|
“Still I Rise: The Enduring Legacy of
Black Deaf Arkansans Before and After Integration”
Arkansas Becomes First State to Produce a DVD and Booklet
Documenting Black Deaf Experience During and After School Segregation
Still I Rise! The Enduring Legacy of Black Deaf Arkansans before and after Integration is a 60 minute DVD with an accompanying booklet that explores nearly 100 years of Black Deaf life in the state of Arkansas during and after the eras of separate schooling for Black and White deaf students. It documents the memories and stories shared by Black Deaf Arkansans ranging from the first interviewee who attended school during the segregation era in 1919 to those who were among the first group of Black students to integrate the Arkansas School for the Deaf in 1965 and afterwards.
Prior to the Supreme Court’s Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education decision in 1954, Arkansas was one of about 15 states, mainly in the south, that maintained separate schools for White and Black deaf students. As schools began to integrate between the 1950s and 1970s, Black students were relocated to the White deaf school campuses and in the process, much of the history of the Black schools were either lost or relegated to memories retained by students, teachers, and staff that were passed on orally from one generation to another.
Still I Rise is a collaborative effort of the University of Arkansas, Arkansas Association of the Deaf, Little Rock Black Deaf Advocates, Arkansas School for the Deaf, Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Interpreter Education and Disability Support Services Programs. Arkansas is being recognized as the first state to produce a DVD and accompanying booklet that aims to fill a “void” in the history of the American Deaf Community, particularly regarding the life experiences of Black Deaf persons who attended educational programs in states that maintained separate schools for White and Black students.
Compiled and produced by Glenn B. Anderson, Ph.D., professor at the University of Arkansas and an alumnus of Gallaudet University (Washington, DC), Still I Rise features introductory remarks by the Honorable Mike Huckabee who served as Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2006 and a brief history of segregated schooling of Black students at the Arkansas School for the Deaf. While the interviews were conducted in American Sign Language (ASL), the DVD includes audio voice-over and is open-captioned.
The cost for both the DVD and the accompanying booklet is $25.00 per set. Add $5.00 for shipping and handling. For each additional copy, add $2.00 each. Make checks or purchase orders payable to: Arkansas Association of the Deaf. Orders and payment can be sent to: Arkansas Black Deaf History Project, Attn: Karen Adeeb-Anderson, PO Box 55063, Little Rock, AR 72215-5063
The order form is available here
For more information, contact Karen Adeeb-Anderson at 501-324-9519 or email: kadeeb0603@att.net.
Michael E Graziano |
