August 27

Thomas Gallaudet, Henry Winter Syle, Katherine McCormick, and W.E.B. Dubois

Author

David Barnhart
August 27, 2025

Chanterelles, 2020. Own photo.

Today is a feast day, in the Episcopal Church, for Thomas Gallaudet and Henry Winter Syle. Thomas Gallaudet co-founded the American School for the Deaf and was instrumental in bringing sign language to North America. He was seminary-trained and found his calling in working as an educator. His student, Henry Syle, became the first deaf person ordained in the Episcopal Church. 

Today is the birthday, in 1875, of Katherine McCormick, a women’s rights activist and philanthropist whose science background at MIT and activist work led to her funding research for the first oral contraceptive. 

Today marks the death of civil rights activist and sociologist W.E.B. Dubois, in 1963. We marked his birthday on February 23. 

And on this day in 1991, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were recognized as independent countries by the European Community. Moldova also declared independence from the USSR. 

Reflection: 

Thomas Gallaudet said,

“All of the children of silence must be taught to sing their own song.”

Appropriate for our current age, W.E.B. Dubois wrote: 

“How shall Integrity face Oppression? What shall Honesty do in the face of Deception, Decency in the face of Insult, Self-Defense before Blows? How shall Desert and Accomplishment meet Despising, Detraction, and Lies? What shall Virtue do to meet Brute Force? There are so many answers and so contradictory; and such differences for those on the one hand who meet questions similar to this once a year or once a decade, and those who face them hourly and daily.”

Prayer: Gracious God, give us understanding and discernment to know better how to face Oppression with Integrity. Amen.