Bell’s controversial work to educate deaf is topic at Sept. 23 History Book Festival discussion
Though he’s most often associated with the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell also was a passionate advocate for the deaf, devoting much of his career to teaching deaf students to speak.
This story is documented in “The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness,” the first book by educator and writer Katie Booth.
Booth, who was raised in a mixed hearing and deaf family, will discuss her critically acclaimed book with Feta Fernsler, Delaware Association of the Deaf president, during a History Book Festival virtual presentation at 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 23. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation. The program is co-sponsored by the Delaware Association of the Deaf, Deaf Outreach Inc., and Epworth United Methodist Church.
The program is free, but preregistration is required. To reserve a spot, go to historybookfestival.org.
The book explores how Bell, the son of a deaf mother and husband of a deaf wife, advocated the universal adoption of a method of deaf education that prioritized the spoken word and lipreading. It also explains how Bell’s efforts to develop a “speech reading machine” led to his pioneering work with telephony.
Booth teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work has appeared in publications such as Harper’s magazine, and she received fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and others to support the research for “The Invention of Miracles.”
Fernsler is a job coach for Delaware Vocational Rehabilitation and the Delaware Division of Developmental Disabilities Services. He also works as a deaf mentor for families with newborn babies identified as deaf or hard of hearing.
Copies of “The Invention of Miracles” are available at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, the official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Biblion in Lewes also has copies of the book for sale. Books purchased at either shop come with a signed archival bookplate.
Presenting sponsors of the 2021 History Book Festival are Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Gallo Realty. In addition to the Lewes Public Library, the festival’s online programs are supported by the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries.
The History Book Festival, now in its fifth year, is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history.
