Contact: Dr. Karen Dilka
Eastern Kentucky University
Date submitted to deafed.net – May
29, 2007
To contact the author for permission
to use this PowerPoint, please e-mail:
Karen.Dilka@EKU.EDU
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author.
Alexander Graham Bell:
His Life and Teachings
By: Melissa Bell
The Beginning
Born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh,
Scotland
The son of Alexander Melville Bell, a
well-known figure in speech
correction
One of three sons
Educated mainly in the home
The Beginning Contd.
Mother was deaf due to Scarlet Fever
Used a manual alphabet to
communicate with her
Later married Mabel Hubbard, one of
his first students at the Clarke School
Together, they conceived two
daughters, Elsie and Marion
Alexander as an Educator
Became a teacher at Elgin’s Western
House Academy at the age of 17
At the age of 21, he moved to London
and went to work as his father’s
assistant
Emigrated to Canada with his family
when he was 23, after losing both of
his brothers to tuberculosis
Settled in Brantford, Ontario
Alexander the Educator Contd.
Taught his method of Visible Speech, a
system of shorthand initiated by his father,
at the Boston Day School in 1871
Also demonstrated Visible Speech at the
Clarke School and the American School for
the Deaf
Later returned to Boston and established a
school of Vocal Physiology at Boston
University
Visible Speech Chart
Alexander the Inventor
Received the patent for the telephone at
age 29
Also completed work on the phonograph
and the audiometer
Moved to Washington, D.C. in 1879
Received an honorary Ph.D. from
Gallaudet College in 1880
Educational Establishment
Established a small private school for the
deaf in Washington in 1883
“Whiteboards” were used in place of
blackboards and charcoal instead of chalk
All objects were labeled and the floors
were covered with rugs
Children were seated around a low table
Both hearing and deaf children attended
the school
The Later Years
Believed that sign language and residential
schools were the causes for intermarrying
in the deaf community
Pushed for laws to eliminate intermarriage
Tried to intervene when his first pupil,
George Sanders, made plans to marry
Lucy Sweet, a woman who was deaf
The Later Years Contd.
Founded the Volta Bureau in Washington,
D.C. in 1887
Assisted in the publishing of the Volta
Review in 1889
Also established the American Association
to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the
Deaf, which took over the Volta Bureau and
was later named the Alexander Graham
Bell Association for the Deaf, Incorporated
The End
Succeeded his father-in-law as president of
the National Geographic Society
Assisted the careers of other scientists with
his profit from the telephone
Died in Nova Scotia, Canada on August 22,
1922 at the age of 75
During his funeral, people in North America
were urged to refrain from making phone
calls in order to keep telephone lines clear
as a tribute to his life and teachings
Bibliography
Moore, Donald F. (2001). Educating the Deaf:
Psychology, Principles, and Practices (Fifth
Edition). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company
http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/
html/ah_008700_bellalexande.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bell_a
lexander.shtml
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbellAG.
htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/peoplee
vents/mabell.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_visa
ble_speech_chart.htm
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.h
tml