Andrew Foster
1. Andrew Foster was the son of a coal miner born on June
27, 1925 in Birmingham, Alabama.
2. He graduated from the Alabama School for the Deaf with
an 8th grade education
3. He worked a variety of jobs in Detroit, Michigan such as
a restaurant work, a bakery, a laundry, an auto and military factory, and as a
truck driver, stock handler, boxer, and even a salesman selling women's hosiery
door-to-door.
4. In 1951 he graduated from the Detroit Institute of
Commerce and the American High School and received a 4-year congressional
scholarship to study at Gallaudet University.
5. Foster was the first Black deaf graduate of two more
institutions: Michigan State Normal College in 1955 and Seattle Pacific
Christian College in 1956.
6. Dr. Andrew Foster was a deaf African American who
founded 32 schools for the deaf in 13 African nations.
7. His 60th anniversary of his arrival in Liberia and Ghana
and the 30th anniversary of his tragic death in Rwanda airplane accident both
occurred in 2017.
8. Foster served in “the inner-city ghetto neighborhoods”
to “rehabilitative” deaf African Americans; during this experience, he
discovered that there were only 12 schools for the deaf in Africa.
9. In 1957 Foster found that an “unknown
numbers of deaf children were illiterate, language less, and isolated” in
Ghana. It was reported that there are no records from Ghana of any known
programs, schools, and teachers for the deaf from that time.
10. Some researchers claimed that there was no sign
language in Ghana before Foster arrived.
11. In 1957, Foster borrowed a classroom from Osu
Presbyterian Middle School for Boys in Accra, from which he launched the Ghana
Mission School for the Deaf. He is said to have initially enrolled 13
deaf children and 11 deaf adults, whom he taught at different times in the same
borrowed classroom.
12. Foster enrolled and taught a total of 53 deaf
students. He taught one class for deaf children, a basic education class
for deaf education for youth and adults
13. By January 1958, Foster found an “uncompleted
house at Mampong in the cool Akwapim hills”. He later rented this house,
renovated it, and then moved his school from Accra to Mampong.
14. He lost his hearing at age 11 years to spinal
meningitis
15. In the meantime, the Ghana Mission Center for Deaf
Adults and Youth remained in the Osu neighborhood of Accra. That same academic
year more than 100 deaf students enrolled at the Ghana Mission School for the
Deaf, while several hundred queued up on a waiting list.
Annie Cannon
1. Annie Jump Cannon was born December 11, 1863 in
Dover, Delaware.
2. She was one of three children.
3. Through her experience working with stars she
rarely touched a telescope.
4. She created a system for stellar classification that was
adopted by the International Astronomical Union and is still in use today.
5. Cannon used her classification system to catalog 225,000
stars, and published her work as the “Henry Draper Catalogue,” which became an
important reference tool.
6. Her mother shared an interest in astronomy with her.
The two had a close relationship, and would view the night sky from the
roof to their house, taking notes and comparing constellations with a guidebook
by candlelight.
7. She lived with her parents and indulged in activities that
were typical of women in the nineteenth century which included cooking, playing
the piano, and reading.
8. In 1911, Cannon succeeded Fleming and began to implement
a new and improved system of classification, based on Fleming's work. Cannon
selected the letters OBAFGKM to represent stellar temperatures in a range from
the hottest to the coolest stars. "O" stars are the hottest, now
known to be hotter than 30,000 kelvins, and emit blue rays; "M" stars
are cooler than 4,000 kelvins, and emit red rays.
9. Using this method, Cannon classified every star that had
been recorded at the observatory, down to the ninth magnitude. This project
involved approximately 225,000 stars. Her work was published in nine volumes
between 1918 and 1924, as the "Henry Draper Catalogue”.
10. Cannon went on to classify stars down to the eleventh
magnitude (these stars are fainter, and can be viewed with amateur telescopes).
These results were published as the "Henry Draper Extension" in 1925
and 1949.
11. Cannon enjoyed traveling, and attended many meetings of
the International Astronomical Union in different cities around Europe. This
provided her an opportunity to meet astronomers from around the world.
12. Even though she was partially deaf, she never had a
problem communicating, and her deafness did not interfere with her work.
13. Cannon died of heart failure and arteriosclerosis.
14. The American Association of University Women (A.A.U.W.)
honors Cannon each year by presenting the Annie Jump Cannon award to a female
astronomy student. Wesley College named the Cannon Science Hall in her honor,
and Cannon's childhood home is now used by the college as the president's residence.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI loved your activity! It was creative but also provided lots of information. I could tell you and Danielle put lots of thought and effort into your project and I wanted to make sure you all knew how great it was!
Yes! Thank you so much for sharing this information about these individuals here on the blog, Megan! I appreciate this very much. These individuals made significant contributions and it's important that we have an opportunity to review these facts.
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