Laurent's+Early+Years

Laurent Clerc was born in 1785 in the village of La Balme, France; where Laurent’s father, Joseph-François Clerc, served as mayor. When Laurent was only a year old he fell from a chair next to the fire and badly burned his face, resulting in a large scar on the side of his face, a scar that would inspire Laurent’s name sign. This incident is believed to have caused Laurent’s loss of hearing, but Laurent could have simply been born deaf. While growing up at home, Laurent and his family communicated through what Laurent calls “home sign” that was more like making gestures and pantomime than actual sign language (Lane). Laurent’s mother, Marie-Élisabeth Candy, would often be accompanied by her son while at church; Laurent’s father was a very well-known and respected man around their village and Laurent’s deafness was seen as an embarrassment to Laurent’s father and his reputation.

At the age of twelve, Laurent and his uncle traveled to Paris in order to enroll Laurent in the Institution for Deaf-Mutes. This school for the deaf is where Laurent would begin his lifelong journey of being an advocate for Deaf education. The school was founded by Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée, a man who has become legendary in the world of the deaf. However, by the time Laurent made it to the school, abbé de l'Épée had already passed away. When Laurent came to the school, Abbé Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard was the head instructor. Jean Massieu was Sicard’s designated teaching assistant and first became Laurent’s teacher before become Laurent’s fellow colleague and friend (Lane). In his own account, Laurent tells of his life as a student at the school. Laurent describes the campus and its impressive gardens, the large sleeping quarters where there were two long rows of beds set up, and the fact that students were only allowed to communicate with their parents and even those letters were first approved by the director of the school (Lane).

Upon finishing his education at the school, Laurent would go on to become a teacher at the school. In 1815, Laurent left his school for England where he met the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a famous American who became a prime force for the education of the deaf in the United States. Laurent then returned to the school in Paris with Gallaudet so that Gallaudet could learn sign language from Laurent and Massieu to help educate students back in America. Laurent was convinced by Gallaudet to travel to America where the two helped establish what would become the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.

Works Cited

Lane, Harlan L. //When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf//. New York: Random House, 1984. Print.

Dr. Finnegan, let me know if this is okay for my entry or if I need to add anything else that I'm forgetting.

-Kristen Davis