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Helen Heckman
A young white woman in a white costume with an exposed midriff and bare feet, posed with both arms and one leg outstretched, and her foot pointed
Helen Heckman, from a 1921 publication. This costume was described in a 1923 article: "The choli and headdress have 800 pearls of all sizes and shapes, while the necklace itself contains 80 larger ones. The costume entire is white..." (from "Good Seats Available for Heckman Recital Tonight", The Ithaca Journal (October 11, 1923): 2.)
Born
Helen Elizabeth Heckman

December 10, 1898
Manito, Illinois
DiedApril 1975
OccupationDancer

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

Early life and education

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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

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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

[edit]

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

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  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.
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