Panel and Film Screening: Kristen Terry talks with producers and co-authors of Signing Black in America
On November 11, Kristen Terry and The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures welcomed associate producers and co-authors, Carolyn McCaskill (Gallaudet University), Ceil Lucas (Gallaudet University, Emerita), Joseph Hill (Rochester Institute of Technology), and Robert Bayley (UC Davis) for a film screening and panel discussion of Signing Black in America: The Story of Black American Sign Language. Signing Black in America is the first documentary about Black ASL: the unique dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) that developed within historically segregated African American Deaf communities. Black ASL today conveys an identity and sense of belonging that mirrors spoken language varieties of the African American hearing community. Different uses of space, handshape, directional movement, and facial expression are ways that Black ASL distinguishes itself as a vibrant dialect of ASL. Signing Black in America was produced as part of the Language and LIfe Project at North Carolina State which aims to build awareness and appreciation of linguistic diversity in the United States.