Black, Deaf and Extremely Online
On TikTok and in virtual hangouts, a younger generation is sharing the origins and nuances of Black American Sign Language, a rich variation of ASL that scholars say has been overlooked for too long.
Nakia Smith’s popular TikTok videos celebrate the history of Black American Sign Language and delight in its divergences from standard American Sign Language.Credit.JerSean Golatt for The New York Times
Published Jan. 23, 2021Updated March 25, 2021
“I have to make sure my hands are not ashy before I sign,” Nakia Smith, who is deaf, explained to her nearly 400,000 followers.
In one of the dozens of popular videos she posted to TikTok last year, Ms. Smith compared her habit of adding a quick dab of lotion to her hands before she starts signing to the sip of water a hearing person takes before beginning to speak.