John Flournoy

Who was John Flournoy?

John J. Flournoy, a graduate of the American School for the Deaf, is best remembered as an advocate for a deaf state.

Flournoy proposed that deaf people obtain a government land grant to establish a colony "where all of its citizens would be deaf and the chief means of communication would be sign language." Flournoy's proposals were not widely accepted even among deaf leaders of the day. Most argued that such a colony could not flourish because of the low percentage of deaf children born to deaf parents. Flournoy was also a driving force in the creation of the Georgia School for the Deaf and a proponent of a national college for the deaf.