Hidden Figures: Blanche Wilkins Williams #BlackHERstoryMonth 16/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Blanche Wilkins Williams #BlackHERstoryMonth 16/28

If you enjoy my work, please consider supporting! CashApp: $SerenSensei Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei Blanche Wilkins Williams (December 1, 1876 - March 24, 1936) was a deaf Black American teacher and disability activist, specializing in educating and advocating for the Black deaf population. Throughout her long career as a teacher and activist, Wilkins urged for the educational, social, and industrial equality of Black deaf people. Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on December 1, 1876, Blanche Wilkins became deaf at an early age. Her parents, Charles and Estelle Wilkins, recognized their daughter’s intelligence early on. At age 7, Wilkins was enrolled in the Minnesota School for the Deaf, which she attended from 1883 to 1893. She was the first Black woman to graduate from the school, and graduated at the top of her class. After graduation, Wilkins applied for Gallaudet College, the premiere school for the deaf located in Washington, DC, but was repeatedly denied because of her race. She personally wrote to Edward Miner Gallaudet, founder of the school and first president of the university, several times, but was rejected. Gallaudet would not admit a Black student until 1950. Wilkins joined the literary department of the North Carolina School for the Colored Deaf and Blind in Raleigh in 1895, when she was 19. She was their first deaf Black woman teacher, and was paid a salary of $250. Wilkins taught at the school until 1898, when the school began replacing the deaf teaching staff with hearing teachers and she resigned. She was offered and accepted a new teaching role at the Texas School for the Colored Deaf and Blind in Austin, Texas. However, she stayed in that role for only one year before moving back to North Carolina and marrying Charles N. Williams, the hearing Black American principal of the North Carolina School for the Deaf. She returned to the school, establishing a new department of technical sewing, dressmaking, knitting and crocheting so that deaf and blind students had more technical skills to earn a living after graduation. In 1899, Wilkins became the first Black deaf person to serve on the Executive Committee for the National Association of the Deaf, or NAD, despite the fact that both women and Black people were not permitted to be NAD members until 1965. She was the sole delegate from Texas who attended the 6th Annual NAD conference held in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1899. Her husband Charles died suddenly in 1907, widowing her with two children. After his death and wishing to be closer to family in Baltimore, Wilkins applied for a position with the Maryland School for the Deaf in 1910, but was rejected yet again because of her race. Around 1918, Wilkins moved the family to Chicago, where she would remain until the end of her life. While in Chicago, Wilkins continued teaching, working at a school for Black deaf children. She also worked in several factories, doing beadwork, lampshade work, and power machine sewing. She married a second husband in 1920; he was a Black deaf teacher who was also let go from his position in favor of a hearing teacher. The two became fierce advocates for deaf leadership, with Wilkins writing essays in newspapers and magazines urging for the educational, social, and industrial equality of Black deaf people. Wilkins died in Evanston, Illinois on March 24, 1936, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery near Chicago. In 2018, the Minnesota School for the Deaf unveiled the ‘Wilkins Hall’ dormitory in her honor. #HiddenFigures #BlancheWilkinsWilliams ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren https://www.shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/theblackamericans https://www.shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/dacs?rq=d.a.c.s Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: MSAD Wilkins Hall: https://www.aia-mn.org/msad-wilkins-hall/ Blanche H. Wilkins (Williams): https://deafwomeninhistory.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/4blanche-wilkins-williams.pdf Blanche Wilkins newspaper clipping: https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=33566300&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjU3ODUzNDc3LCJpYXQiOjE2MTM1MjM0NzQsImV4cCI6MTYxMzYwOTg3NH0.KqFC9El-SRt1mJIIiKVE2QTtr_7Ir5c96CSFnr51AFk Deaf History Series: Episode 12 (Blanche Wilkins): https://jaivirdi.com/2020/08/09/deaf-history-series-episode-12/ Blanche Wilkins: https://aaregistry.org/story/blanche-wilkins-born/