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KF5JRV > TODAY 03.03.19 16:47l 50 Lines 2605 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 03
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Sent: 190303/1442Z 32134@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1887, Anne Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old Helen
Keller, who lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness at the age
of 19 months. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch
teachingö techniques, the previously uncontrollable Keller flourished,
eventually graduating from college and becoming an international
lecturer and activist. Sullivan, later dubbed “the miracle worker,ö
remained Keller’s interpreter and constant companion until the older
woman’s death in 1936.
Sullivan, born in Massachusetts in 1866, had firsthand experience with
being handicapped: As a child, an infection impaired her vision. She
then attended the Perkins Institution for the Blind where she learned
the manual alphabet in order to communicate with a classmate who was
deaf and blind. Eventually, Sullivan had several operations that
improved her weakened eyesight.
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, to Arthur Keller, a former
Confederate army officer and newspaper publisher, and his wife Kate, of
Tuscumbia, Alabama. As a baby, a brief illness, possibly scarlet fever,
left Helen unable to see, hear or speak. She was considered a bright but
spoiled and strong-willed child. Her parents eventually sought the
advice of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone and an
authority on the deaf. He suggested the Kellers contact the Perkins
Institution, which in turn recommended Anne Sullivan as a teacher.
Sullivan, age 20, arrived at Ivy Green, the Keller family estate, in
1887 and began working to socialize her wild, stubborn student and teach
her by spelling out words in Keller’s hand. Initially, the finger
spelling meant nothing to Keller. However, a breakthrough occurred one
day when Sullivan held one of Keller’s hands under water from a pump and
spelled out “w-a-t-e-rö in Keller’s palm. Keller went on to learn how to
read, write and speak. With Sullivan’s assistance, Keller attended
Radcliffe College and graduated with honors in 1904.
Helen Keller became a public speaker and author; her first book, “The
Story of My Lifeö was published in 1902. She was also a fundraiser for
the American Foundation for the Blind and an advocate for racial and
sexual equality, as well as socialism. From 1920 to 1924, Sullivan and
Keller even formed a vaudeville act to educate the public and earn
money. Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968, at her home in Easton,
Connecticut, at age 87, leaving her mark on the world by helping to
alter perceptions about the disabled.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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