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"Helen Keller 1880-1968"
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She was born with full sight and hearing. When Helen was 19 months old, she became very ill. Her parents were very worried about her but when she recovered they were excited that she was well. It didn't take long for her mother to realize that something was wrong with Helen. She didn't hear the dinner bell and when Helen's mother passed her hand in front of Helen's eyes, she didn't respond. It was then that they realized the illness had made Helen deaf and blind.
Her parents traveled to Baltimore with Helen to visit a special doctor. He told them about Alexander Graham Bell who had invented the telephone. Bell had become very interested in how to teach deaf children. He recommended the Kellers get in touch with the director of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind to ask for a teacher. The director recommended Anne Sullivan.
Anne Sullivan had lost most of her eyesight by the age of five but two operations had enabled her to regain most of her sight. She was a graduate of the Perkins Institution. Anne came to live at the Kellers and began working with Helen. She started teaching Helen "finger spelling." At first Helen had no idea what these funny signs meant in her hand. Helen continued to have tantrums when she was frustrated and Anne would punish her by not "talking" to her. Eventually, Helen liked Anne enough that she changed her bad behavior and manners so Anne would talk to her.
From that point on, Helen learned very rapidly. It wasn't long before she was learning to read, first with raised letters and then with braille. Then she learned to use a regular typewriter and one with braille.
Helen attended and graduated from Radcliffe College. She was the first deafblind person to ever enroll in a college. It was during her college years that Anne and Helen wrote her life story. John Albert Macy helped them with the book and in 1905, Anne and John were married.
Helen, Anne and John moved to New York where they started raising money for the American Foundation for the Blind. She also spoke to people about improving the working and living conditions of blind people.
After Anne and John Macy died, Helen went on to write a book called "Teacher" about Anne Sullivan. A play about Anne Sullivan's life with Helen Keller, "The Miracle Worker" became a smash hit on Broadway.
In 1964 Helen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Lyndon Johnson. A year later she was elected to the Women's Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair.
Helen died in her sleep in 1968.
Quotes Attributed To Helen Keller
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."
"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles."
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow."
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened before us."
Source:
National Women's Hall of Fame
http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=91
Source:
Anne Sullivan: Teacher
http://www.graceproducts.com/keller/anne.html
Contributed by: Crimson (GSR)
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