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Writing. To Sign.
Hairston and Smith (1983): there is “a Black way of signing used by Black deaf people in their own cultural milieu-.‐ among families and friends, in social gatherings, and in deaf clubs” (55).
What is Black ASL anyway?
Black ASL is a variety of American Sign Language used by African American signers and those of African American descent.
The Black ASL Project
The Black ASL Project (lead by professors, faculty, and staff at Galludet University) began in 2003 and continued into 2007. The purpose of the project was to incorporate history of Black ASL through a Deaf speaking lens. Information was recorded from Deaf schools in the start of the 19th century and research was done to explain the social construction of this unique variety of Black ASL. The project took a total of four years to complete, and introduced the Deaf community at large to the complexities of what some know as Black ASL.
My Black ASL Project
The mission of my project is to educate the sociocultural, multiculturalism, and educational history of black deaf signers through the remediation of the original Black ASL Project. My project will re-introduce this topic through reference from the previous research while addressing a larger audience on the importance of the acknowledgement and signifigance of the Black Deaf community.
Central Topics of Focus
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The socio-historical foundation of Black ASL
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The size of signing space in Black ASL
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The intersection of African American English and Black ASL
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The history and structure of Black ASL in the American South
**a more deatiled outline of my project can be viewed here
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