Movement and Action

Gertrude Galloway, c. 1980. Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives.

Women have been members of the National Association of the Deaf since its founding in 1880, but women were initially denied voting rights.

Notes from the first NAD conference show women were excluded from serious discussions. Although Julia Foley became a board member in 1896, her view was still largely ignored by the male members.

At the 1910 conference, Agatha Tiegel Hanson, '93, reminded members that she had paid membership dues and deserved a say in how the organization was run.

It took many more decades for women to get the right to vote in the NAD, finally receiving the right in 1964, and even longer for a woman to become president, with Gertrude Galloway, '51, assuming the role in 1980.

Only three other women have been president since; as of 2015, no woman of color has been an NAD president.

Barbara Bass, c. 1960. Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives.

Gallaudet University's Student Body Government has seen a number of female presidents since its founding in 1948, but getting the ball rolling was not an easy task.

Barbara Schell Bass, '60, elected in 1959, was the first - and in the first SBG election with a 100% turnout. When Willis Mann, '67, was elected president in 1966, his wife was called the "First Lady of the Student Body," as it was unusual for an SBG president to be married at the time.

Only eight more women became president of the SBG in the 40 years after Schell's election, but in the twenty-first century women have taken on the role more frequently.

Betty Miller, c. 1974. Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives.

In May 1989, the Deaf Way arts festival saw the birth of the De'VIA (Deaf View Image Art) movement, in which varying types of artwork highlight the Deaf experience.

Arising from a workshop led by Betty G. Miller, '57, and Paul Johnston, De'VIA created a manifesto signed by nine artists, including Miller, Deborah M. Blumenson, '58, Sandi Inches Vasnick, Nancy Creighton, and Judy Lai-Yok Ho, '85, G-'88.

Women have continued their extensive involvement in De'VIA, and artists such as Nancy Rourke and Ellen Mansfield collaborate through social media to continue exploring the meaning of De'VIA.