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Wednesday May 14th 2008 |
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Wednesday May 14th 2008 |
a non-profit education organization | |
June 27
From Ensley, Alabama, Foster lost his hearing at age eleven after suffering from spinal meningitis. Drawn to a career in education, he attended the Alabama School for the Negro Deaf in Talladega. From there in 1954, he was the first African American to graduate from Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., and the first to earn a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University. Foster then earned another master's from Seattle Pacific Christian College, and went to Africa in 1957. There he encountered cultures so oppressive of deaf people that parents often hid their deaf children at home or abandoned them altogether. Hearing missionaries told Foster that deaf children didn't even exist in Africa. But he found deaf children and established 31 schools for them. Before he was done, he had established schools in countries including Benin, Congo, Chad, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon. For much of his life he spent six months of the year in Africa establishing schools and the other six months in the United State raising money to support these them. In 1970 Gallaudet granted him an honorary doctor of humane letter in recognition of his accomplishment. Foster, a deeply religious man additionally taught sign language to many Africans so they could fulfill his favorite Bible verse, Isaiah 29:18: "In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book." Dedicated and tireless, Andrew Foster's life was cut short in a plane crash in 1987 while carrying on his pioneering work. This incident meant the Black Deaf community lost an extraordinary leader. Reference: Andrew Foster Jr. (son) Darrick F. Nicholas Media Relations Coordinator Gallaudet University PHONE: 202.448.7136 FAX: 202.651.5704
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The African American Registry®, The African American Registry® Copyright 2005, 2006
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