Meet Roberta J. Cordano
Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano is Gallaudet University’s current President and the first deaf female president. Cordano is a non-profit executive, former Minnesota assistant attorney general and the co-founder of Metro Deaf School, a bilingual bicultural charter school for deaf and heard of hearing children. Cordano previously served as the vice president of programs for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She overseen direct community-based programs for nearly 9,500 people in the areas of early childhood, community mental health, family supportive housing, aging and caregiver services, school reform, and food access. She is widely credited for managing and sustaining programs in a highly volatile revenue environment, providing community leadership, fostering innovation, strengthening and supporting diversity within the workforce, and structuring services for optimal alignment and collaboration.Cordano has held several leadership roles in different sectors, including health care; higher education as assistant dean for the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota; and in government as an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota.
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Meet Claudia Gordon
Claudia L. Gordon is the first deaf African-American female attorney in the United States. Born in Jamaica, Gordon became deaf at the 8 years old after having sharp pains in her ears. At 11, she moved to the United States and attended Lexington School for the Deaf in New York. In 1995, she graduated form Howard University with a Bachelors in Political Science. She later went to the American University Washington College of Law. She has worked as a staff attorney for the National Association for the Deaf, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as a Public Engagement Advisor and in the White House. She has received the 2005 Hurricane Response Award, the Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award, the 2010 Deaf Life Magazine Deaf Person of the Year award, and the 2011 Amos Kendall Award. The former Miss Deaf American and Delta Sigma Theta member, is a member of many organizations including the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center and Black Law Students Association.
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Today in Deaf History 10/13
Today in Deaf History: Julius Wiggins passed away in the year 2001.
Julius Wiggins was the creator of the first newspaper for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, The Silent News.
Born in Toronto, Canada, and attending the Bellville School for the Deaf in Ontario, Wiggins later transferred to a vocational school for tailoring. At age 20, he moved to Manhattan to further his skills in fur and the fur business and was very successful until the fur industry plummeted leaving him unemployed. Afterwards, he worked for a postal office. His career path changed on a family trip. On the family vacation, he saw a sign that said, “Who, What, Where, and Why.” That inspired him with ideas for the future of the deaf community. He was able to get 10 of his closest deaf friends together to organize and fund a paper company geared towards the deaf and hard of hearing community that would soon be known as Silent News. Each invested $250.00 into the company. Soon after, Silent News was born in January 1969. Each issue was 15 cents. His family played a vital role in the production of the newspaper in the first year. The headquarters for the newspaper were in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. Wiggins held a huge role in connecting the deaf community and allowing them to be aware of upcoming events and news. The newspaper brought national and international news, latest technology, health and sports, and stories about successful and up in coming deaf people. Later he wrote an autobiography called No Sound, published in 1972, which recounted in depth about many hardships he encountered with hearing individuals and the oppression he felt throughout his life (Trudy). Silent News has left an everlasting footprint for the future of the deaf community. In the 1990s due to his failing health the newspaper was sold to Adele Wiggins. Soon after he died in October 13, 2001.
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