A World Turned Dark and Silent
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At 19 months old, she fell ill with what doctors then called “acute congestion of the stomach and brain,” likely meningitis or scarlet fever.
She survived, but the illness left her completely deaf and blind. As a child, Helen developed over 60 home signs to communicate with her family, recognizing people by feeling the vibration of their footsteps.
The Arrival of Anne Sullivan
In 1887, Helen’s mother reached out to Alexander Graham Bell, who recommended contacting the Perkins Institute for the Blind. They sent Anne Sullivan, a 20-year-old graduate, to teach Helen. On March 5, 1887 — a day Helen later called her “soul’s birthday” — Sullivan arrived.
Helen’s breakthrough came when Sullivan ran water over one hand and spelled “w-a-t-e-r” into the other. Suddenly, Helen grasped that things had names. She eagerly demanded the words for everything around her, setting her on the path to education.
Academic Achievements and Public Life
Helen attended Perkins Institute, Wright-Humason School for the Deaf, and Cambridge School, before entering Radcliffe College in 1900. Supported financially by Henry Huttleston Rogers and emotionally by Sullivan, Helen graduated in 1904, becoming the first deafblind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
She learned to speak, read Braille, write, and even “hear” others by touching their lips and throat (Tadoma method). Throughout her life, she wrote 12 books, including The Story of My Life, and countless articles.
Activism, Travel, and Global Impact
Helen Keller became an international advocate, campaigning for disability rights, women’s suffrage, labor reforms, and world peace. She joined the Socialist Party in 1909, co-founded the ACLU in 1920, and traveled to over 40 countries, including Japan, where she became a beloved public figure.
She met every U.S. president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson. Helen was also friends with figures like Mark Twain and Alexander Graham Bell. She continued public work even after the deaths of Sullivan (1936) and her later companion Polly Thomson (1960).
Final Years and Recognition
In her later years, Keller suffered several strokes and retired to her home, Arcan Ridge, in Connecticut. In 1964, President Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died peacefully in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at age 87. Helen’s ashes were placed at Washington National Cathedral beside Anne Sullivan and Polly Thomson.
Helen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880. At 19 months, she became deaf and blind after illness.
She developed home signs to communicate.
At age seven, Anne Sullivan arrived and taught her words by spelling into her hand, starting with “water,” opening her world to language. pic.twitter.com/GlgoMM1U0g
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) July 10, 2025