On the Beat of Truth

Book excerpt: Brown is the oldest of three hearing daughters born to deaf, working-class African American parents. Both parents were born in the South and attended segregated schools for "colored" deaf and blind children; later they settled in Washington, DC. Brown tells stories of her parents' youth, their tenacious work ethic, their incredible pride of family, their interactions with the deaf African American and white communities, and the suffering they endured living in a hearing world. Brown also relates her own experiences as her parents' interpreter, and how she learned to live in both the deaf and hearing worlds.