Helen Keller, 1880-1968

Helen-Keller-WWP

Keller in 1907. Photo credit - LOC

A political activist, author, lecturer, and the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.



Helen Keller was born healthy in Ivy Green, her family homestead in Alabama. At 19 months old, she contracted an illness that left her deaf and blind. By the age of 7, she developed her own sign language to communicate with her family.

Her mother sought ways to improve her daughter’s life and contacted the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, who sent her Anne Sullivan, a young teacher who was a former student and visually impaired. Keller described Sullivan’s arrival as “my soul’s birthday.” It was the beginning of a relationship that lasted for 50 years.

As her governess, Sullivan taught Keller to communicate by spelling words into her hand. It took a month till Keller understood the concept, which happened when Sullivan taught her the word water, spelling it on one hand while pouring water on her other hand. This breakthrough opened Keller a door to a world of opportunities.

After several months of intensive training at home, Keller, with Sullivan by her side, started attending the Perkins Institute for the Blind. She moved between several schools, acquiring formal education and learning to live as a blind-deaf person. Keller learned to speak English, hear conversations by touching lips, hear music by touch and vibration, and the braille and sign languages.

At 16, she attended a preparatory school and later Radcliffe College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts, becoming the first deaf and blind person to earn this degree.

After college, Keller became an author and worldwide lecturer and dedicated her life to improving the lives of disabled people. She advocated for women’s suffrage, labor rights, world peace, and equal rights. She traveled the world, gave lectures, promoted laws for people with disabilities, raised funds, wrote articles, and published 14 books, including her biography that got adapted into a movie, television drama, and Broadway play.

Keller died a few weeks before her 88th birthday.
In her lifetime, she changed the way society treated people with disabilities and proved that determination and willpower can enable one to overcome any obstacle.

The Full Story of Helen Keller | The History You Didn't Learn | TIME

The History You Didn't Learn is a series that sheds light on past events that may have been omitted, misleading, or just downright wrong in our history education in school. In this episode we look at the aspects of Helen Keller's life that are often overlooked in history class and how disability history in general is critically undertaught.

CONNECT WITH TIME
Web: https://ti.me/36TTEsp
Twitter: https://ti.me/37W8Wy8
Facebook: https://ti.me/36UOCvW
Instagram: https://ti.me/370zRHQSubscribe to TIME ►► http://bit.ly/SubscribeTIME
Get closer to the world of entertainment and celebrity news as TIME gives you access and insight on the people who make what you watch, read and share.
https://ti.me/36WdUcU
Find out more about the latest developments in science and technology as TIME’s access brings you to the ideas and people changing our world.
https://ti.me/2GVYWt4
Let TIME show you everything you need to know about drones, autonomous cars, smart devices and the latest inventions which are shaping industries and our way of living
https://ti.me/2v6Q68R
Stay up to date on breaking news from around the world through TIME’s trusted reporting, insight and access
https://ti.me/31oizTX

Magazine: https://ti.me/37XvyhZ
Newsletter: https://ti.me/2GU4Gn0
ABOUT TIME
TIME brings unparalleled insight, access and authority to the news. A 24/7 news publication with nearly a century of experience, TIME’s coverage shapes how we understand our world. Subscribe for daily news, interviews, science, technology, politics, health, entertainment, and business updates, as well as exclusive videos from TIME’s Person of the Year, TIME 100 and more created by TIME’s acclaimed writers, producers and editors.

https://ti.me/3cmfWcK

Share:

This post is also available in:
Español

 

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”

Fun Facts

  • By the age of 13, she already knew how to read braille in five languages – English, German, French, Greek, and Latin.
  • She loved and lived with dogs throughout her life. In her youth, she tried to teach her dog sign language by fingerspelling letters into its paw.
  • During her first visit to Japan in 1937, the Japanese government gave her an Akita puppy. It was the first Akita in the US.
  • In 1925, she addressed the Lions Club convention, asking them to help and support blind people. Since then, Lions Clubs from all over the globe have been helping blind people.
  • Anne Sullivan was Keller's companion till she got married in 1905, then Polly Thomson replaced her.
  • Her ashes were buried at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, next to Anne Sullivan and Polly Thomson.
  • Clinics, libraries, and schools worldwide bear her name.
  • Her image is on the Alabama state quarter.
  • Helen Keller Day is observed annually on her birthday, June 27th.
  • There are several statues of her in Alabama, Massachusetts, Ohio, and in the US Capitol in DC (representing Alabama in the Statuary Hall Collection). One statue of her stands in Japan, and one in Canada.
  • Her childhood home, Ivy Green, became a museum commemorating her legacy.

Awards

  • Presidential Medal of Freedom
  • The Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal
  • Several honorary doctoral degrees

Creations By and About Her

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Please support us so we can publish more herstories about pioneer women.
Donate

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Please support us so we can publish more herstories about pioneer women.
Donate

Watch and Learn More



Visit Her Landmark

The Full Story of Helen Keller | The History You Didn't Learn | TIME

The History You Didn't Learn is a series that sheds light on past events that may have been omitted, misleading, or just downright wrong in our history education in school. In this episode we look at the aspects of Helen Keller's life that are often overlooked in history class and how disability history in general is critically undertaught.

CONNECT WITH TIME
Web: https://ti.me/36TTEsp
Twitter: https://ti.me/37W8Wy8
Facebook: https://ti.me/36UOCvW
Instagram: https://ti.me/370zRHQSubscribe to TIME ►► http://bit.ly/SubscribeTIME
Get closer to the world of entertainment and celebrity news as TIME gives you access and insight on the people who make what you watch, read and share.
https://ti.me/36WdUcU
Find out more about the latest developments in science and technology as TIME’s access brings you to the ideas and people changing our world.
https://ti.me/2GVYWt4
Let TIME show you everything you need to know about drones, autonomous cars, smart devices and the latest inventions which are shaping industries and our way of living
https://ti.me/2v6Q68R
Stay up to date on breaking news from around the world through TIME’s trusted reporting, insight and access
https://ti.me/31oizTX

Magazine: https://ti.me/37XvyhZ
Newsletter: https://ti.me/2GU4Gn0
ABOUT TIME
TIME brings unparalleled insight, access and authority to the news. A 24/7 news publication with nearly a century of experience, TIME’s coverage shapes how we understand our world. Subscribe for daily news, interviews, science, technology, politics, health, entertainment, and business updates, as well as exclusive videos from TIME’s Person of the Year, TIME 100 and more created by TIME’s acclaimed writers, producers and editors.

https://ti.me/3cmfWcK
Share:

This post is also available in: Español

Category: Academy & Education, Activism & Feminism, and Literature & Poetry
Tags: Author, Educator, The Pioneering Women of the Capitol Hill Neighborhood, and WDC Metro Area Women

Hidden

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.
Check out this fun, inspiring, and challenging activity about extraordinary women.
You'll also be subscribing to our monthly newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime.

Shop & Support


Donate & Support
 
Our feminist project of wanderlust and equality-aspired community maps the HerStories of worldwide wonder women.
Explore the website for excellent guided tours, travel tips, unique landmarks, fun girlfriend getaways, events, and in-depth articles about gender, equality, space, and (not-told-enough) female legacy.

About the Project

 

Subscribe to
our Newsletter

Abigail-Smith-Adams-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Abigail Adams, 1744-1818

A Founding Mother of the United States, a Women’s Rights Advocate, and the Second First Lady.

Abigail Smith was born and raised in Massachusetts. Her father was a liberal minister, her mother was a member of the famous Quincy family mother, and she had two sisters. At a time when women were not allowed to receive a formal education, she was homeschooled and satisfied her appetite for knowledge at the family’s library, forming progressive views. After a two-year courtship, she married John Adams, a country lawyer, and became his closest advisor and partner. They settled in the house John had inherited from his father in Braintree, MA. When his practice expanded, John had to frequently travel while Abigail managed their finances, investments, household, and growing family. For a while, they even moved to Boston next to his practice. Between 1784 and 1788, Abigail joined John in his diplomatic missions in Paris and London. On March 4th, 1797, John became the second president of the United States, and she was the first lady. They lived in the Presidential Mansion in Philadelphia and later in the White House in Washington, DC. She was a politically active first lady, made frequent public appearances, and was involved in the decision-making process, paving the way for future first ladies to be proactive figures. When John lost presidential re-election, the family retired to Peacefield in Quincy in 1800. During his frequent travels before and during the presidency, the couple corresponded in more than 1100 letters, where Abigail demonstrated her talent for writing and opinionated spirit. In one of those letters, she urges her husband to consider women’s rights in the new legislation after independence, warning that if not given equal representation: “women will rebel.” He dismissed her suggestion by writing back that it makes him laugh, but her words “remember the ladies” became an iconic feminist slogan. Before her death, she wrote a will favoring her female relatives. It was an act of protest against the laws prohibiting married women from owning assets. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Ada Louise Huxtable WWP
Arts

Ada Louise Huxtable, 1921-2013

An architecture critic and a writer. Received the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Born Ada Louise Landman in NYC, an only child in a middle-class Jewish family. Growing up in Manhattan, Huxtable loved strolling along the streets, fascinated by its building, such as the Grand Central Terminal, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Museum of Natural History. She studied art at Hunter College, graduating magna cum laude, and then architectural history at NYU Institute of Fine Arts. At the time, she worked in Bloomingdale’s furnishings department, where she met her soon-to-be husband, Garth Huxtable. In 1946, at 25, Huxtable landed a job as an assistant curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art. After five years, she left her job to study Italian architecture in Italy for a year. Upon her return, she began writing as a contributing editor for various art and architectural journals. At the age of 37, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship, in which she examined the structural and design advances of American architecture. In 1963, 42 years old Huxtable was hired as the first architecture critic at The New York Times, a position she held for almost 20 years. In her column, she wrote about new and old buildings, threatened buildings, and bad-designed buildings. She also mentioned emerging architects, architectural trends, movements, and exhibitions. Huxtable encouraged the everyday readers to look at buildings from a new perspective, not as an assembly of bricks and pilasters but as a public statement with history and meaning. Raising awareness of the city’s heritage, the urban environment, and civic engagement, she set the tone for modern architecture criticism, for which, at the age of 49, she was the first-ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In 1981, at the age of 60, Huxtable received a MacArthur grant that allowed her in-depth research on subjects she was interested in, such as the development of the skyscraper, the negative impact of postmodernism building, and preservation vs. modernity. At 76, she returned to writing for the public as an architecture critic for The Wall Street Journal, publishing columns for the next 15 years. Throughout her career, Huxtable was involved in various committees, serving as a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Architectural Selection and Building Design Committees for the Getty Center, Getty Villa, and as a Jury member for The Pritzker Architecture Prize. She published more than 10 books on architecture, including “Kicked a Building Lately?,” “Goodbye History,” “Hello Hamburger,” and a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright. Huxtable died in NYC at 91. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Adelaide-Johnson-WWP
Arts

Adelaide Johnson, 1859-1955

A feminist artist and sculptress, known as “The sculptor of the women’s suffrage movement.”

Born as Sarah Adeline Johnson in Plymouth, IL, to a family of farmers. She received her education attending rural schools, and after graduation, she began her art training, taking classes at the St. Louis School of Design. She was only 18 years old when she exhibited her artworks at the 1877 St. Louis Exposition, and thanks to the prizes she won, she was able to move to Chicago and make a living from her art. At 23, on her way to her studio, she fell 20 feet into an open elevator shaft. She was severely injured, but the compensation fee she was awarded enabled her the financial freedom to study sculpture and painting in Europe. As a feminist and women’s rights activist, she expressed her political views in her art. Among the many individual busts she sculptured, were busts of the Suffrage Movement’s leaders – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott, which she presented in the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 (The busts are currently located at the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument Museum). She wanted to put the busts as a group monument at the US Capitol Rotunda but did not get the support at that time. After the 19th Amendment was ratified, she got the funding from the philanthropist Alva Belmont and the commission from the National Woman’s Party. She went to Italy to bring an 8-ton piece of marble to her studio and created her most famous artwork – “Group Portrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony.” The statue was dedicated in a special ceremony on Susan B. Anthony’s birthday, February 15th, 1921, in the US Capitol. This was the pick of Johnson’s career. During the 1930s, her career declined, and she had financial problems. In 1939, 80 years old Johnson invited the press to witness how she destroys her own artworks as a protest against her living conditions as well as against her shattered dream of opening a studio-museum honoring the suffragists and women’s rights organizations. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Adelina-Otero-Warren-WWP
Activism & Feminism

Adelina Otero-Warren, 1881-1965

A suffrage leader, educator, and politician. The first Latina to run for US Congress and one of the first’s women to serve as a government official in New Mexico.

Adelina “Nina” Otero Warren was born near Los Lunas, New Mexico. Her family was among the early settlers in New Mexico, and her parents were part of the Hispanic elite. When she was 2 years old, her father was killed by an Anglo squatter. A few years later, her mother married an English businessman, and she grew up in a multicultural environment. She was influenced by her mother, who was an advocate for social and educational developments and served as the director of Santa Fe’s Board of Education. At 16, the family relocated to Santa Fe, where she became a socialite. At the age of 26, she married Lieutenant Rawson D. Warren, a cavalry officer who was nine years older than her. Though the marriage did not last long, she kept her x-husband’s last name and called herself a widow, so she would not be stigmatized as a divorced woman.   At 31, Nina moved to NYC to keep house for her brother. There, she became active in Anne Morgan’s settlement house, working alongside the famous suffragist Alice Paul and organizing crafts programs for working-class women. Two years later, her mother died, and Nina returned to Santa Fe to take care of her half-siblings. Upon her arrival, she started working for the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage. Soon she became the first Mexican-American state leader of the Congressional Union in New Mexico, raising support from the Spanish-speaking community as well as from the English-speaking community. Using her family connections, she was a successful lobbyist for voting in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment, and she had a key role in its ratification in 1920. In 1922, at the age of 41, Nina ran as the Republican Party nominee for New Mexico to the US House of Representatives – The first Latina to run for the US Congress. During her campaign, she spoke Spanish and advocated for the improvement of education, health care, and welfare services, as well as for the preservation of Hispano heritage and culture. Ultimately, she lost the election by less than 9%, probably because it was discovered that she was a divorcee, not a widow. In 1917 Nina was appointed as the Santa Fe Superintendent of Instruction – one of the first women to serve as government officials in New Mexico. In her 12 years in office, she worked tirelessly to improve the education of Hispano. Share:This post is also available in: Español Read more...
View all

 

*Disclaimer: Please be aware that the information on this page is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. Learn more here.