I have a very cool tidbit on how the capital B is done in Black ASL (which is its own dialect that developed from the segregation of Deaf schools). For full disclosure, I am absolutely not Black but learned this from my ASL teacher who is. If anyone reading this has more info please add on!
Ok, so there are 3 signs that could be used to say that someone is Black, or to represent a Black person. You could use the sign for the color (black) along with the agent marker to represent a person. That looks like this:
You can also sign African American, which isn’t usually used.
The other sign is Black. You’ll notice that in writing, “black” is not capitalized, while “Black” is. This is partially because the sign “Black” is only used by the Black community. In fact, using the sign “Black” when you’re not Black is seen as rude or cultural appropriation! According to Jeremy Lee Stone, a Black Deaf actor, “Black” is a “cultural perspective specific to Black ASL. It is used by those who are proud of their Black identity. While white people can use the sign “black”, they shouldn't use “Black."”
Here’s a gif of a Black signer showing the physical difference:
And here’s a short video going over why the sign is used that way: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5rcjhXXjNPc&pp=iggCQAE%3D
THANK YOU!!!!!!
