Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was born on December 10, 1787 in Philadelphia. He was a pioneer in the teaching of American Sign Language and the rights of the deaf. He was a very intelligent student. He succeeded in graduating from Yale Collage in 1805. His interest in teaching and finding out more about deaf people, developed when he met a little girl. The first time he saw her, he walked up to her and asked her why she wasnt playing with all the other children. He could tell she was deaf, so he wanted to see if she could learn, or if she was smart. So he drew the word hat into the dirt, then pointed to his hat. Eventually
