The TSD Archive Team based at the TSD Knoxville campus has been working through archiving school records and history and this month has come across information on Ms. Geneva Singleton who was the first Black Deaf female to graduate from TSD's Black School in 1940. We are excited to share this information and pictures in honor of Black History Month, acknowledging Ms. Geneva Singleton's accomplishments.
Ms. Geneva Singleton was born in 1924 and was from Knoxville, TN.
She was the first Black-Deaf girl to graduate the 8th grade at the Tennessee School for the Deaf, Black School. She and another classmate graduated in 1940. She then went on to enroll at Austin High School (currently known as Austin East) where she graduated with honors. In the handwritten note from Mr. Henry Edmonds (principal) it states that she furthered her education and graduated from Knoxville College.
The 1940 Graduation Program indicates that Geneva provided the Welcome to the ceremony. Additionally, TSD has learned that Ms. Singleton went on to teach at the Arkansas School for the Deaf.
Recorded in the TSD Archives
Special thanks to the Beck Culture Center and Gallaudet Archives for the photo of Ms. Singleton. Included in the photo are: L-R: Barbara Boyd, Geneva Singleton, Sen. Gore, Marilyn Trabish, Joy Davis, Richard Howell