he married her. They had twelve children, and none of them were deaf. When Gallaudet retired he became a minister at the county jail and insane asylum. Gallaudet was thrown a party at the age of 60 by his first students at the school for the deaf. Gallaudet died at the age of 63 in 1850. Go to Menu

Obstacles His main obstacle was his sickness. He was very short and he would even have trouble breathing indoors. However, if it had not been for his illness he might not have become the great man he was. Go to Menu

Accomplishments His accomplishments were that he made a life for those who were deaf. What I mean by that is all the kids that were deaf were just in a world of their own because they couldn't speak with anyone else. He taught them how to communicate through sign language. He also brought sign language to America and opened up the first school for the deaf in America. Go to Menu

References I got most of my information from the only two available books in San Antonio about Gallaudet. They were called A Deaf Child Listens, and A World Of Knowing. Go To Menu

Links There are very few sites on him, but I did find these: Thomas Gallaudet The history of Gallaudet College     Go To Menu