Secretly Incredibly Fascinating - BONUS SHOW 222: ”Alexander Graham Bell And The War Against Sign Language”

This is the bonus show for Episode 222! (Sign Languages)

Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore the obviously incredibly fascinating topic of the inventor of the telephone, his sign language background, and the bizarre coalition demonizing sign language for most of the 1900s.

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign Against Sign Language by Douglas C. Baynton
• The Power of Storytelling: Reflections on Deaf Culture and American Sign Language (Folklife Magazine / The Smithsonian)
• Education: Essay: "Alexander Graham Bell and His Role in Oral Education" by Brian H. Greenwald, Ph.D., Gallaudet University (Disability History Museum)
• The Influence of Alexander Graham Bell (Gallaudet University)
• Imagining The Internet: 1870s – 1940s: Telephone (Elon University)
• How Deaf Children in Nicaragua Created a New Language (Atlas Obscura)
• IMDb page for David Christopher Bell