Marie Jean Philip

Marie Jean Philip
Marie Philip in 1993
Born	(1953-04-20)April 20, 1953 Worcester, Massachusetts
Died	September 24, 1997(1997-09-24) (aged 44) Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Cause of death	Pulmonary embolism
Nationality	United States
Other names	Marie Philip
Alma mater	Northeastern University (Linguistics)
Occupation	Bilingual-Bicultural Coordinator, ASL teacher/researcher
Known for	Sign language and Deaf Culture advocacy

Marie Jean Philip (April 20, 1953 – September 24, 1997) was a leader in both the American and international Deaf community. She advocated for the right to a natural sign language for Deaf people. Marie was one of the original researchers studying ASL and Deaf Culture. She was active in establishing American Sign Language (ASL) as a recognized language in the colleges of Massachusetts in the early 1980s. Later, Marie was the Bilingual-Bicultural Coordinator at The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, Massachusetts. She is an icon within the Deaf community. She was a respected and revered figure, and a pioneer in the bilingual-bicultural movement. Marie’s influence extended beyond the United States. Marie was dedicated to children, and she became a legendary advocate for the education of Deaf children around the world.

Marie Jean Philip was born on April 20, 1953 at Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of two Deaf parents, John and Doris Philip. When they realized Marie was Deaf, they sent her Clarke School for the Deaf, but she was rejected by the program because she signed. Her parents then sent her to the American School for the Deaf, where she flourished. Marie was the oldest of three, her two sisters Sue and Joan were also Deaf and both attended the American School for the Deaf with her. She was very close to her family and the Deaf Community in Worcester, MA. After graduated at American School for the Deaf (ASD), Marie attended Gallaudet University in 1969. Her junior year, she decided she wanted to try an exchange program with Oberlin, a hearing school. She received a lot of criticism from her peers, who did not understand why she would want to attend a hearing school. Her response was that she grew up in a Deaf world, and wanted to see what things were like for the hearing. Once she got there, she interacted with hearing people who were just learning to sign, which changed her view on hearing people. When she returned for senior year, she realized she did not want to be a Psychologist any longer, as it was too emotionally draining for her. She took a break from college. Marie moved to Florida to find a job during her break from college. After five months, her parents told her to come back home, where she fortunately found a job as an ASL research assistant at Northeastern University which sparked her crusade as an advocate for ASL as a real language. She then went back to school at Northeastern University to receive her bachelor of science degree in Linguistics and minor in Cultural Anthropology. Marie was pursuing her goal of a master's degree in Deaf Education, leading to a PhD, at Boston University, when she died.