William T. Ennis, III, Ph.D.

William T. Ennis, III is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Iowa. He currently is an instructor in the Government/History Department at Gallaudet University. His dissertation focuses on eugenics and the Deaf community; particularly as it relates to marriage.

Beyond School Walls of the Deaf: The Fluidity of Eugenics – Marriage and Family

The early historiography of the Deaf in the United States focuses heavily towards the education of Deaf people, and rightly so when we consider that schools for the Deaf were the epicenter of many Deaf communities. However, recent scholars have begun to branch out from that epicenter and explore other spheres of the Deaf experience. This presentation will explore a sphere of Deaf life that focuses on family; more specifically: marriage and fertility. It will also examine how eugenics underscores the choices that Deaf people made regarding marriage and fertility. And finally, this presentation will compare the marital decisions of two Deaf individuals from the late 19th century: Amos G. Draper and George T. Sanders. The marriage decisions made by these men were influenced by eugenic philosophies, which at the time were nascent. Draper and Sanders allow us to analyze eugenics in a different light, one that differentiates harsh eugenics with a more subtle type of eugenics. It is important to underscore that eugenics is not linear; rather, its malleable, complex, and manifests itself far beyond the harsh eugenics of sterilization, forced abortions, or genocide.Draper was a professor at National Deaf Mute College, which is today known as Gallaudet University. He attended a residential school, was a fluent signer, and became a professor at the college after graduating and earning a degree. Draper appeared as a master signer in the NAD film campaign to preserve sign language amid the attacks of oralism. He was a staunch defender of sign language and by extension of the Deaf community. When it came to marriage, however, paradoxically Draper chose a hearing wife, raising questions regarding the influence of eugenics on his decision to marry a non Deaf woman.
In contrast, George T. Sanders was the sole child of hearing parents. His father, Thomas Sanders, placed “little Georgie” with Alexander Graham Bell, and George became Bell’s first student. Sanders was educated without using sign language. As a young man, Sanders married Lucy Swett, who was from a multigenerational Deaf family. Lucy Swett harbored concerns of passing on her genetic deafness to her future offspring. Eventually, she chose to marry George despite eugenic dangers of having deaf children.
These case studies show that the eugenics movement in the United States was widespread and infiltrated the most personal issue to Deaf people: the right to marry and have children. Despite the different backgrounds of these prominent Deaf Americans, eugenics affected them in unexpected ways. Based on his exposure to Bell, Sanders should have married a hearing woman and preferably not had children. Draper, a leader in the Deaf world, should have married a Deaf woman.