$22,107,502.15 of $23,000,000 Goal

Video description: Evon Black and Dr. Jeremy L. Brunson are standing in the lobby of Ole Jim at Gallaudet University. Ms. Black is wearing a deep purple shirt. Dr. Brunson is wearing a light purple shirt and tie.

Transcript:
We are excited to announce that all donations to the Necessity of Now (NOW) fundraising campaign made by individuals, families, classes, and organizations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous anonymous donor who is a Gallaudet alumnus. This means that every contribution you make, regardless of the size, will have twice the impact!

Since we officially launched NOW nearly two years ago, more than 1,000 individuals, couples, families, corporations, foundations, and organizations have supported the campaign.

Thanks to the generosity of people like you, we are now more than 93% of the way toward achieving our $23 million fundraising goal.

The inspiration behind the NOW campaign started in the 1950s during segregation with the story of Mrs. Louise B. Miller, a resident of Washington, D.C., and the mother of four children, including three deaf sons. Mrs. Miller attempted to enroll her eldest son, Kenneth, for admission to the Kendall School for the Deaf located just a few miles from her home on Gallaudet’s campus. However, Kenneth was denied admission because he was a “Negro” according to a letter from then-Gallaudet President Dr. Leonard M. Elstad to Mrs. Miller.

Mrs. Miller knew that early education was paramount for Kenneth to succeed and was determined to fight not only for her son, but for all the other Black Deaf children in Washington, D.C.

After all other avenues she explored were unsuccessful, Mrs. Miller and other Black parents filed a class action lawsuit against the District of Columbia Board of Education for the right of Black Deaf children like Kenneth to attend Kendall School. Their first lawsuit was not successful, but their perseverance paid off when they won their second lawsuit. The hard-fought triumph served as a watershed moment in Black Deaf history.

In 1952, a segregated Kendall School Division II was hastily built. Two years later, Brown vs. Board of Education dismantled segregation across the nation, and Kendall School Division II closed its doors forever.

Forty years later, the former school building was torn down to make way for newer campus buildings.

The memory of the school was relegated to a plaque placed on the back side of a brick wall, largely hidden from view. Students, employees, and visitors to campus walked past its site for years, unaware of the history and experiences of Kendall School Division II’s community.

Several years ago, however, community activists demanded to know why Mrs. Miller’s fight and the history of Kendall School Division II were not receiving the recognition they deserved.

Their activism sparked the creation of the NOW campaign – a culmination of years of behind-the-scenes work, including heartfelt and sometimes painful community dialogues about Gallaudet’s discriminatory past, and how we could move forward together toward a more equitable future.

NOW funds a vibrant outdoor learning space on campus called the Louise B. Miller Pathways and Gardens: A Legacy to Black Deaf Children, student scholarships, and research and programming at our Center for Black Deaf Studies.

This effort will ensure that we commemorate and confront our past, honor, and celebrate the brave people who fought for equality and educational justice, and hopefully catalyze collective healing for some of the past injustices experienced by the Black Deaf community.

Today, we are calling on our community to help us cross the finish line and meet our fundraising goal by Homecoming in October by making a contribution of any size to be matched by a generous anonymous donor.

We hope we can count on your support to meet our $23 million goal by Homecoming. Your gift to the Necessity of Now ensures that the four cherished themes of the campaign – Awareness, Freedom, Remembrance, and Healing – are forever woven into the fabric of Gallaudet.

Every dollar counts! Double your impact today at gu.live/NOW

Thank you.