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Day 9 - Helen Keller
Mar. 9th, 2018 01:15 amHelen Keller
I remember seeing The Miracle Worker on television as a child. I was amazed. Patty Duke played Helen and she was perfect. I also remember my mother telling me that the movie was about a real person, that it was a true story. I think I read a biography of Keller soon after though I will admit the movie made things a tad more exciting.
The story of her childhood pales in comparison to the woman she became. She became an advocate for the deaf, the blind, women’s suffrage, anti-militarism, socialism and she was a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, who I consider still a champion of liberty and justice in America.
Keller was born to a wealthy family in Alabama and became blind and deaf as a result of an unidentified infection when she was very small. Her father searched out help for her and ended up with Annie Sullivan as her teacher. It was Miss Sullivan that Helen actually made the connection between things and the symbols that Annie made in her hand thus giving her the beginnings of a language.
She did not stop learning – being the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree at Radcliffe College. Helen was outspoken all her life, learned to actually speak in order to speak publicly and wrote several books as well. She was friends with many famous people including Mark Twain.
The Story of my Life is a short book about her early life and was the basis for The Miracle Worker Play.
There are many bios to choose from and this is one that I think I am going to read: Helen Keller: A Life by Dorothy Hermann.
This world needs more people today like Helen Keller!!
I remember seeing The Miracle Worker on television as a child. I was amazed. Patty Duke played Helen and she was perfect. I also remember my mother telling me that the movie was about a real person, that it was a true story. I think I read a biography of Keller soon after though I will admit the movie made things a tad more exciting.
The story of her childhood pales in comparison to the woman she became. She became an advocate for the deaf, the blind, women’s suffrage, anti-militarism, socialism and she was a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, who I consider still a champion of liberty and justice in America.
Keller was born to a wealthy family in Alabama and became blind and deaf as a result of an unidentified infection when she was very small. Her father searched out help for her and ended up with Annie Sullivan as her teacher. It was Miss Sullivan that Helen actually made the connection between things and the symbols that Annie made in her hand thus giving her the beginnings of a language.
She did not stop learning – being the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree at Radcliffe College. Helen was outspoken all her life, learned to actually speak in order to speak publicly and wrote several books as well. She was friends with many famous people including Mark Twain.
The Story of my Life is a short book about her early life and was the basis for The Miracle Worker Play.
There are many bios to choose from and this is one that I think I am going to read: Helen Keller: A Life by Dorothy Hermann.
This world needs more people today like Helen Keller!!