by E. Tillery

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: July 14, 2009

Dr. William C. Stokoe, Jr. was one of the few people who dedicated his career to helping people understand the depth of sign language. He's known in the deaf community as the Father of American Sign Language (ASL). He was one of the few people who set out to show people that sign language is, in fact, a genuine language. His education, research and publications helped to make sign language the accepted and respected language it is today. Born in Lancaster, New Hampshire in 1919 and raised in New York, Stokoe would later make a name for himself and be known all over the world for his pioneering methods in discovering and explaining that there is linguistic value behind sign language.

Stokoe received both a bachelor's and a Ph.D in English and used those degrees to help in his research of sign language. Gallaudet College, now known as Gallaudet University in Washington, DC was the key factor in much of his findings. This was the only university in the United States dedicated to teaching the deaf at that time. In 1955 he was appointed the chair of the English Department. Teachers weren't allowed to teach using sign language, they were restricted to using only oral forms of communication with their students. This was puzzling to Stokoe who began to watch his students sign among one another and felt there needed to be a way for this form of communication to be taught. This inspired him to collaborate with two of his deaf colleagues, Carl Croneberg and Dorothy Casterline. He began to film people signing in their natural environment and in 1950 wrote an article called Sign Language Structure in which he published their findings; results that showed that there are some of the same elements used in spoken language and sign language. His last book, Language in Hand discussed how the communication the deaf community used was indeed a language. Linguists truly began to take notice of Stokoe's research in 1965 when he co-authored A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles.

In 1984 he finally retired and left Gallaudet College with a remarkable legacy. He left with ASL being a highly recognized and respected language. It's now a language that is not only acceptable to be taught to the deaf community, but to the hearing community as well. Stokoe continued his work after retirement from the university and was a co-author and co-editor for several books regarding linguistics and the nature of language and sign language. Dr. William C. Stokoe, Jr. passed away in 2000 and will be known as an icon in the deaf community and the world alike.

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