Alexander Graham Bell: A Champion of Education for the Deaf

Description of the Image Above: Alexander Graham Bell, teacher of teachers, seated on top step with Rev. Dexter King, founder of the school, and Dr. Ira Allen, chairman of the school committee, three steps down are teachers Annie M. Bond, Sarah Fuller, Ellen L. Barton, and Mary H. True, students are seated on the steps and standing on the sidewalk at entrance to the Pemberton Square School (Boston School for the Deaf) in Boston, Mass. In album: Photographs of Alexander Graham Bell : Selected by him for preservation in the Beinn Bhreagh Recorder.

Alexander Graham Bell was a man of many talents, known for his invention of the telephone, but also for his work in the field of deaf education. Born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Bell was the second of three children to Melville and Eliza Bell. Bell’s mother was deaf, and his father and grandfather were elocutionists specializing in voice presentation, delivery, and other aspects of speech teaching. Bell’s siblings succumbed to tuberculosis, prompting Alexander’s father, Melville Bell to relocate the family to Brantford, Ontario in 1870 to protect his sole surviving child.

Melville Bell, Alexander’s father, developed what he called Visible Speech as a source of income for his family. Visible Speech was a system of symbols designed to help people speak words in any language even if they had not heard it. By 1864, Melville Bell had created a chart of symbols that corresponded to all sounds humans could make, including consonants, vowels, tone, pitch, and suction. Deaf pupils were trained to follow the chart to produce sounds, which were arranged in a pattern that flowed like a sentence. This became known as “Visible Speech” and Melville Bell hoped to use it as a profit-making enterprise to teach deaf pupils how to speak.

In 1868, Visible Speech was used at a London private school for deaf children run by Susanna E. Hull, who asked Melville Bell for help. He sent Alexander Graham Bell to teach the system he had learned from his father. Melville Bell toured the United States in 1868 touting the virtues and successes of visible speech. This captured the attention of Sarah Fuller, who ran a deaf school in Boston. In 1870, Fuller asked Melville Bell to apply Visible Speech at her Boston School for Deaf-Mutes, but he sent Alexander Graham instead.

Bell was successful enough that in the spring of 1872, he was invited to Clarke School, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, to demonstrate Visible Speech. In the fall of 1872, Bell returned to Boston and opened his own private school to teach articulation to deaf people. Among his first pupils was George Sanders, the deaf son of Thomas and Sarah Sanders. Thomas Sanders would become one of the investors in Bell’s phone company, and Bell forged a close personal relationship with George for the remainder of his life.

In 1873, a young deaf woman named Mabel Hubbard became another of Bell’s students. She was a daughter of Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a prominent Boston attorney and President of Clarke School. Eventually, he would be intimately involved in the formation of the Bell Telephone Company. Bell married Mabel Hubbard in 1877. By this time, Bell had largely abandoned Visible Speech and embarked on his own methods of teaching speech and lipreading to deaf children.

Bell believed that these oral skills were essential to deaf Americans’ social integration and to their personal and professional advancement. Bell used his fame and wealth from the telephone to advocate these beliefs. His name became synonymous with “oralism,” which was the pedagogical approach of suppressing sign language in favor of speaking and lipreading. Oral instruction existed in the United States as early as the 1840s, but with the establishment of Lexington School and Clarke School in 1867, and Bell’s support soon after, oralism established deep roots in the nation.

Bell, more than any other American, was the most important figure in the movement to teach deaf children speaking and lipreading in ongoing efforts to integrate them with society at large. Bell’s 1883 speech to the National Academy of Sciences, published as Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race, was another call to promote oralism. Bell noted that deaf people tended to marry each other, and he argued that if they continued this pattern, a deaf variety of the human race would form at a critical period in American history. This idea was rooted in eugenics, a movement that was gaining popularity at the time, and it had a significant impact on the way deaf people were perceived by society. Bell’s efforts to promote oralism were not universally welcomed, however. The deaf community, particularly those who used sign language as their primary means of communication, saw Bell’s ideas as a threat to their culture and identity. Despite this opposition, Bell continued to advocate for oralism and the integration of deaf people into mainstream society until his death in 1922.

In addition to his work in promoting oralism, Bell also made significant contributions to the field of telecommunications. He is best known for his invention of the telephone, which he patented in 1876. However, he was also involved in the development of other communication technologies, including the photophone, an early device for transmitting sound on a beam of light. Bell’s work in telecommunications led to his involvement in the formation of the National Geographic Society in 1888. He served as the organization’s president from 1896 to 1904 and used his influence to promote scientific exploration and discovery.

Despite his significant accomplishments in both deaf education and telecommunications, Bell was not without controversy. His advocacy of oralism and the suppression of sign language was seen by many in the deaf community as an attempt to erase their culture and identity. Many deaf individuals saw sign language as an important part of their community and were resistant to efforts to replace it with spoken language. As a result, Bell and other oralists faced significant opposition from the deaf community, and the debate over the use of sign language in education continues to this day.

In addition to his controversial views on deaf education, Bell’s personal life was also the subject of scrutiny. He had a close relationship with Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, whom he married in 1877, but he also had a number of close relationships with other women. Some of these relationships were platonic, while others were romantic. Bell’s personal life was further complicated by his close friendship with Mabel’s father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who was also a significant investor in Bell’s telephone company.

Despite these controversies, Alexander Graham Bell’s contributions to the fields of deaf education and telecommunications were significant and far-reaching. His work helped to advance our understanding of sound and communication, and his advocacy of oralism played a major role in shaping the education of deaf children in the United States. While his views on deaf education continue to be debated, there is no denying the impact that Bell had on the lives of millions of deaf individuals around the world.

Today, Bell is remembered as a pioneering inventor and educator, as well as a controversial figure whose legacy continues to be debated. His contributions to the field of telecommunications have changed the way we communicate and interact with one another, while his work in deaf education has helped to empower deaf individuals and promote their integration into society. As we continue to grapple with the challenges of communication and education, Alexander Graham Bell’s legacy remains an important touchstone in our ongoing efforts to understand and improve the world around us.

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