Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist and lecturer.
Helen Adams Keller was born on a plantation called “Ivy Green” in Tuscumbia, Alabama, to Captain Arthur H.Keller and Kate Adams Keller. She contracted an illness at the age of nineteen months which left her deaf and blind. She realized that she was different from the others around her, but she did her best to make herself understood. This often ended with kicking and screaming until she was exhausted. She often retreated to her mother’s warm embrace when she was hurt or angry. After years of difficulty communicating, Keller became extremely hostile and wilful and hostile and would resort to fitful episodes out of frustration. Her parents knew she needed special training. After contacting the Perkins Institute for the Blind, they welcomed a teacher, Anne Sullivan, to their home.
Helen regards Sullivan’s arrival as the most important day of her life. Keller was a motivated and intelligent student and relishes her memories of her first understanding the letters of the manual alphabet, which allowed her to learn the names of objects and ideas. After she learned to read Braille, the world opened up to even more. She later attended Radcliffe College from which she graduated with honours in 1904.
She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree. A prolific writer, Helen was well travelled and was outspoken in her opposition to war. She campaigned for women’s suffrage, workers rights and socialism, as well as many other progressive causes. She received various awards and honorary doctorate from Harvard. After Sullivan’s death in 1936, she continued her efforts with the help of other supporters.
Arthur H. Keller – Helen’s father, Arthur Keller, was a Captain in the Confederate Army. He was married to Kate Adams Keller, second wife, (Helens mother) who was years younger than him. Helens say that the family on her father’s...