helen keller

     

Helen Aams Keller (June 27, 1880–June 1, 1968) was an American author, activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to graduate from college.

Trivia about helen keller

  • She gave herself the third-person name "Phantom", the "no-person" she was from 19 months until she was almost 7
  • In 2009 Alabama replaced a statue in the collection with one of her at age 7, the first child honored
  • This 1904 Radcliffe graduate was a suffragist, political activist, Vaudeville performer & writer
  • At the dedication of a fountain at Radcliffe College in 1960, she began her speech with the single word "Water"
  • With the help of Anne Sullivan, her teacher, & John Macy, she published "The Story of My Life" in 1902
  • This woman who triumphed over blindness & deafness was the granddaughter of Confederate gen. Charles W. Adams
  • Her parents chose Anne Sullivan as her private teacher on the advice of Alexander Graham Bell
  • Her parents asked Alexander Graham Bell about a teacher for their daughter; Anne Sullivan was soon hired
  • The American Foundation for the Blind is dedicated to fulfilling the vision of this woman, seen here
  • She lost her vision & hearing before she was 2; Anne Sullivan came to help 5 years later
  • She wrote, "I knew then that 'W-A-T-E-R' meant the ... cool something that was flowing over my hand"
  • With help from "miracle worker" Anne Sullivan, she learned to speak, & to read Braille, & even graduated college
  • In June at a Tuscumbia, Alabama festival honoring her, "The Miracle Worker" is performed at her birthplace
  • A documentary feature on her won a 1955 Oscar; 7 years later, Patty Duke won an Oscar for portraying her
  • Students at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf & Blind know that this woman is on their state quarter
  • With help from miracle worker Anne Sullivan, she graduated from Radcliffe with honors in 1904
  • When Patty Duke won her Oscar for this 1962 role, she was the youngest person to win a regular Oscar
  • "I knew then that 'W-A-T-E-R' meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand"
  • Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880, she lost her sight & hearing by age 1 1/2
  • In her 1903 autobiography, she wrote, "Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence"
  • Though blind & deaf since age 19 months, she graduated with honors from Radcliffe in 1904
  • Seen here is a partial view of her childhood home in Alabama in the 1950s; notice the water pump
  • (Oprah Winfrey gives the clue.) I'll need an interpreter to interview this amazing woman--& the audience would go wild when her teacher Anne Sullivan comes onstage
  • (Cheryl of the Clue Crew delivers the clue from the Alabama Institute for Deaf & Blind.) On the campus named for this remarkable woman, a statue is signing the word for blind while reading the word for deaf
  • Over 150 people are interred at the Cathedral, including this woman who lost her hearing and her sight at age 1 1/2
  • The Book of Kells dates from about 800 A.D.; "The Story of My Life", which dates from 1902, is the book of her
  • Considering her an exemplary figure, George Bernard Shaw said to her, "I wish all Americans were as blind as you"
  • She's the young girl on the left pictured with her beloved teacher Anne Sullivan