SASL Newsletter - Fall 2017 Issue Issue 7 - Fall 2017 | Page 6

For the next twenty years of his tenure at the Ontario Institution, Sam used his experiences as a
student at the American Asylum as the source of most of his ideas for classroom practices and
extracurricular activities. He devoted his teaching career to classes that were usually made up of pupils
of various ages who had entered the school with few or no language skills. He recognized the need to
help these students build a strong foundation for learning skills throughout their stay. Because the
school embraced the American system of manual education, Sam was also assigned to train its new
staff in sign language. For student activities, he started a fire brigade of older boys, a small literary
group known as the Dufferin Literary Society, and a hymn-signing choir for the female students. He
often entertained the students who could not go home for the Christmas holidays.
In additional to his educational work, Sam contributed significantly to the social activities of the
Ontario Deaf community. He was the originator of several associations and publications. For example,
in 1886 he cofounded and became the first president of the Ontario Deaf-Mute Association (now the
Ontario Association of the Deaf). He also co-created an eight-page, semimonthly publication titled The
Canadian Silent Observer in 1888. Sam traveled to many parts of the province and south of the border,
where he gave outstanding presentations in sign language.
Sam loved boating and the outdoors. Sadly, his extraordinary life abruptly ended in February
1890 after he was thrown off his homemade iceboat with sails on the frozen Bay of Quinte near the
Ontario Institution. He hit his head on the ice with considerable force and remained unconscious for two
weeks before dying at home. Both the school community and the Deaf community in general were
devastated. The funeral took place at the school, and his remains were buried in Section “P” of the
Belleville cemetery. At the base of the marker, Sam’s surname was distinctively displayed in bas-relief
characters of the manual alphabet. In the summer of the same year, during the Third Biennial
Convention of the Ontario Deaf-Mute Association in Toronto, a large portrait in oils of Sam was unveiled
and later given as a gift to the school. It was painted by one of Sam’s closest Deaf friends, Ambrose W.
Mason, soon after Sam’s death.
Special Note
The significance of the biography on Samuel T. Greene begins with understanding how ASL was transmitted to Canada
from the United States. Mr. Greene, an American, played a key role in the spread of ASL. Also, pay attention to the fact that
he enjoyed early access to the language. There are indications that Mr. Greene was not just a signer, but he was a master
signer.
The biography on Mr. Greene is a condensed reprint with permission from a book edited by Kristin Snoddon, entitled
TELLING DEAF LIVES: Agents of Change, Gallaudet University Press, 2014. Images are supplied by the author with
thanks.
References
Carbin, C. F. (1996). Deaf heritage in Canada: A distinctive, diverse, and enduring culture (pp. 105–106). Whitby, ON:
McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
Carbin, C. F. (2005). Samuel Thomas Greene: A legend in the nineteenth century deaf community. Belleville, ON: Essence/
Epic.
The Power of ASL
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Fall 2017 – Issue 7