Andrew Foster (educator)

Andrew Foster (educator)

Andrew Jackson Foster (1925–1987) was a missionary to the deaf in Africa from 1956 until his death in 1987. He became the first black deaf person to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet College and the first to earn a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University. Eventually receiving a Master's Degree from Seattle Pacific Christian College, he founded Christian Mission for the Deaf African in 1956, and set out for Liberia, Africa; he established the first school of his mission in Ghana.

Andrew Foster was born in Ensley, Alabama, the son of a coal miner. His parents were Wiley and Veline. He and his younger brother Edward became deaf through spinal meningitis in 1936. Educational opportunities for African Americans in that era prevented him from achieving more than a sixth-grade education. At the age of sixteen, he moved to Detroit, Michigan to live with his aunt and attended Bethany Pembroke church where he later committed his life to the call of Christ. He completed high school through a correspondence course with an American School in Chicago, Ill in 1951.

In 1961 Andrew was married to Berta, a deaf German, and together they have 5 children (4 boys and 1 girl). Gallaudet College awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters in 1970 for his accomplishment.