Sign Language Studies

Abstract:

A fascinating story frequently related in surveys of early Deaf American history concerns a deaf Puritan boy, Isaac Kilburn, who was taught to speak and lipread by a neighbor but who concealed his oral abilities out of fear that his teacher would be tried as a witch. This story turns out to have been invented by A. G. Bell. The true story of Isaac, his family, and his so-called teacher, who was actually mentally ill, is much more interesting and tells a much sadder story of deaf life in colonial Massachusetts.