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Claudia Gordon Research Paper

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Claudia Gordon, the first deaf woman with African decent to be an attorney in the United States was an important figure head. To talk about her, however, we have to look deeper, towards some of her actions. She was born in Jamaica to a mother whose education was as limited as a 13 year-old’s. Due to her poor education, her mother had to work as a house servant, along with taking care of laundry, both for money Claudia’s mother could use to support Claudia and her 2 siblings. To make a better life for her family, she moved to the Bronx and left her kids with her oldest sister, a schoolteacher named Mildred Taylor. Sadly, Claudia contracted otitus media, a painful infection of the ear and had to be taken to the local clinic. With no doctors on duty, the nurses had to make do with their own limited knowledge, which resulted in Claudia not getting antibiotics for her infection, which causes her to lose her hearing and part of herself in a matter of hours. Her life changed so rapidly, going from outgoing to a shut-in, laughed at due to her iniquities. Not wanted to deal with the frustrations of public school, she decided to go to Lexington School for the Deaf. She exceled there (well rounded) and was valedictorian her last 2 years …show more content…

She’s been involved in a lot of black advocacy groups, from the National Black Deaf Advocates, being crowned “Miss Black Deaf America” in the year of 1990 then going on to being the Vice President of the association from 2002-2005. She is involved in dealing with homeland security, seeing that she became Senior Policy Advisor in 2004, her office being “Civil Rights and Civil Liberties”. She has even worked with Ralph Lauren Polo, the brand known for its nice clothes, to sell certain jeans with a slogan of G.I.V.E., which means to (“Get Involved, Volunteer, and Exceed”). You can believe her when she says she doesn’t have that much time for socializing for

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