Helen Keller was a famous American author, activist for Socialism and the blind, and lecturer. Despite being blind and deaf, she was determined to live a successful life and accomplish her many goals and dreams. She proved that a disability cannot hold a courageous person back from making a difference in the world.
Helen Adams Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880 to
Arthur and Kate Keller. Her father was a captain in the Confederate army. Kate was his second wife and many years younger. Helen had two stepbrothers and a baby sister. They lived in a homestead they called “Ivy Green” because of the
English ivy that covered the house and surrounding trees.1 Helen had always been a very bright and healthy child: she was already speaking, and she started walking the day she was one year old.2
In February 1882, when Helen was nineteen months old, an illness came suddenly and Helen was left blind and deaf. She had forgotten the words she knew as a baby; not long after, Helen developed her own way to communicate with signs. Her family spoiled her because they felt sorry for her, resulting in frequent fits and temper tantrums when Helen did not get her way or receive what she wanted.
When Helen had discovered the use of a key, she locked her mother in
1 Helen Keller, The Story of My Life (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1954), p. 24.
2 Keller, p. 25.
1 the pantry where she remained for three hours before the servants found her.3
When Helen was six years old, she and her family went to visit Dr. Alexander
Graham Bell to receive information on schools and teachers for the deaf and blind. Dr. Bell, who was then concentrating on the teaching of deaf children, told
Arthur Keller to write Mr. Anagmos, the director of Perkins Institution.4 Soon after, Mr. Anagmos found a teacher for Helen.
On March 3, 1887, Helen’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, arrived. Anne herself was half-blind from a disease from which she never recovered. She brought teaching techniques from her own experience and methods used at the Perkins
Institution. Helen had terrible table manners: when it was time to eat, she would go around the table, digging her hands into her family’s plates, eating what she wanted. One day, while Anne was trying to teach her proper table manners,
Helen was being especially defiant. She struck out her fist; hit Anne in the mouth; and a tooth broke off. Anne was furious and resolved to end Helen’s abuse.5 She took Helen to a small cottage near Ivy Green and taught Helen privately where Helen learned and retained what she was taught.
First, she trained Helen in obedience and controlled her tantrums. Anne taught Helen the alphabet on the palm of her hand and associated the words spelt on her hands with objects. Helen learned how to make the letters herself
3 Keller, p. 30.
4 Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), “The life of Helen Keller,” Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), 2009. http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_keller.hcsp (May 10, 2009).
2 and write them.6 She did not understand she was spelling actual words until a pivotal incident one month later. Anne took Helen to the water pump, and Helen associated her word water with the actual object. Helen and Anne returned to
“Ivy Green” with Helen’s new achievements.
By 1890, Helen attended Perkins School for the Blind in Boston,
Massachusetts with Anne. She was a fast learner and had a very detailed memory. Helen was known as “Miracle Child” to the other attendants.7 At
Perkins, Mary Swift Lamson taught Helen to speak. Her speech never improved beyond what Anne and the people very close to her could understand.
Helen moved on to the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in 1896. In
1900, she entered Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf-blind person to ever enroll at an institution of higher learning. College was difficult for both Helen and
Anne. While there, Helen wrote a book on her life. She met John Albert Macy who helped to edit Helen’s book The Story of My Life, published in 1903. On
June 28, 1904, Helen graduated and became the first deaf-blind person to earn a
Bachelor of Arts degree.8 In addition to English, Helen Keller learned to read
French, German, Greek, and Latin in Braille.
5 Sarah Miller, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007), p. 68.
6 Ralph Barton Perry, The Story of My Life (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1954), p. 14.
7 NNDB, “Helen Keller,” Soylent Communications, 2009. http://www.nndb.com/people/074/000046933/ (May 10, 2009).
8 Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
3 In 1909, Helen became a member of the Socialist Party of Massachusetts.
She published Out of the Dark in 1903, a work which publicly shared her political views. Helen and Anne went on lecture tours, where Anne would interpret Anne’s speech sentence by sentence. When Helen was 30, at her family’s urging she had her eyes surgically removed and replaced with more cosmetically appealing false eyes. In 1916, Helen took out a marriage license with her secretary Peter
Fagan and nearly eloped, but her parents forcibly removed her from that relationship.9 In 1931, at Buckingham Palace, she and Anne met King George and Queen Mary, who were deeply impressed by Helen’s ability to understand through touch. Anne Sullivan died on October 20, 1936, leaving Helen with Polly
Thompson, her secretary.
After World War II, Helen and Polly traveled to over forty countries, fundraising for the American Foundation for the Overseas Blind. She publicly campaigned on behalf of civil rights, human dignity, women’s suffrage, and world peace. Helen wrote a book about Anne Sullivan called Teacher. Polly died on
March 21, 1960, and Winnie Corbally took care of Helen until June 1, 1968, when
Helen died peacefully in her sleep at 87.
Helen Keller was a very bright and determined woman. Even with her disabilities, she never gave up. She lived a successful life helping people and showing that persons with or without disabilities can achieve their dreams and overcome their obstacles. Helen wrote over nineteen books; was the author of many essays, articles, and speeches; had three movies made about her life; and
9 NNDB.
4 was a major activist for Socialism and the blind.10 After she died, her work on behalf of the blind continued, and organizations were founded in her name.
Helen Keller will continue to inspire people through her legacy.
10 NNDB.
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