Hellen Keller
Occupation : Activist
Born : June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama
Died : June 1, 1968 in Arcan Ridge, Easton, Connecticut
Best known for : Accomplishing much despite being both deaf and
blind.
Biography:
Where did Helen Keller grow up?
Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in
Tuscumbia, Alabama. She was a happy healthy baby. Her father, Arthur, worked
for a newspaper while her mother, Kate, took care of the home and baby Helen.
She grew up on her family's large farm called Ivy Green. She enjoyed the
animals including the horses, dogs, and chickens.
Illness
When Helen was around one and a half years old
she became very sick. She had a high fever and a bad headache for several days.
Although Helen survived, her parents soon realized that she had lost both her
sight and her hearing.
Frustration
Helen tried to communicate with the people
around her. She had special motions she would use to indicate that she wanted
her mom or her dad. However, she would also get frustrated. She realized that
she was different and it was extremely difficult to let others know what she
needed. She would sometimes throw tantrums, kicking and hitting other people in
anger.
Annie Sullivan
Soon Helen's parents realized that she needed
some special help. They contacted the Perkins Institute for the Blind in
Boston. The director suggested a former student named Annie Sullivan. Annie had
been blind, but had her eyesight restored by surgery. Perhaps her unique
experience would allow her to help Helen. Annie came to work with Helen on
March 3, 1887 and would be her helper and companion for the next 50 years.
Hellen with Annie
Learning
Words
Annie began to teach Helen words. She would
press the letters of words in to Helen's hand. For example, she would put a
doll in one of Helen's hands and then press the letters of the word D-O-L-L
into the other hand. She taught Helen a number of words. Helen would repeat the
words into Annie's hand.
However, Helen still didn't understand that the
hand signs had meaning. Then one day Annie put Helen's hand into water coming
from a pump. Then she spelled out water into Helen's other hand. Something
clicked. Helen finally understood what Annie was doing. An entire new world
opened up for Helen. She learned a number of new words that day. In many ways
it was one of the happiest days of her life.
Learning to Read
Next Annie taught Helen how to read. Helen must
have been very bright and Annie an amazing teacher, because soon Helen could
read entire books in Braille. Braille is a special reading system where the
letters are made out of little bumps on a page.
Imagine trying to learn how to read if you
couldn't see or hear. It's truly amazing what Helen and Annie were able to
accomplish. At the age of ten Helen could read and use a typewriter. Now she
wanted to learn how to talk.
Learning to Talk
Helen Keller learned how to talk from Sarah
Fuller. Sarah was a teacher for the deaf. By resting her hand on Sarah's lips,
Helen learned how to feel sound vibrations and how the lips moved to make
sounds. She started off learning a few letters and sounds. Then she advanced to
words and, finally, sentences. Helen was so happy that she could say words.
School
At sixteen years old Helen attended Radcliffe
College for women in Massachusetts. Annie attended school with her and helped
to sign the lectures into Helen's hand. Helen graduated from Radcliffe in 1904
with honors.
Writing
During college Helen began to write about her
experiences being deaf and blind. She first wrote a number of articles for a
magazine called the Ladies'
Home Journal. These
articles were later published together in a book called The Story of My Life. A few years later, in 1908,
she published another book called The World I Live In.
Working for Others
As Helen grew older she wanted to help other
people like herself. She wanted to inspire them and give them hope. She joined
the American Foundation for the Blind and traveled the country giving speeches
and raising money for the foundation. Later, during World War II, she visited with wounded army soldiers
encouraging them not to give up. Helen spent much of her life working to raise
money and awareness for people with disabilities, especially the deaf and the
blind.
Interesting Facts about Helen Keller
- Annie Sullivan was often called
the "Miracle Worker" for the way she was able to help Helen.
- Helen became very famous. She
met with every President of the United States from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon Johnson.
That's a lot of presidents!
- Helen starred in a movie about
herself called Deliverance.
Critics liked the movie, but not a lot of people went to see it.
- She loved dogs. They were a
great source of joy to her.
- Helen became friends with
famous people such as the inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell and the author Mark Twain.
- She wrote a book titled Teacher about
Annie Sullivan's life.
- Two films about Helen Keller
won Academy Awards. One was a documentary called The Unconquered (1954) and the other was a drama called The Miracle Worker (1962) starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.
