Helen Elizabeth Heckman (December 10, 1898 – April 17, 1975) was a deaf American dancer from Oklahoma.

Early life and education

Helen Elizabeth Heckman was born in Manito, Illinois, and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma,[1] with summers on Cayuga Lake in New York.[2] She was the daughter of Philip E. Heckman (1860–1932)[3] and Anna Foster Heckman (1868–1908).[4]

Heckman was deaf after surviving meningitis in infancy, and did not speak but used some gestural language until age 12.[5][6] Her stepmother, Vina Janet French Heckman (1874–1972),[7] "vetoed the sign language at the outset"[5] and oversaw Heckman's training to speak, sing, play piano, and dance.[8][9] "I got little encouragement from the institutions, even those here in the East," Mrs. Heckman noted later. "I had to devise for myself."[10] V. Janet Heckman later spoke as an expert on parenting and child development.[11]

Career

Heckman performed as a dancer in the 1920s, often in elaborate costumes, including on a tour of Europe, with her sister Mildred, a violinist.[12][13] Her stepmother continued to supervise her daily life and associations, into her twenties.[10] In 1928, Heckman wrote a memoir, My Life Transformed,[14] about her education.[15][16]

Photographs and details of Heckman's life were featured in publications for the general public and for deaf readers.[17][18][19] She was often presented as an inspirational example of "overcoming",[20] highlighting her youthful beauty[21] and physical fitness and celebrating her fluent speech.[22][23] "Ten years ago you would have pitied Helen Heckman," began one newspaper profile in 1922, after she won second prize in a national beauty contest, explaining that "Helen has been metamorphosed by her brilliant step-mother into a charming, cultured girl of keen mentality."[24]

Personal life

Heckman married Vina Janet Heckman's younger brother,[25] Erwin Dingley French (1890–1969) in 1956,[26] as his second wife.[27][28] She died in 1975, aged 76 years. Her grave is with her husband's, at River Bend Cemetery in Rhode Island.[29]

References

  1. ^ "Eight State Women in Who's Who in America". Durant Weekly News and Bryan County Democrat. March 6, 1931. p. 2. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Two Heckman Sisters Have Had Notable Careers as Artists". The Ithaca Journal. October 6, 1923. p. 14. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Philip Heckman". The Pantagraph. 1932-01-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Mrs. Foster Heckman". Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 1908-06-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b Haskin, Frederic J. (April 12, 1928). "She Tells of her Life Transformed". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Mute Girl Taught to Sing and Talk". Herald and Review. December 20, 1922. p. 20. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Philip E. Heckman". The Ithaca Journal. p. 3. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Dancing to Music Which She Hears Not" The Spur (April 1, 1921): 49.
  9. ^ Burch, Susan. "Double Jeopardy: Women, Deafness and Deaf Education", in Brenda Jo Brueggemann, ed., Literacy and Deaf People: Cultural and Contextual Perspectives (Gallaudet University Press 2004): 65-66. ISBN 9781563682711
  10. ^ a b "Oklahoma Wonder Girl, Can't Hear, Yet Sings, Plays Piano, and Dances". The Star Press. 1922-12-24. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Expert Student in Statement". Battle Creek Enquirer. 1923-04-09. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Helen Heckman to Dance Here". Cornell Daily Sun. p. 2. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Cornell University Library.
  13. ^ "Good Seats Available for Heckman Recital". The Ithaca Journal. October 11, 1923. p. 2. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Heckman, Helen (1928). My Life Transformed. Macmillan.
  15. ^ "My Life Transformed". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 90 (22): 1818. 1928-06-02. doi:10.1001/jama.1928.02690490060039. ISSN 0098-7484.
  16. ^ "Heckman, Helen Elizabeth". Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies and Index to Deaf Periodicals. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  17. ^ "Helen Heckman, Deaf and Dumb at 12 years, Who Now 'Hears' Talks, Sings and Dances". Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 1919-08-31. p. 13. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "True Fairy Story in Helen Heckman". Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 1922-11-16. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Naturale, Joan. "Deaf Women: Overview". InfoGuides. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  20. ^ Thomas, Lloyd Swift (December 1919). "Overcoming the Handicap of Deafness". The Silent Worker. 32: 59–60 – via Internet Archive.
  21. ^ "Our Beautiful Deaf Women". The Silent Worker. 35: cover. November 1922 – via Internet Archive.
  22. ^ Burch, Susan. "'Beautiful, Though Deaf': The Deaf American Beauty Pageant" in Brenda Jo Brueggeman and Susan Burch, eds., Women and Deafness: Double Visions (Gallaudet University Press 2015): 242-247. ISBN 978-1563686177
  23. ^ Burch, Susan (2004). Signs of Resistance: American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 to World War II. NYU Press. pp. 146–148. ISBN 978-0-8147-9894-2.
  24. ^ Wilson, Marjorie (1922-08-20). "The Awkward Deaf Girl Who Became a Prize Beauty". Dayton Daily News. p. 55. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Obituary for MARY E. FRENCH (Aged 80)". Star-Gazette. 1929-01-24. p. 21. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Miss Heckman Wed in Waban". The Newton Graphic. June 1956. p. 27. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  27. ^ "Erwin D. French". Star-Gazette. February 25, 1969. p. 14. Retrieved July 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Divorce is Granted". Star-Gazette. 1929-07-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-07-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Helen Heckman French, River Bend Cemetery; Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Heckman
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