Abe Lincoln Signing?!?!

Have you ever been to Washington, D.C. to see the statue of Abe Lincoln? It was created by Daniel Chester French. If you look closely at his hands you will see one hand in the shape of the sign language letter "A" and the other hand lifted slightly into the sign language shape "L." Yes, Abe Lincoln supported higher education for all people during his Presidency, which supported the college for the deaf to be established, presently known as Gallaudet University! It is not directly stated by French that he created the statue on purpose to show the sign letters "A" and "L." However, since he was a creative artist with knowledge of the manual sign language alphabet, how could he have not intended to shape Lincoln's hands as such?!?!

 

After all, if you click on French's name above you will read that he created the statue below FIRST, before Abe Lincoln's statue above. The statue represents a teacher signing the letter "a" to a student who is modeling.