For Deaf people, a different struggle was unfolding…
Artist:Jon Savage
Medium:Video Art
Format:Hybrid Short Film (experimental, archival, narrated)
Duration:11:16 minutes
Year:2025
This 11-minute hybrid short film blends experimental video art, archival film, and narration to illuminate the overlooked struggles and resilience of Deaf communities in 1920s America. While mainstream history remembers Prohibition, jazz, and silent films, Deaf people faced forced oralism in schools, exclusion under the eugenics movement, and racial segregation that fractured community life.
Through archival references, abstract visual art, and narration, the film honors figures such as Granville Redmond, Nellie Zabel Willhite, Charles Krauel, and Blanche Wilkins Williams, while acknowledging the experiences of Black, Latinx, Asian, and Native Deaf people whose stories are too often erased.
The work also echoes George Veditz’s early call to preserve sign language on film—reminding us that moving pictures carry language across time. By weaving experimental imagery with historic memory, the piece reflects how Deaf communities sustained culture, preserved language, and grew new roots of identity in the face of erasure.
