The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure

229 Pages·2020·4.461 MB·English

by  Carolyn Mccaskill, Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, Joseph Christop Hill

TThhee HHiiddddeenn TTrreeaassuurree
ooff BBllaacckk AASSLL

TThhee HHiiddddeenn
TTrreeaassuurree ooff
BBllaacckk AASSLL
Its History and Structure
Carolyn McCaskill
Ceil Lucas
Robert Bayley
Joseph Hill
in collaboration with
Roxanne Dummett
Pamela Baldwin
Randall Hogue
GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY PRESS / WASHINGTON, DC
Gallaudet University Press
Washington, DC 20002
http://gupress.gallaudet.edu
© 2011 by Gallaudet University
All rights reserved. Published in 2011. Paperback edition published in 2020.
Cover design for paperback edition by Eric C. Wilder.
On the cover: The Virginia State School for Colored Deaf and Blind, founded in 1909.
Printed in the United States of America
Paperback ISBN 978-1-944838-72-0
Ebook ISBN 978-1-944838-74-4
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
The hidden treasure of Black ASL: its history and structure/Carolyn McCaskill . . .
[et al.]; in collaboration with Roxanne King Pamela Baldwin Randall Hogue.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-56368-489-0 (hard cover: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-56368-489-6 (hard cover: alk. paper)
1. American Sign Language. 2. African Americans. 3. Deaf—United States.
1. McCaskill, Carolyn.
HV2545.H53 2011
419’.707—dc22
2010052968
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
There’s beauty in the way a hand
Can carve a word on the air,
There’s beauty in the way a hand
Can give lift to a prayer.
There’s beauty in the way a hand
Can trace a song in space,
There’s beauty in the way a hand
Can light a deaf child’s face.
Though we can’t hear the spoken word
Or leaves rustling on a tree,
We can hear the beauty
Of a word that we can see.
—Linwood Smith, “The Way of a Hand”

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xiii
Foreword xvii
Glenn B. Anderson
Preface xxiii
Acknowledgments xxv
Introduction 1
1.
. The Sociohistorical Foundation
2
of Black ASL 14
. Research Methods 49
3
Signers’ Perceptions of Black ASL 64
4.
Phonological Variation 75
5.
Variation in Syntax and Discourse 109
6.
The Effects of Language Contact 126
7.
Lexical Variation 136
8.
Conclusions 161
9.
References 167
Supplementary Resources 183
Index 193
vii

Illustrations
Figure 1.1. Possible Distinguishing Features of
Black ASL 10
Figure 1.2. Main Topics Addressed in This Study 13
Figure 2.1. A Cooking Class at the American School
for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut
(1906–1907) 16
Figure 2.2. The North Carolina State School for the
Blind and Deaf 30
Figure 2.3. The “Colored” Department of the
Arkansas School for the Deaf 32
Figure 2.4. Teachers and Students of the Madison Street
School in 1950 33
Figure 2.5. The Asylum for Colored Deaf and Dumb
and Blind Colored Youth 35
Figure 2.6. William H. Holland, the Founder of the
Texas Asylum for Colored Youths
and Orphans 35
Figure 2.7. The Alabama School for Negro Deaf and
Blind in the Early Years 38
Figure 2.8. William Charles Ritter, the Founder
of the Virginia State School for the
Colored Deaf and Blind 42
ix