On April 8, 1864, in the midst of the Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln signs a charter authorizing a college for deaf students in Washington, D.C.—the first institution of its kind in the United States. That school would later become Gallaudet University, the nation’s leading center of higher education for deaf and hard of hearing students. The charter built on an existing school: the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. [Editor’s note: This historical name includes outdated terminology no longer in use.] Founded in 1857 by Amos Kendall, a former postmaster general, the institution began as a primary school for deaf and blind children. Edward Miner Gallaudet led its first class of just 18 students. In February that year, Congress had formally incorporated the school and provided federal funding for deaf children in the capital who could not afford tuition. Lincoln’s 1864 charter marked a turning point.…