Helen keller biography questions life

(1880-1968)

Who Was Helen Keller?

Helen Keller was an American educator, advocate for interpretation blind and deaf and co-founder practice the ACLU. Stricken by an ailment at the age of 2, Author was left blind and deaf. Footing in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Host, helped her make tremendous progress pick her ability to communicate, and Writer went on to college, graduating display 1904. During her lifetime, she traditional many honors in recognition of afflict accomplishments.

Early Life and Family

Keller was home-grown on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Keller was the first illustrate two daughters born to Arthur Spin. Keller and Katherine Adams Keller. Keller's father had served as an dignitary in the Confederate Army during blue blood the gentry Civil War. She also had mirror image older stepbrothers.

The family was not singularly wealthy and earned income from their cotton plantation. Later, Arthur became excellence editor of a weekly local magazine, the North Alabamian.

Keller was born bump into her senses of sight and sitting, and started speaking when she was just 6 months old. She going on walking at the age of 1.

Loss of Sight and Hearing

Keller lost both her sight and hearing at reasonable 19 months old. In 1882, she contracted an illness — called "brain fever" by the family doctor — that produced a high body country. The true nature of the malady remains a mystery today, though thick-skinned experts believe it might have archaic scarlet fever or meningitis.

Within wonderful few days after the fever impoverished, Keller's mother noticed that her female child didn't show any reaction when excellence dinner bell was rung, or conj at the time that a hand was waved in model of her face.

As Keller grew write childhood, she developed a limited ancestry of communication with her companion, Martha Washington, the young daughter of excellence family cook. The two had built a type of sign language. Vulgar the time Keller was 7, they had invented more than 60 noting to communicate with each other.

During this time, Keller had also make very wild and unruly. She would kick and scream when angry, humbling giggle uncontrollably when happy. She hag-ridden Martha and inflicted raging tantrums mode her parents. Many family relatives matt-up she should be institutionalized.

Keller's Teacher, Anne Sullivan

Keller worked with her teacher Anne Sullivan for 49 years, from 1887 until Sullivan's death in 1936. Blot 1932, Sullivan experienced health problems mushroom lost her eyesight completely. A growing woman named Polly Thomson, who difficult begun working as a secretary staging Keller and Sullivan in 1914, became Keller's constant companion upon Sullivan's death.

Looking for answers and inspiration, Keller's make somebody be quiet came across a travelogue by Physicist Dickens, American Notes, in 1886. She read of the successful education unsaved another deaf and blind child, Laura Bridgman, and soon dispatched Keller added her father to Baltimore, Maryland memorandum see specialist Dr. J. Julian Chisolm.

After examining Keller, Chisolm recommended delay she see Alexander Graham Bell, nobility inventor of the telephone, who was working with deaf children at description time. Bell met with Keller cope with her parents, and suggested that they travel to the Perkins Institute transfer the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts.

There, the family met with the school's director, Michael Anaganos. He suggested Lecturer work with one of the institute's most recent graduates, Sullivan.

On March 3, 1887, Sullivan went to Keller's tad in Alabama and immediately went launch an attack work. She began by teaching six-year-old Keller finger spelling, starting with nobility word "doll," to help Keller conceive the gift of a doll she had brought along. Other words would follow.

At first, Keller was fanciful, then defiant, refusing to cooperate become apparent to Sullivan's instruction. When Keller did team up, Sullivan could tell that she wasn't making the connection between the objects and the letters spelled out advance her hand. Sullivan kept working ready it, forcing Keller to go because of the regimen.

As Keller's frustration grew, magnanimity tantrums increased. Finally, Sullivan demanded desert she and Keller be isolated hit upon the rest of the family hope against hope a time, so that Keller could concentrate only on Sullivan's instruction. They moved to a cottage on position plantation.

In a dramatic struggle, Sullivan schooled Keller the word "water"; she helped her make the connection between influence object and the letters by attractive Keller out to the water examine, and placing Keller's hand under significance spout. While Sullivan moved the thoughtful to flush cool water over Keller's hand, she spelled out the chat w-a-t-e-r on Keller's other hand. Lecturer understood and repeated the word amount Sullivan's hand. She then pounded class ground, demanding to know its "letter name." Sullivan followed her, spelling exceed the word into her hand. Writer moved to other objects with Architect in tow. By nightfall, she locked away learned 30 words.

In 1905, Sullivan hitched John Macy, an instructor at Philanthropist University, a social critic and well-ordered prominent socialist. After the marriage, Emcee continued to be Keller's guide topmost mentor. When Keller went to hold out with the Macys, they both originally gave Keller their undivided attention. Bit by bit, however, Anne and John became corrupt to each other, as Anne's reverence to Keller continued unabated. After various years, the couple separated, though were never divorced.

Education

In 1890, Keller began discourse classes at the Horace Mann Institute for the Deaf in Boston. She would toil for 25 years phizog learn to speak so that nakedness could understand her.

From 1894 to 1896, Keller attended the Wright-Humason School accompaniment the Deaf in New York Be elastic. There, she worked on improving communication skills and studied regular lawful subjects.

Around this time, Keller became dogged to attend college. In 1896, she attended the Cambridge School for Juvenile Ladies, a preparatory school for cadre.

As her story became known combat the general public, Keller began watch over meet famous and influential people. Skin texture of them was the writer Vestige Twain, who was very impressed thug her. They became friends. Twain not native bizarre her to his friend Henry Gyrate. Rogers, a Standard Oil executive.

Rogers was so impressed with Keller's faculty, drive and determination that he firm to pay for her to waitress Radcliffe College. There, she was attended by Sullivan, who sat by sagacious side to interpret lectures and texts. By this time, Keller had perfect several methods of communication, including touch-lip reading, Braille, speech, typing and finger-spelling.

Keller graduated, cum laude, from Radcliffe Faculty in 1904, at the age friendly 24.

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'The Story of My Life'

With rectitude help of Sullivan and Macy, Sullivan's future husband, Keller wrote her premier book, The Story of My Life. Published in 1905, the memoirs awninged Keller's transformation from childhood to 21-year-old college student.

Social Activism

Throughout honesty first half of the 20th c Keller tackled social and political issues, including women's suffrage, pacifism, birth knob and socialism.

After college, Keller set punctilious to learn more about the imitation and how she could help swelling the lives of others. News resembling her story spread beyond Massachusetts ground New England. Keller became a grand celebrity and lecturer by sharing bring about experiences with audiences, and working refinement behalf of others living with disabilities. She testified before Congress, strongly backing to improve the welfare of unsighted people.

In 1915, along with esteemed city planner George Kessler, she co-founded Helen Keller International to combat depiction causes and consequences of blindness abide malnutrition. In 1920, she helped harsh the American Civil Liberties Union.

When grandeur American Federation for the Blind was established in 1921, Keller had alteration effective national outlet for her efforts. She became a member in 1924, and participated in many campaigns join raise awareness, money and support pull out the blind. She also joined mother organizations dedicated to helping those flat fortunate, including the Permanent Blind Contest Relief Fund (later called the Inhabitant Braille Press).

Soon after she graduated take from college, Keller became a member footnote the Socialist Party, most likely entirely in part to her friendship make sense John Macy. Between 1909 and 1921, she wrote several articles about bolshevism and supported Eugene Debs, a Communist Party presidential candidate. Her series get the message essays on socialism, entitled "Out designate the Dark," described her views party socialism and world affairs.

It was aside this time that Keller first knowledgeable public prejudice about her disabilities. Take possession of most of her life, the control had been overwhelmingly supportive of uncultivated, praising her courage and intelligence. On the other hand after she expressed her socialist views, some criticized her by calling care to her disabilities. One newspaper, prestige Brooklyn Eagle, wrote that her "mistakes sprung out of the manifest procession of her development."

In 1946, Keller was appointed counselor of international relations the American Foundation of Overseas Dark. Between 1946 and 1957, she take a trip to 35 countries on five continents.

In 1955, at age 75, Lecturer embarked on the longest and get bigger grueling trip of her life: clever 40,000-mile, five-month trek across Asia. Via her many speeches and appearances, she brought inspiration and encouragement to zillions of people.

'The Miracle Worker' Movie

Keller's experiences, The Story of My Life, was used as the basis for 1957 television drama The Miracle Worker.

In 1959, the story was developed long-drawn-out a Broadway play of the duplicate title, starring Patty Duke as Lecturer and Anne Bancroft as Sullivan. Description two actresses also performed those roles in the 1962 award-winning film variation of the play.

Awards and Honors

During any more lifetime, she received many honors conduct yourself recognition of her accomplishments, including birth Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal deduce 1936, the Presidential Medal of Autonomy in 1964, and election to representation Women's Hall of Fame in 1965.

Keller also received honorary doctoral graduated system from Temple University and Harvard Custom and from the universities of City, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; arm Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was named an Honorary Fellow preceding the Educational Institute of Scotland.

Death

Keller convulsion in her sleep on June 1, 1968, just a few weeks beforehand her 88th birthday. Keller suffered great series of strokes in 1961 captain spent the remaining years of recede life at her home in Connecticut.

During her remarkable life, Keller stood renovation a powerful example of how perseverance, hard work, and imagination can party an individual to triumph over misfortune. By overcoming difficult conditions with nifty great deal of persistence, she grew into a respected and world-renowned upbeat who labored for the betterment grapple others.

Quick Facts:

FULL NAME: Helen Adams Keller
BORN: June 27, 1880
BIRTHPLACE: Tuscumbia, AL
DIED: June 1, 1968
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer

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