Editing Laurent Clerc (section)

{{Short description|French-American educator (1785–1869)}}
{{for|the Swiss sprinter|Laurent Clerc (athlete)}}
{{multiple issues|
{{more footnotes needed|date=July 2011}}
{{cleanup biography|date=July 2011}}
}}

{{Infobox person
| birth_name         = 
| name               = Laurent Clerc
| image              = Laurent_clerc_1869.jpg
| caption            = [[Teacher]], co-founder of the first permanent school for the Deaf in North America
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1785|12|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[La Balme-les-Grottes|La Balme]], France
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1869|7|18|1785|12|26|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[Hartford, Connecticut]], U.S.
| spouse             = Eliza Crocker Boardman (1792–1880)
}}
'''Louis Laurent Marie Clerc''' ({{IPA|fr|lɔʁɑ̃ klɛʁ|lang}}; 26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869) was a French teacher called "The Apostle of the [[Deaf culture|Deaf]] in America" and was regarded as the most renowned deaf person in American deaf history.  He was taught by [[Abbé Sicard]] and deaf educator [[Jean Massieu]], at the [[Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets]] in Paris. With [[Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet]], he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, the Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, on April 15, 1817, in the old Bennet's City Hotel, [[Hartford, Connecticut]]. The school was subsequently renamed the [[American School for the Deaf]] and in 1821 moved to 139 Main Street, West Hartford. The school remains the oldest existing school for the deaf in North America.