The internet has quickly fallen in love with 22-year-old Nakia Smith who went viral thanks to her informative videos about Black American Sign Language. Smith comes from a four-generation family of deaf people and has decided to use her experience to create dozens of videos of conversations with her great grandparents that have since racked up millions of views on TikTok. Her videos have led to an increased interest in how Black people sign and the differences found in the language primarily used in Black deaf communities. In a video for Netflix, Smith explained that Black American Sign Language, a dialect of American Sign Language, was developed in the 1800s because schools for the deaf were segregated. Smith noted that the first American school for the deaf, which was built in 1817, didn't admit Black people until 1952. This segregation from the white deaf community forced Black people to come up with their own way of communicating. "The biggest difference between BASL and ASL is...
