Jacob Rodrigues Pereira facts for kids
Jacob Rodrigues Pereira (born April 11, 1715 – died September 15, 1780) was an important educator from Portugal. He was a Jewish scholar who became famous for being the first teacher of deaf people in France. He helped many people learn to communicate.
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Early Life and Family
Jacob Rodrigues Pereira was born in a town called Berlanga in Spain. His family was from Portugal and had a Jewish background. At that time, some Jewish families in Portugal had to practice their religion in secret.
Jacob's birth name was Francisco António Rodrigues. His parents were João Lopes Dias and Leonor Rodrigues Pereira. Around 1741, Jacob and his family moved to Bordeaux, a city in France. There, they were able to openly practice Judaism again. Jacob then took the name Jacob, and his mother became Abigail Rivka Rodrigues.
Helping Deaf People Communicate
Jacob Rodrigues Pereira created a special system of signs. These signs helped deaf people communicate using their hands. He built on earlier ideas, especially from a Spanish system called the manual alphabet.
Pereira made his system better by adding 30 different hand shapes. Each hand shape stood for a sound, not just a letter. This was a big step forward in teaching deaf people. He is known as one of the people who helped create manual language for the deaf.
It's important to know that he wasn't the very first person to teach a deaf person to speak. That credit usually goes to Pedro Ponce de León, who lived much earlier. In 1759, Pereira was recognized for his work and became a member of the Royal Society of London, a famous group of scientists.
Supporting Jewish Communities
Jacob Rodrigues Pereira cared deeply about the well-being of Jewish people. He worked hard to help Jewish communities in France, Portugal, and Spain. Starting in 1749, he volunteered in Paris to help Portuguese Jews.
His efforts made a big difference. In 1777, thanks to his work, Jewish people from Portugal were given the right to live in France. This was an important step for their freedom and safety.
Other Achievements
In 1772, Pereira also helped with a special project. He published a vocabulary list for the Tahitian language. He learned this language from a Tahitian man named Ahutoru. Ahutoru was the first person from Tahiti to travel on a European ship. This vocabulary was part of a book about a famous voyage by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.
Legacy and Family
Jacob Rodrigues Pereira passed away in 1780. Later, in 1876, his remains were moved to the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. In Bordeaux, a street was named "Rodrigues-Pereire" to honor him.
His grandsons, Émile Péreire and Isaac Péreire, became very famous. They were important bankers and financiers in France during the 1800s. They helped build the first railway in France in 1835. In 1852, they also started a big bank called the Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier.
