In Our Own Hands by Brian H. Greenwald

Author:Brian H. Greenwald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
Published: 2016-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

Peddler’s card, circa 1940s. Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives.

Tom Anderson, who became president of the NAD in 1940, assigned the deaf peddler exploitation issue to the Impostor Bureau.61 Anderson declared at the 1941 Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID) that it was “our joint responsibility to prevent such heartless exploitation.”62 Anderson wanted to prevent “individuals of low intelligence to be led into and encouraged in activities symptomatic of begging.”63

Young deaf peddlers working in peddling rings were often given cards such as the one pictured above.

Peddlers working for peddling gangs were given cheap trinkets and alphabet cards to sell, usually for either ten or twenty-five cents. The peddlers who worked within these operations were also encouraged to solicit alms, often called “tips,” in addition to their sales of these wares. Some peddlers went from door to door, posing as families. Other peddlers staked out high traffic areas in large cities such as San Francisco and Chicago, selling their wares to passersby.64

As of 1942, there were three large organizations made up of deaf men and women working out of several eastern states under the supervision of a main leader.65 The peddlers often carried cards with a doleful tale, canvassed towns marked by gangs, and kept a small percentage of their earnings while turning over most of their earnings to their bosses, the beggar kings.66 In addition to keeping the skimpy remainder of their earnings, peddlers were compensated with rundown housing, promises of returns on their savings, and promises of exclusive peddling turf which never materialized. Peddlers in these rings who did not cooperate with their bosses and/or did not turn over enough earnings for the day were subject to physical assault by the gang’s enforcers.67 This exploitation of undereducated deaf people led the leadership of the deaf community to compare peddling rings to white slavery.68

An NAD pamphlet accused gang bosses of starving peddlers, beating them up for not giving over enough of their take, and forcing them to live in shabby rooms.69 Some deaf leaders, such as Tom L. Anderson, theorized that peddling rings became rampant after World War II because so many youths had left school early to take advantage of wartime employment but were mentally, intellectually, and emotionally immature and, therefore, unprepared for the changing postwar workforce.70 People involved with peddling rings also exploited young deaf people for sexual purposes. People were also concerned that peddling ringleaders themselves were sexually exploiting their female peddlers.71 Arthur Roberts, president of the NFSD, not only tagged peddlers as criminals, but also labeled them as sexual deviants who molested women or used women in their peddling rings for immoral purposes.72

The deaf community was conservative in how they perceived women and had concerns about public perceptions of deaf women.73 Deaf people dedicated to eradicating peddling rings, especially those that employed women, may have been driven by wanting to protect the public’s perception of deaf women’s virtues. Arthur Roberts did not distinguish between female peddling and prostitution; he thought that if a woman was peddling anything at all, she must also be selling the use of her body.

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