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While the book "Black and Deaf in America: Are We That Different" by the late Linwood Smith and NBDA member Ernest Hairston wrote that Gallaudet did not admit black deaf students until 1952, later research found that there indeed had been at least two students in the 19th century. The ancestry of Hume Le P. Battiste, who graduated in 1913, continues to be unclear to this day- some say he was Black, others say he was an Indian. (which can be resolved by a DNA test with his surviving son). But there is no mistaking the Black ancestry of two other students. James Gilbert (born 1861 in Cincinnati) had a white mother and a black father. He became deaf from falling off a horse (age unknown). He attended Ohio School for the Deaf, and then entered Gallaudet in 1880. However, he left in June of 1881 due to mistreatment of white students. He was reputed to be a good granolithic paver in DC and died in 1903 at age 42 from heart disease. He was buried in a potter's field as no one had money to claim him. Ennal Adams (born August 7, 1867 in Philadelphia) entered Gallaudet in 1885, but stayed for two years before leaving due to racist mistreatment from the students. From Baltimore, he studied theology to become a missionary like his father but apparently changed his mind and became a printer with the goal of becoming a horse jockey. He worked as a typesetter for a publishing company in DC. He went to France and not much of his life is known after that. (Information obtained from Gallaudet Archives, April 2, 2007)
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