Timeline

  • 1925: Andrew Foster is born in Ensley, Alabama.
  • 1936: Andrew and his brother Edward become deaf due to an outbreak of meningitis.
  • 1942: Foster moves to Detroit for better opportunities, completes high school, and earns a business school diploma.
  • 1954: Completing his degree in only three years, Foster is the first African-American to graduate from Gallaudet.
  • 1956: Newly ordained as a minister, Foster founds the Christian Mission to Deaf Africans in Detroit.
  • 1957: The Ghana Mission School for the Deaf opens in Mampong-Akwapim, Foster’s first school in Africa.
  • 1960: Foster relocates his African headquarters to Ibadan, Nigeria, opening the Ibadan Mission School for the Deaf.
  • 1970: Gallaudet confers Foster with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
  • 1987: Andrew Foster is killed in a plane crash in Rwanda.
  • 2004: The Andrew J. Foster Auditorium is dedicated at Gallaudet University with a bust of Foster, commissioned by alumni.

Timeline