BLANCHE WILKINS WILLIAMS
Blanche was a deaf African American advocate, author, and educator. A gifted student, Blanche became the first black women to graduate from the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in 1893. Despite repeatedly applying to Gallaudet university, she was not accepted.
Gallaudet did not admit a black student until 1950.
Blanche was an outspoken critic of the oppression facing the black community and the Deaf Community in the 1890s. Blanche went on to teach at the North Carolina School for the Coloured Deaf and Blind, encouraging her students to see black deaf people as role models, capable of obtaining leadership.
Blanche was the first black deaf woman to serve as a member of the executive committee for the National Association for the Deaf’s 6th Convention in 1899. Black deaf people couldn’t become voting members of NAD until 1965.
Blanche fought against the oppression and double discrimination black deaf people faced in America.
