National Black Deaf Advocates

History of NBDA

written by Kristi Merriweather

The founding of NBDA wasn’t based on one clear-cut cause but on several factors that converged into a determined passion to forge this organization into existence. Some of the factors were historically long-standing, such as persistent systematic racism and audism in the deaf and hearing communities, which manifested itself in inequitable resources and racial disparities in education, employment, housing, legal protection, and health care. The dominant society’s devaluation and marginalization of non-conforming language (whether it be ASL, Ebonics, or black deaf dialect) along with the unique black deaf cultural features also planted the seeds for NBDA’s inception. Various types of resistance against oppression, exploitation, and degradation and has always been an impetus and mainstay of the Black American experience and its deaf members were no exception. W.E.B. DuBois summed the greatest problem of the 20th century as the color line (racism). For Black Deaf Americans, their challenge was the color line plus the hearing line (audism). Black-oriented organizations like NAACP were strictly combating the color line, and Deaf-oriented organizations like NAD were strictly contending the hearing line. But- who was going to address both? Where would they gather where their shared reality as a people was not going to be treated as a minority footnote? The answer would be revealed in 1981, in the form of a vision of an organization by, for, and about Black Deaf people.

There is no sole individual who can be recognized as the originator of the idea. The idea was already in the heads of several people, waiting to find like-minded comrades and the right timing. The years of 1980s and 1981 saw Ronald Reagan elected as the President of the United States, triggering the beginning of a conservatism backlash affecting social services, the emergence of hip-hop and MTV without captions, widespread use of TTYs and Total Communication, and Glenn Anderson as the first- and for some time the only- Black Deaf American with a PhD. The memories of Civil Rights movement only thirteen years earlier had left an undeniable legacy in the minds of several black deaf adults. One day in 1980, a small group of locals in Washington, D.C., met with the board of Deaf Pride (a local advocacy organization for the deaf), with mounting concerns about societal/systemic problems that were complicating and interfering Black Deaf people’s goal of achieving their fullest potential and about the lack of leadership to address the problems. They wanted to find shared experiences, ideas, hopes, talents, abilities, while reducing the disempowering separation within the community. The vocalization of such concerns became increasingly louder over the subsequent months. In July 1980, NAD was hosting a convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. During that convention, a black “caucus” came together among the Black attendees, who shared their frustrations about NAD’s refusal to address the concerns of the Black community and lack of adequate representation of people of color as delegates. They agreed that it was high time to start taking the reins themselves toward empowerment and collective uplift.

The following month, Charles “Chuck” Williams (of Ohio) had arrived in D.C. preparing to file a class action suit against the National Democratic and Republican Conventions for their refusal to televise a Sign Language interpreter for linguistic accessibility throughout the proceedings. Chuck received an invitation to work with a local DC committee to plan a mini-conference by, for, and about black deaf experience. The first planning meeting in November saw Chuck meeting with Lottie Cook (chair and founding president of DCABDA), the late Linwood Smith (vice chair), the late Zoe E. Page Collymore, Ernest Hairston (who would later become the 2nd black deaf American male to get a PhD), the late Deacon William Shorter, Shirley Johnson (of the Sweet Honey in the Rock fame, as interpreter coordinator), and Bob Howard (trainer/consultant, who wrote the blackdeaf-centric play “I Didn’t Hear The Color”). Philip Armstrong designed the original logo of black hands in its “ADVOCACY” sign position. The name “advocates” signaled the members’ interest to challenge the disappointing reality for betterment.

The “Black Deaf Experience” mini-conference finally became a reality on June 25-26, 1981 at Howard University. Nearly 100 Black Deaf people came together. Based on the accounts, the mini-conference was a phenomenal success, enough to cement the idea that there should be another conference. The number of people who attended the Cleveland conference in August of 1982 grew to 300. From there, a debate ensured about whether a permanent national organization should be formed. We know which side won the debate. Albert Couthen was elected to coordinate the efforts. Another vote was cast that Philadelphia, PA, under the leadership of Ms. Elizabeth Moore-Aviles, would host the next conference, with a focus on leadership in education.

It was during the Philadelphia conference that the first beauty pageant was held with a NTID student, Ms. Ronnie Mae Tyson, winning the crown. A series of changes were set forth- New York was recognized as chapter #4 and the host of the next conference under the guidance of Patricia Johnson. Upon the resignation of Albert Couthen, Ms. Sheryl Guest-Emery of Detroit took over as National Executive Secretary- which was later renamed as Executive Director. Under her administration, the National Bylaws were developed with the input of the original 4 NBDA chapters: Washington DC, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and New York City. Various positions for officers were established. Organizational structure, policy, procedures, and guidelines were established under Ms. Emery’s leadership.

NBDA’s 15th anniversary in 1997 at Washington D.C. marked the emergence of a national youth program called Youth Empowerment Summit. Kristi Merriweather of Atlanta was its first coordinator, with Tim Albert of New Orleans picking up the reins for at least 9 years. In 2005, the Collegiate Black Deaf Student Leadership Institute under the helm of Dr. Laurene Simms of Washington DC was implemented. NBDA also underwent recent transformation with the introduction of the regional system in 2004. The regional system grouped chapters under five regionals, giving them more opportunities to hold regional conferences during even years, to reduce the ever-growing number of board of representatives, allowing NBDA to function more streamlined and focus more on long-term projects.

Since its beginnings from 1981, NBDA has grown to more than 29 chapters, crowned 20 queens and one king, and attracted international interest as far as Germany, London, Africa, and Jamaica. Having recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, NBDA continues to usher in a new era of leadership, opportunities, and services.

Michael E Graziano