Sign language is a visual communication that also reflects a culture. In the 18th Century, the Deaf were treated as second-hand citizens, seen as simple-minded and impossible to teach. Yet at 9 years old, a deaf Alice Cogswell demonstrated to Thomas Gallaudet a brilliant and inquisitive mind only lacking a school to learn in. She became the catalyst and inspiration for bringing deaf education from Europe to the States and starting the first American School of the Deaf, where she was the first pupil.
With Gallaudet and Clerc making several appearances in my dictionary, I chose Alice as the character to illustrate the ASL hand signs for Culture. C hand circles around the opposite index finger to reference the area of social customs, values, and heritage of a particular group. The gloved hands behind her show another version of Culture, Condition, and Circumstance.
Many photographs of Alice are in black and white, her statues a single tone. Descriptions of her hair have ranged from black curls, to brown to golden. I went with blonde hair for its more youthful appearance.
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