HELEN KELLER

By: AJ

When and where Helen was born• Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880

in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Early Life

She was born healthy but when she was 19 months old she became very ill, and was turned both deaf and blind. She couldn’t communicate so when she didn’t get my way she threw tantrums

Back then, there was not medicine to help when a child got a high fever, and many kids died but she lived and ended up being blind and deaf from the virus that she got sick with. She had a very high fever for four days and almost died.

She had lots of surgeries to try to get better, but nothing worked.

• The family was not particularly wealthy and earned income from their cotton plantation.

Education

She was taught to sign language by her teacher Annie. She taught me all she knew and after awhile Helen could read and write. My “a-ha” moment was when she held my hand under the water spout and that day I learned 30 words and my education began!

She went to the Perkins Institute for the blind and eventually went on to Radcliffe College and graduated with honors. None of this would have been possible without having Annie by her side as her teacher throughout her early years and most of her adult life

Adult Life/Career

She spoke all over the world about being blind, and over time earned lots of money as a “lecturer” (speaker).

She gave money away to help soldiers who had gone blind in the world wars. She traveled to Europe in 1931, and this was just one of her stops in her travels around the world.

She also learned how to ride a horse She performed as a vaudeville performer

with Annie

Accomplishment

She did many things during her adult life, but her greatest accomplishment was truly learning to read and write and speak.

She learned how to read braille

Impact on the world

She was also an activist and promoted world peace by speaking about peace all over the world.

She was even and author and an actor!

She is thought of as the greatest woman that ever lived

Date and cause of death

She died in my sleep of natural causes at the age of 88 in 1968.