Before the 1930s, most films were silent and everyone needed captions to know what people were saying in movies. Then movies with sound were made, making it hard for deaf people to know what the characters were saying. Deaf people wanted Open Captioning, captioning that embedded in the movie, but most hearing people shot that idea down. Malcolm J Norwood then suggested Closed Captioning, the option to turn captions on and off as needed.

Closed Captioning

Two different logos for closed captioning.

Malcolm "Mac" J Norwood believed that many people, not just deaf people, would benefit from closed captioning. Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, senior citizens, children, students, and people who are learning English would all benefit from having the option of closed captioning. Mac was the leading advocate for Closed Captioning media. He was also the first Deaf professional to work at the Department of Education.