Helen Keller: Overcoming Darkness

Her Early Years: Born on on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. The first of two daughters born to Arthur H. Keller and Katherine Adams Keller. Keller was advanced for her age, beginning to speak at just 6 months and walking at 1 year. In 1882, she fell ill and was struck blind, deaf and mute.

Lost in the Dark: As Helen got older, she developed a limited type of sign language with her companion, Martha Washington, the young daughter of the family cook. By the time Helen was 7, they had more than 60 signs to communicate with each other. Due to her limited communication, Helen was an undisciplined and unruly child. She would lash out violently when angry so many of relatives thought she should be institutionalized.

Out of Darkness: In 1887 Anne Sullivan moved to the plantation to become Helen’s teacher. At first Helen enjoyed the “game” of finger spelling Anne tried to teach her, but she soon tired of it and her tantrums escalated to the point that Anne separated Helen and herself in a cabin away from the family. After weeks without success, Anne was finally able to break though when she held Helen’s hand under a water spout and spelled the word water. Once the connection was made, Helen moved from item to item, demanding their names. By nightfall she had learned over 30 words.

Education In 1890, Helen began speech classes at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. She would struggle for more than 20 years to learn to speak so that others could understand her. From 1894 to 1896, she attended the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City. In 1900 she began classes at Radcliff College where she would graduate cum laude in 1904.

Story of My Life In 1902 Helen, with the help of Anne’s future husband John Macy, wrote “the Story of My Life” a biography that detailed the events of her life from childhood to age 21. She became a well-known celebrity and lecturer by sharing her experiences with audiences, and working on behalf of others living with disabilities.. In 1915 she co-founded Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. In 1920, she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1946, Helen was appointed counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas Blind. Helen died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, just before her 88th birthday.

Honors She received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments, including the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, and election to the Women's Hall of Fame in She also received honorary doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard University and from the universities of Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was also named an Honorary Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland.

Legacy “The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all.” Helen Keller During her incredible life, Helen stood as a shining example of how determination, hard work, and imagination can allow anyone to triumph over adversity. She showed individuals with disabilities that they can live like normal people. That they can have dreams and have goals, and with hard work and dedication they can achieve those dreams and goals. She showed them they can make a difference in their own lives as well as the lives of people all around them.