Helen Adams Keller, the world-famous American author, and political and social activist, was born a healthy child. Still, life drastically turned when she was nineteen months old, and an unknown disease made her blind and deaf.
Helen Keller turned unruly and tyrannic as a child but how her childhood associations turned her into a well-grown, generous adult is what you will read in this article.
Here are 15 Helen Keller facts that you need to know:
1. Family History
Helen Adams Keller descended the legacy of the armed forces. Colonel Alexander Spottswood, a colonial governor of Virginia, and the prominent New England families are what she descended from her father and mother’s side, respectively.
The remarkable strength, the genius mind, and the winning attitude she showcased throughout her arduous journey were indeed genetic.
2. Personal Information: Helen Keller Facts
2.1. Birth
2.1.1. Date
Helen Keller, the famous American author, was born on June 27, 1880.
2.1.2. Place
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, state quarter, United States.
Photo by Jonathan Farber on Unsplash/copyright 2018
Interestingly, her childhood home, known as “Ivy Green” in Tuscumbia, even today houses the original furnishings and belongings(gifts, souvenirs) of the Keller family.
2.2. Death
2.2.1. Date
Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968.
2.2.2. Place
She died in her sleep at Arcan Ridge(the name of her home), Easton, Connecticut, United States. She lived there for thirty years. Noteworthy, The number plate outside is addressed in braille numbering too.
She was buried at National Cemetery in DC.
Helen Keller’s ashes have been kept aside with her companions, teacher Anne Sullivan and long-time assistant Polly Thomson.
2.3. Family
- Helen was born to Arthur Keller and Kate Keller.
Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash/copyright 2019
- Arthur Keller had assisted in the Confederate Army before he became an editor for the North Alabamian.
- Worth mentioning that Arthur left no stone unturned in finding the best treatment for Helen.
- Helen Keller had a big family.
- She had 2 step brothers from her father’s first marriage, James and Simpson. Her sister Mildred and her brother Philip which she helped in the name.
- Though Helen didn’t mention much about her brothers in her writing, she discussed her walks with her sister Mildred, who later became her confidant.
- James was the one who never withstood Helen’s tyrannic behavior at home.
- She saw a playmate in Martha Washington, the daughter of her family cook.
- Belle, the dog, was Keller’s constant companion.
3. Early Life: Helen Keller Facts
3.1. Encountered Disease
In the winter of 1882, Keller, a healthy 19-month-old baby, developed a fever. The fever was accompanied by congestion of the stomach and brain. Though the proper diagnosis didn’t let the name of the disease, some say it was scarlet fever or encephalitis that caused deafblindness.
3.2. Antipathetic Effect of Disease
The gentle, charming, and healthy toddler soon turned erratic and unmindful. At the age when the child learns new things by interacting with their surroundings, Helen Keller was left at the mercy of a few finger signs and a candy that soothed her turbulent behavior.
3.3. The Diagnosis that Changed Keller’s Life
The most proper diagnosis and advice of Keller’s doctor Julian Chisolm led her parents to find genuine support for her and meet Alexander Graham Bell. He never gave Keller’s parents false hope regarding her sight and sound disability.
4. Meeting the Teacher: Anne Sullivan
Facts about Helen Keller will remain lifeless without mention of Anne. Helen Keller’s life would have remained patchy without Anne Sullivan.
Anne Mansfield Sullivan was the first mentor, teacher, and savior of Helen Keller. Helen Keller could never have attained and sailed through the darkness without her guide Anne.
No one in Helen’s life was so thoughtful and reflective as Ms. Sullivan. Despite Helen’s spoilt behavior and insane tantrums, she conditioned her to be spotless.
4.1. Introduction Anne Sullivan Macy
Anne was a twenty years old, partially blind graduate from Perkins institute of the blind.
Anne was born to poor Irish immigrants, and life was tough for her.
4.2. Her Ideology: Turned Helen Keller into Obedient
Helen Keller was tough to communicate with. It was not only because she was a deaf-blind person but also a little terror. Her family failed to make her adjust to her disability and fulfilled her every little though undesirable and unmannered wishes or whims.
Anne’s ideology was to teach Helen Keller obedience and love. With the help of these, she was able to navigate Helen through her deformities.
She was the one who made Helen Keller listen to the sounds of unspoken and unheard words. She made her sense friction of the consonant and vowel in the air passage around her nose and neck and helped her recognize the same by signing the same on her palms.
Sullivan married John Macy, a Harvard instructor, and the marriage fell apart, but they never divorced.
5. Helen Keller Facts: First Words
How and what words she interpreted and spoke first remains highest in the list of Helen Keller facts.
- The first word she was made to recognize was d-o-l-l.
Anne gifted her the doll sent by children of Perkins School Of Blind; Helen was delighted to touch the doll’s eye sockets and lip hole.
Anne used alphabetic signs on her palm, and Helen picked up the finger alphabets in no time.
- The second word she recognized was w-a-t-e-r.
That gush of water on Helen’s hand led her to demand what it was. By nightfall, she acknowledged 30 words. This moment is also known as the watershed moment of Keller’s life.
6. Education
Ms. Sullivan Macy gave a hands-on introduction to the alphabet and words and later taught her the language of the blind.
But here are some distinguished Helen Keller facts about her formal education:
- Helen Keller attended formal schooling for four years at Perkins institution.
Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash
/copyright 2019
- In 1894, Helen Keller went to Wright Humason school for the deaf in New York. Her companion Ms. Sullivan attended the school alongside her as her interpreter.
- Helen also studied arithmetic, physical geography, French, and German at Wright Humason school.
- Then at Cambridge school for Young ladies, she prepared for Radcliffe college for a year.
- In 1900, Helen, along with her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy attended Radcliffe College so that she could interpret lectures and text with her help.
- In 1904, Helen Keller graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College and became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of arts degree.
- She became the first woman to be awarded an honorary degree from Harvard University and later from Temple University, Universities of Glasgow, Delhi, Berlin, Witwatersrand, and Johannesburg.
7. Helen Keller’s Life: Ways of Communication
Helen’s life started with a rustic approach to others, but soon she acquired several ways that helped her connect amiably with others.
The blind and deaf Keller began to correspond effectively in the following ways:
- Interpreting by touching people’s lip
Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash/copyright 2021
- Braille, typing
- Sign language
- Finger Spelling
Speaking, but people find it difficult to understand, making her unhappy.
8. Charged with Plagiarism and Left-Wing Aide
- At age 10, Helen Keller wrote The Frost King and gifted it to Michael Anagnos for his birthday, the then director of Perkins institution for the blind. He published the same in The Mentor, The Perkins alumni magazine.
- Proud Anagnos feelings for Keller were devastated when he discovered that the storyline of Frost king was similar to “Frost Fairies” written by Margaret Canby. However, Helen Keller admitted that Ms. Canby’s “Frost Fairies” was read to her. However, Ms. Canby herself sent a letter in support of Keller later.
- Helen Keller was severely criticized for mimicking Sullivan’s thoughts as Keller was deaf and blind, and this deafblindness could never let her develop her imagination and ideas.
- Helen Adams Keller was under the FBI radar because of her left views. She had radical ideas and emphasized women’s right to vote as a social and political activist.
9. Writings and Distinguished Work
Helen Keller’s facts about her work are mentioned below:
- Helen Keller wrote 12 books and various articles.
- She was a globetrotter. She traveled to almost 39 countries and met their presidents and Prime Ministers to advocate the education of blind people, deaf children, and children with other disabilities.
- Helen Keller was an active member of the Socialist Party of America and founded the American civil liberties union(ACLU).
- Keller’s thoughts were not limited to the blind and deaf, but she supported women’s suffrage, birth control, and industrial worker’s right.
- In 1924, Helen Keller raised the profile of the American Foundation for the blind by working with them. She advocated the need to connect with people who have vision loss. As an American foundation for the blind’s counselor for national and international relations, she addressed at home and 39 countries.
- American Foundation for the blind is the largest repository of Helen Keller papers, letters, scrapbooks, etc.
- Helen Keller worked for American Foundation for the blind till 1968.
10. Friends and Acquaintances
Helen Keller was interested in political and social aspects of life. So she had a web of friends on political and personal fronts.
Until her old age,
Photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash/ copyright 2020
she loved picnics and outings with her friends.
10.1. Alexander Graham Bell
- Helen had one of the most prolonged correspondences with Alexander graham bell, the inventor of the telephone, though he was much older than she, and Keller called him his second father.
- Bell advised Keller’s parents to take advice from Perkins School for blind people.
- Bell even established the trust fund that financed Helen’s education at Radcliffe College.
- Bell himself advocated the plight of the deaf and blind.
- Helen Keller got her biography, the story of my life, published in 1903 and dedicated the same to Bell.
10.2. Henry Ford
Keller was in continuous touch with Henry Ford of Ford Motors; Ford once asked Keller to accompany him to Europe to carry forward peace talks to end World War 1.
10.3. Thomas Edison
Helen had a friendship with Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, their camaraderie set further as even Edison was nearly deaf.
10.4. Mark Twain
- For Helen Keller, Mark Twain was her best mate.
- They became friends when Helen was 14 and stayed friends for nearly 16 years.
- Interestingly, Mark smoked 10 to 20 cigars so that Keller could recognize him from his scent.
11. Keller: Love for Dogs
Photo by Hrihorii Sheldunov on Unsplash/copyright 2021
- Helen Keller loved dogs dearly and grew up with them. Helen Keller believed dogs to be the constant companion. She even said if she ever restored her vision, she would like to look into the loyal eyes of her dog.
- Scotties, retrievers, bull terriers, and Akita were Keller’s constant companions throughout her life.
- Helen Keller, while touring Japan, went to an Akita district famous for the Akita dog. There a Japanese police officer gifted her an Akita dog. She was the one who brought the Akita breed of dogs to America.
12. Helen Keller’s Facts About Later Life Story
- Although Helen Keller was permanently incapacitated with vision and chime, her eyes were replaced with glass replicas for medical and cosmetic reasons in her adulthood.
- Polly Thomson, a Scottish housekeeper, became Keller’s secretary. She had worked with both Anne and Helen. After Sullivan’s death, Polly Thomson became Helen’s best companion.
13. Helen Keller Facts: Awards and Honours
- In the 1960s, she was Awarded one of the two highest civilian awards in the united states, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her work for deaf and blind people.
- Keller was recommended for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 after she visited the Middle East to uplift and enhanced educational opportunities for deaf and blind children.
- In 1961, she received the Lions Humanitarian Award for her lifetime service and acting as an inspiration for the Lions Club to work and help in sight conservations.
Helen was honored posthumously many times.
- The US post office dedicated a stamp featuring Keller with Anne in 1980.
Photo by Rook from Unlimphotos
- In 2009, US Capitol Building, Keller was honored by placing her statue there.
- Across the US, many schools and hospitals are named after her.
- Some international locations like Switzerland, Portugal, Israel, France, and Spain named streets for her and honored Keller.
- National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1973 also added a feather to her.
- Perkins institute dedicated the home of the deaf-blind as Keller-Sullivan Cottage.
- In 1999, Helen’s name appeared in Times Magazine’s 100 most influential of the 20th century.
- US Mint issued Helen Keller’s picture-stamped coin in 2003.
Photo by RadlovskYaroslav from Shutterstock.com
13.1. The Miracle Worker: Movie Showcasing Helen Keller Facts about Childhood
- This movie in 1962 showcased the struggle of Helen’s teacher Anne to teach her the words and to relieve Keller of her disability cage.
- The best movie to watch is not only to learn about Helen Keller facts about her life but also to learn how to turn adversities into opportunities.
- In the Movie Miracle worker, American actress, then a child star Patty Duke played the role of young, unruly Helen Keller. The way she portrayed Keller won accolades for her at a very young age.
14. Famous Quotes
Helen Keller wrote many emotional, inspirational, friendship, death and life, motivational, and teamwork quotes.
These quotes speak a lot about Helen Keller facts and ideologies. Pick up the quotations from the given link: 420 Helen Keller Quotes.
15. Helen Keller Facts: Hang Back Q/A
Q1. Was Helen Keller Married?
No, Helen was never married. She wished to marry Peter Fagan, a 29-year-old reporter who was her secretary for a brief time. Though they were in love, Helen’s family believed that she being disabled, should not marry. Wasn’t that one of the unpleasant Helen Keller Facts?
Q2. Is It True that She Once Flew a Plane?
While on tour to Europe, she took control of the plane for a while, and the pilot revealed that she had flown the plane steadily and calmly.
Q3. Was Helen Keller Extraordinary Intelligent?
Helen had an IQ of 160. Notwithstanding the deaf-blind person that she was, her IQ was 40% more than the average IQ,
Q4. When and What is Helen Keller Day?
Helen Keller day is observed on June 27 in the US and internationally. It is to celebrate the life and achievement of deaf-blind Keller. Most blind associations carry out various fundraiser programs on this day.
Q5. Is Black the Bollywood Movie Based on Helen Keller?
Yes, the ‘Black’ movie, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan, is based on Helen-Sullivan, a deaf-blind student-teacher relationship. It has displayed many real-life Helen Keller facts.
16. Final Words
One of the interesting Helen Keller facts is that she considers herself being born after Anne arrived in her life. Anne was a soul to Helen’s body. The love she got from her ‘Teacher‘ she further transmuted to all. Her perseverance was not limited to herself as she passionately worked to educate blind and deaf children.
I can’t stop myself from appreciating Keller’s determination that made her win her handicap. The hindrance of lack of sight and sound didn’t come in the way of her love of learning and perceiving things. Helen Keller is a perfect role model for disabled women seeking a helping hand. She had set an example for the world of how a capricious young girl with love and diligent guidance turned turbulence in life into a life full of purpose and meaning.
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Last Updated on by NamitaSoren
