Profiles of Deaf Women
Laura Redden Searing
Although born in Maryland in 1839, Laura Redden Searing made her home in Missouri, and her career took her around the world.
Working as an author and editor, Searing frequently used the pseudonym Howard Glyndon, as she was more likely to receive attention under a male name, but she did include her own name alongside the pseudonym. During her travels, she studied several languages, and published poetry and journalism based on her experiences.
Woman! you have got the notion
That you ought to move the world - (For that matter, you have moved it
Since Eve's tresses first were curled!)
-from the poem "Half and Half"
Angeline Fuller Fischer
Originally from the Midwest, Angeline Fuller Fischer was born in 1841 and was one of the earliest Deaf feminists. She opposed the construction of a gymnasium on Kendall Green, believing sign language was a form of exercise, and criticizing the school for giving money to a program for men instead of admitting women.
She conducted a letter-writing campaign urging Gallaudet to admit women, and raised money with the intent of founding a separate college, but her arguments and those of Georgianna Elliott, E-'92, eventually convinced Edward Miner Gallaudet to open admissions to women. As a poet, she frequently wrote about things she heard before becoming deaf, and what she could see before becoming deaf-blind.
"All the girls can do is bear the injustice as philosophically as righteous indignation will allow."
Petra Fandrem Howard
Lifelong activist Petra Fandrem Howard was born in Minneapolis in 1891, and graduated from Gallaudet in 1912.
Returning to her home state, she became the chief of the newly established Minnesota Labor Bureau for the Deaf in 1915, and spent her entire career helping men and women find jobs.
Howard also campaigned for women's suffrage in addition to her vocational counseling career, and upon her retirement in 1956 she received a commendation from the governor. She was also the first female president of the Minnesota Association of the Deaf.
"Maybe I should wait no longer but should 'take the bull by the horns' and insist on something being done."
May Martin Stafford
Born in 1868, May Martin Stafford spent her career as an educator. While a student at the New York School for the Deaf, she founded a literary and social club, and received a medal for being at the top of her graduating class.
She graduated from Gallaudet in 1895, having been a founding member of the O.W.L.S. and the Jollity Club, and she became the college's first female professor. In 1900, she also became the first deaf woman to earn a graduate degree at Gallaudet, though she passed away due to illness in 1908.
"I would say this to every deaf girl and woman: learn whatever you have a chance to learn; keep your eyes open, your mind attentiev, your hands active; try to find out what talents you have..."