Helen Keller

Born: June 27, 1880 (Tuscumbia, Alabama)

Helen Keller is revered around the globe as a symbol of bravery in the face of insurmountable obstacles. Despite this, she was so much more. She was moved by her tremendous concern for people to dedicate her life to assist them in overcoming enormous difficulties that prevented them from enjoying healthy and productive lives. She was a lady of dazzling mind, strong ambition, and remarkable success.

Early Life

Arthur Henley Keller, the father of Helen Keller, was a newspaper editor in Tuscumbia, Alabama. As a Confederate Army captain during the American Civil War, he was well-versed in military history. As a young educated lady from Memphis, Tennessee, Catherine Everett Keller was Helen Keller's mother. Charles W. Adams, a Confederate Army general, was her grandfather. There were four siblings in Helen Keller's family: two brothers and two sisters. Helen Keller was born and raised on her grandfather's farm in Ivy Green, New York, where she developed an early interest in writing. Her tutor and lifelong partner Anne Sullivan met her at the family farm.

Helen Keller was an American author and educator who was born Helen Adams Keller on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama and died on June 1, 1968, in Westport, Connecticut. In the realm of education for persons with severe disabilities, this is a remarkable accomplishment. Her vision and hearing were permanently damaged by an illness, "possibly scarlet fever," when she was only 19 months old. When she was six, Alexander Graham Bell, the father of the telephone, examined her. After this happened, Bell's son-in-law headed the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, and he sent her a 20-year-old instructor named Anne Sullivan (Macy) from the institution. Sullivan was Keller's instructor from March 1887 until her own death in October 1936, and she was regarded as one of the best in the country.

A deaf man's dream came true when Helen's mother wrote to Dr. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), who was developing hearing aids for the deaf. They should call the Perkins Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, according to Bell, who met Helen and her parents. Helen's first instructor at the institution was Anne Sullivan (1866-1936), who arrived in March 1887. Anne, a twenty-one-year-old woman with her own set of vision impairments, was a unique case. She taught Keller the word "water" only one month after she arrived. She achieved this by writing letters into Helen's hand with her fingers. Her instructor wrote the names of the things into her palm while she explained this to her. As a consequence, Helen had access to a whole new realm of information.

Education

At the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston, Helen started attending speech training in 1890 in order to learn to communicate with other people. She worked hard to learn to speak. With 25 years of effort and dedication, Helen was finally able to talk in an understandable tone. Wright-Humason School for Deaf Children was a institute that Helen attended from 1894 to 1896. At the school, she continued to focus on her language skills, as well as her knowledge of arithmetic, French, and German. As a result of her efforts, Helen was accepted to the prestigious Cambridge School for Young Ladies and began her college career. The lectures and texts were not in Braille, but Anne Sullivan attended all of Helen's classes and translated them for her. The entrance tests for Radcliffe College had been passed by Keller by the time she was sixteen, and she graduated there in 1904 with honors (with honors). All of this was made possible thanks to the lectures and papers being translated by Anne Sullivan.

Work & Legacy

Keller had a strong desire to learn about the world and to make a difference in the lives of people when she was a young lady. Through her intelligence, passion, and a strong commitment to humanity, she spoke across the globe, advocated for her views in Congress, and sent thousands of letters requesting donations to help fund initiatives to better the condition of blind people. After being nominated in 1989, she was given the Nobel Peace Prize. She visited hospitals and provided assistance to blind warriors. She encouraged the blind to be bold and to live lives that were full, productive, and beautiful, both for the benefit of others and for their own enjoyment.

Keller was associated with notable figures of the period, such as Alexander Graham Bell, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and three U.S. presidents: Grover Cleveland, Calvin Coolidge, and Woodrow Wilson, in 1838, 1848, and 1856, respectively. For example, she has released a book titled "From The Deep to the Light" as well as "My Later Life, My Religion," "The Song of the Stone Wall," and "The World I Live In." Sullivan acted as a mentor and a friend to Keller. Keller's legacy as a symbol of what the human spirit can achieve despite physical limits was well-established by the time of her death in 1968.

Activist for blind rights, Helen Keller, was noted for her work. Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, and several U.S. Presidents are just a few of the personalities Helen has met in her lifetime. Many other blind individuals were inspired by Helen's courage and determination. Known as the "First deafblind person," Helen chronicled her life in an autobiography that is still in print today. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life, has been translated into more than 50 different languages to date. In addition to her novels, Helen is known for a number of other works. Helen was a major force for the officialization of Braille as the language of the blind. Throughout her travels, Keller spoke out about the plight of others like her and the need for change in the world. In recognition of her contributions to the country, President Johnson conferred upon Helen the Presidental Accolade of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. To inspire the now-blind soldiers of World War II, Keller visited camps' hospitals throughout the war and gave speeches. Helen was the first American Goodwill Ambassador to visit Japan in 1948, and she talked to the country's population and drew over two million people to see a deafblind person speak. It is fitting that Helen helped start the American Foundation for the Blind, which subsequently evolved into the American Foundation for the Overseas Blind, after numerous hours of research and public speaking. Helen worked diligently throughout her life to better the lives of women and the blind, among other causes.

Later Life & Death

Keller died in 1961 as a result of a series of strokes he had had. As a consequence, she was confined to her house for the final few years of her life. President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Helen Keller with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. President Obama's Medal of Freedom and the Medal of Honor were two of America's most prestigious civilian awards. It is given to persons who have made a major contribution to American culture. Pope John XXIII and Mother Theresa are just a few of the notable people that have received this award.

At the age of 87, she died away quietly in her sleep at her home in Connecticut on June 1, 1968, surrounded by her family. A few weeks before the eighty-eighth anniversary of her death, the 87-year-old woman died away. With her two loyal friends, Anne Sullivan and Polly Thomson, the icon of persistence was laid to rest in the Washington National Cathedral in Washington DC. Today, she is a household name for her tireless efforts to improve the lives of others, despite her own physical limitations.