An excerpt from an 1818 address by Laurent Clerc, read at a “public examination” of Connecticut Asylum pupils.
This address, written by Laurent Clerc, was presented by Thomas H. Gallaudet “before the governor and both houses of legislature” on May 28, 1818, as part of a “public examination” of students at The Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. Clerc was born deaf and received formal education in Paris under Abbe Sicard, then became a teacher at the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris, then traveled to the United States and played an influential role in the development of American educational programs for deaf students.