Helen Keller: The Life Of Helen Keller's Life

Helen Keller was born on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, a small town in Alabama, USA. Her father was a retired Confederate army captain and editor of the local newspaper; and her mother was an educated young woman from Memphis. When Helen Keller was 19 months old, she was afflicted by an unknown illness, which was possibly scarlet fever or meningitis which made her blind. Helen Keller was a symbol of courage and hope for all people, with the help of her teachers Anne Sullivan and Polly Thompson she showed people a way to see the light even in darkness. On March 3, 1887, Anne Mansfield Sullivan arrived in Tuscumbia to be Helen Keller’s teacher. She was a partially blind twenty one year old, who helped Anne find Helen salvage from

With the help of Anne Sullivan, Helen also began taking classes in Radcliffe College, which was the former all -male Harvard College’s coordinate institution for female students. In 1904, Helen Keller graduated Cum Laude and she became the first blind-deaf person to graduate from college. She announced at that time that her life be dedicated to the amelioration of blindness (Foundation and Research). Then after her graduation she continued her work in helping the blind and the deaf. She started to appear before state and national legislatures and international forums. Helen is regarded by herself as a “world citizen”, she visited 39 countries and 5 continents between 1939 and 1957 (Foundation and Research). During this time Helen Keller met many famous and influential people. Helen became close friends with the writer Mark Twain, who became very impressed with her, and he later introduced her to his other friends. One of his friends was Henry H. Rogers, a Standard Oil executive who was so impressed with Helen’s talent, drive, determination, that he agreed to pay for Radcliffe College (Biography.com Editors). During this time Keller had mastered different methods of

She received many awards and recognitions in her lifetime. Some of which included the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1963, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, the Lions Humanitarian Award, the French Legion of Honor and election to the Women’s Hall of Fame. Helen also met every president of the United States from Calvin Coolidge to John F. Kennedy. She began receiving honorary degrees from Temple University and Harvard University, Universities from Glasgow, Scotland, Berlin, Germany, Delhi, India, Johannesburg and South Africa (Biography. Editors). Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968 at the age of 87 in her sleep and she was laid to rest in St. Joseph’s Chapel at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. She dedicated her life in the betterment of others and she is an amazing example of how determination, hard work, can allow us to overcome our obstacles no matter what the difficult circumstances are. Helen Keller will always remain as a symbol of light, hope, guidance and a torch for guiding people with disabilities from darkness into the