I started out looking at the history of deaf education in the U.S. It's an interesting topic to me because my older brother is deaf, and also because I worked as a sign language interpreter for some years. So I decided to look into the history of the Tennessee School for the Deaf and see what kind of interesting things I could dig up to write about.
I discovered, in the course of my research, that prior to 1965, TSD had a completely separate campus for its African-American students. I also discovered that, just as with hearing schools, the quality of facilities, education and activities for students on the "Negro campus" was far less than that of the white campus. I don't say this by way of trying to censure TSD or anyone involved; I'm presenting the facts as they existed. We all know that separate was not equal; I'm not beating a dead horse.
The reason I mention that there was a totally separate campus, aside from finding it a mildly interesting fact (not just separate but separate), is that history happened on that satellite campus - history in the sense of noteworthy events. In March of 1913, there was a major criminal event. A 21-year-old student by the name of Haynes Terry murdered one boy with a hatchet, then used a baseball bat to bludgeon three adults (who survived) and a female student (who later died).
Why?
As presented in an article which I have yet to verify (that comes next week, when I get to go to Knoxville), Terry had apparently been expelled from school once before, for unspecified "nighttime indiscretions" involving the girls' dormitory; he'd been allowed to return on the promise of his good behavior. On the night of March 9, apparently the matron of the girls' dorm, Carrie Mason (a hearing Black woman) saw Terry on the roof of that building. Terry later claimed that he had lost his watch out of his own dorm window and was trying to retrieve it. Regardless of his reason for being there, Mason went to Matthew Mann, the (white, deaf) superintendent, and asked him to see if he could find out who had been on the girls' dorm roof.
Mann apparently checked Terry's room, found him in bed, half-dressed, and accused him of being out of bed. He then went back to Mason and told her that he suspected Terry was the one who'd been on the roof. Terry, who had followed Mann, saw this conversation occur. He then obtained the hatchet and the baseball bat and went about his grisly work. First he murdered the Manns' (hearing) 17 year old son, likely because he was concerned that the boy would hear Terry and raise an alarm. Then he bludgeoned Mr and Mrs Mann in their bed. From there, he went to the girls' dorm. Due to a lack of bed space, Carrie Mason was sharing a bed with a student, Namey Steele. Bad luck for young Namey; Terry bludgeoned both her and Carrie Mason. Mason survived; Namey never regained consciousness and died later in the hospital.
These are all facts that I know from reading various newspaper accounts.
What I don't know, but I can conclude, is that Terry's motive - that is, he was afraid of being expelled again over the business with being in the girls' dorm at night - is overly simplistic.
Consider this: Haynes Terry was both black and deaf in Tennessee in 1913. it is highly likely that he came from a situation of extreme poverty, and life at the school may have been exponentially better than life at home in terms of material life: food, clothing, shelter, and so forth.
Consider this: It is a well-known fact that the Deaf school is a central facet of Deaf culture. Deaf culture is generally passed from one generation to the next at Deaf schools. Many graduates of Deaf schools return to the school they graduated from to teach or to take on other jobs at the school; many people who graduate from Deaf schools move as adults to the city where the Deaf school is located in order to maintain a connection with the school and, if their children are Deaf, send their children there as students.
Consider this: It is extremely unlikely that anyone in Haynes Terry's own family or community knew sign language. Therefore, the only people with whom he could effectively communicate would be at his school. Even if Terry could communicate effectively in written English (unlikely), what were the chances that his parents could read?
Keeping those three facts in mind, look again at the idea of expulsion from school. For someone like Haynes Terry, expulsion from school was tantamount to complete exile from his culture, from the only people he knew who understood him, and with whom he could communicate. To send him away from TSD would be like taking someone from America who only spoke English and sending them to live in poverty in medieval China after rendering them completely unable to ever learn the language. Is it any wonder that, faced with the idea that he might be sent away forever from the only real community he'd ever had, Haynes Terry panicked? Yes, his actions were reprehensible and inexcusable. But they were not unexplainable.
Now consider Haynes Terry's story from the perspective of a writer. How would your character react in a similar situation? It's worth knowing.
Image retrieved from and copyright Tennessee State Library & Archives, used without permission. Original and informaiton available at http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15138coll11/id/12
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