{{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{use American English|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Levi S. Backus | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1803|06|23}} | birth_place = Hebron, Connecticut | death_date = {{death date and age|1869|05|17|1803|06|23}} | death_place = Montgomery, New York | other_names = | occupation = Editor | years_active = | known_for = First Deaf editor | notable_works = | spouse = {{marriage|Anna Raymond Ormsby|1829}} | children = 2 | education = Hartford Academy }}
'''Levi Strong Backus''' (1803–1869) is widely considered the first deaf editor in America, if not the world. He ran a newspaper called the ''Radii''.<ref name="Dwight1871">{{Cite book |last=Dwight |first=Benjamin Woodbridge |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MGRmAAAAMAAJ |title=The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Mass |date=1871 |publisher=J. Munsell |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MGRmAAAAMAAJ/page/n104 41] |language=en}}</ref>
==Life==
Levi Strong Backus was born in Hebron, Connecticut. He was named after his grandfather, Levi Strong.<ref name=Dwight1871/>
In winter of 1836, Backus started a newspaper called the ''Radii'' which he ran for 33 years.<ref name=Dwight1871/> Backus seems to have tried to raise awareness of his paper in 1837, as records show he sent copies to newspapers in Alabama and Michigan.<ref name="NorthAlabamian">{{Cite news |date=March 10, 1837 |title=Something New Under The Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15328101/levi_backus_and_his_radii/ |work=North Alabamian |language=en}}</ref><ref name="ConstantineRepublican">{{Cite news |date=April 12, 1837 |title=Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13819437/levi_backus_radii_is_mentioned_in/ |work=Constantine Republican |language=en}}</ref> The first issue, published in 1837, describes the oppression of deaf people and Backus argues "many persons of his class are deaf and dumb only in name" and that sign will become the universal mode of communication.<ref name="NorthAlabamian" /> The masthead of the ''Radii'' was a fingerspelt version of the title.<ref name="ConstantineRepublican" />
In 1838 and 1839, he "petitioned the State Legislature for funding to distribute his paper free of charge to all deaf persons in the state".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Audrey Jane |last2=Mercer |first2=Paul |date=1992 |title=To Lighten Doubt and Drive Away Despair: Historic Sources and Current Resources at The New York State Library |url=https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/7816/librarytrendsv41i1k_opt.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=Library Trends |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=154–155}}</ref> The press, in 1840, burnt down so Backus started again in Fort Plain and renamed it ''Montgomery County Phoenix'' but was known as ''Radii and Phoenix''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=R.A.R. |title=Words Made Flesh: Nineteenth-Century Deaf Education and the Growth of Deaf Culture |date=2012 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814722435 |series=The History of Disability |page=109 |chapter=The Deaf Way |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/wordsmadefleshni0000edwa/page/108/mode/2up?q=backus}}</ref> In 1844, he once again applied to the Legislature for subsidy to send out the paper to deaf people in New York.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 4, 1838 |title=The Deaf and Dumb |url=http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031315/1838-04-04/ed-1/seq-1/ |work=Jamestown Journal |department=From the Albany Journal |page=1, col. 3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xw2xAAAAIAAJ&q=backus |title=Laws of the State of New York |date=1858 |publisher=New York State Legislature. |page=546 |language=en |chapter=Chap. 328: An act making appropriations for certain expenses of government, for the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight}}</ref> In his application, he says he "verily believes that he is the first and only deaf mute editor in the world..."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1840 |title=Report of a Select Committee of the Assembly, on the petition of Levi S. Backus, a deaf mute, Feb. 5, 1839 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZo_AQAAMAAJ&q=backus |journal=Journal of the American Institute |language=en |publisher=T.B. Wakeman |volume=4 |pages=387–389}}</ref>
The success of Backus led to deaf institutes beginning their own papers, known as the Little Paper Family, the first being in 1847.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kincheloe |first=Pamela Jean |date=4 April 2016 |title=Depictions of Printing in Deaf Periodicals |url=https://printinghistory.org/deaf-periodicals/ |access-date=3 April 2019 |website=American Printing History Association}}</ref> Around 1870, Backus sold ''Radii'' to Kenry C. Rider who renamed it the ''Deaf-Mute's Journal'' in 1872.
==Personal life== He began attending Hartford Academy on April 27, 1817<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vl7JAAAAMAAJ |title=Report of the Directors and Officers ... |date=1824 |volume=8 |pages=8, 10, 13 |language=en}}</ref> and was the ninth student to attend. He left school in 1826 and in 1830, began teaching at the Central Asylum School for the Deaf and Dumb just outside Canajoharie, New York.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Derby |first=Ira H. |title=The History of the First School for Deaf-Mutes of America: How They are Educated, and How the Alphabets are Invented, and Introduced into Use |date=1885 |page=29}}</ref> The school closed in 1836 and Levi made sure his 33 students were transferred to the New York Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb.<ref name=Dwight1871/>
Backus wed Anna Raymond Ormsby (1809–1886), a former student,<ref name="ConstantineRepublican" /> on January 4, 1829.<ref name=Dwight1871/> Together, they had two children, Bethiah Anna Octa Backus (Jul 19, 1830 – Sep 13, 1830) and Levi Nathaniel Backus (1834–1848)<ref name=Dwight1871/>
After the fire in 1840 that burnt down his press, Backus, Ormsby and their child stayed in the United States Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. Backus asked for donations from the public to start over.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 5, 1841 |title=Mute's Appeal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25770800/levi_backus_asked_public_for_donations/ |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The Boston Post |language=en}}</ref>
Backus later became a book publisher, printing one book on grammar (1858) and another of poetry (1861).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.ChiefWhoShotHisDaughter.html |title=Important Indian Manuscripts, Part First |translator-last=Backus |translator-first=L. S. |chapter=The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter |via=The Encyclopedia of Hōcąk (Winnebago) Mythology}}</ref> He died at age 65 in Montgomery, New York, on May 17, 1869.<ref name=Dwight1871/>
==Bibliography== *''The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter'' (1840), now{{when|date=July 2024}} stored in the Library of Congress (credited as translator){{failed verification|date=July 2024}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last=Braddock |first=Guilbert C. |title=Notable Deaf Persons |year=1975 |oclc=2036509}} *{{Cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Colin D. |date=1999 |title=The Central Asylum for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, Canajoharie, New York, 1823–1835 |journal=American Annals of the Deaf |volume=144 |issue=5 |pages=365–372 |doi=10.1353/aad.2012.0131 |pmid=10734691 |s2cid=40132140}} * {{Cite journal |last=Gallaudet |first=Edward M. |title=History of the Education of the Deaf in the United States |journal=American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb |date=1886 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=130–147 |jstor=44468239}} * {{Cite book |last=Heintz |first=Beth |title=Pioneers in publishing for the deaf : Levi Backus and his followers |year=1994 |oclc=32833385}} * {{Cite journal |title=Miscellaneous |journal=American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb |date=1855 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=62 |jstor=45220545 |jstor-access=free}}
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{worldcat|id=lccn-nr91042742}} *{{Cite web |title=Canajoharie Library & Art Gallery |url=https://www.mvls.info/lhg/canajo/12.html |access-date=3 April 2019 |website=www.mvls.info}} *{{Cite web |title=New-York State radii and deaf-mutes' journal. |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83031553/ |publisher=Library of Congress}} *{{Cite web |last=Hause |first=Darren |title=Sutori |url=https://www.sutori.com/story/ch-11-publications-of-the-deaf--1rM9faHsTDiFzocB7kYwa2W7 |access-date=3 April 2019 |website=www.sutori.com |language=en}} *{{Cite web |title=Schools of Old: education in the region from 1790–1960 |url=http://www.canajoharielibrary.org/schools.html |website=Canajoharie Library |language=en}} *{{Cite web |title=Backus, Levi |url=https://liblists.wrlc.org/biographies/53243 |access-date=3 April 2019 |website=liblists.wrlc.org |publisher=Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies and Index to Deaf Periodicals}} *{{Cite web |title=Levi Strong Backus |url=http://www.nextexithistory.com/explore/historical-sites/levi-strong-backus/ |access-date=3 April 2019 |website=www.nextexithistory.com}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Backus, Levi S.}} Category:American deaf people Category:People from Tolland County, Connecticut Category:Deaf culture in the United States Category:People from Hebron, Connecticut Category:1803 births Category:1869 deaths Category:19th-century American newspaper editors