July 24th 2023.
On July 22, 2023, Gallaudet University held a special graduation ceremony to honor 24 Black deaf students who attended the school between 1952 and 1954. These students were denied the high school diplomas they deserved, but the university was determined to right this wrong and give them the recognition they deserved. Additionally, four Black teachers were honored at the ceremony.
The event was hosted by the Center for Black Deaf Studies and five of the six living students, as well as their families, were present. The university’s president, Roberta J. Cordano, expressed her thoughts on the ceremony. She said, “This ceremony may not remove past harms and injustices, but it is an important step to strengthen our continued path of healing.”
The university released a statement which revealed the sad truth that in the early 1950s, Black students and teachers were segregated from their white counterparts and forced to attend the Kendall School Division II for Negroes on Gallaudet’s campus. This was due to protests from white parents after Black students were allowed to enroll in the Kendall School in 1898.
The school’s board of trustees made an apology for the injustice against the Black Deaf community. They said, “Gallaudet deeply regrets the role it played in perpetuating the historic inequity, systemic marginalization, and the grave injustice committed against the Black Deaf community when Black Deaf students were excluded at Kendall School and in denying the 24 Black Deaf Kendall School students their diplomas.”
The court ruling in 1952, initiated by Louise B. Miller, allowed Black deaf students to not be sent outside the state or district to obtain the same education that White students were provided. However, Black students were still subject to segregated facilities with fewer resources to educate them. It wasn’t until the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that Black deaf students could attend school with their white peers.
In honor of the 24 students and Miller, the university established the Louise B. Miller Pathways and Gardens: A Legacy to Black Deaf Children. This space is dedicated to those who fought for the equality that Black Deaf children deserve. Additionally, the university declared July 22 as Kendall 24 Day.
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