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One Reporter's Opinion: Helen Keller, American Hero George Putnam It is this reporter's opinion that the story of Helen Keller is, without a doubt, one of the most inspiring that America and the world has ever known. Today I'd like to reflect on her life and reminisce on the privilege I had of meeting her.
Helen was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880. At only 19 months of age she came down with an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and brain." (It could possibly have been scarlet fever or meningitis.) The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind and unable to communicate. Nonetheless, by age 7, Helen had invented over 60 different signs she could use to communicate with her family.
In 1886 her mother, Kate Keller, was inspired by the account in Charles Dickens' "American Notes" of the successful education of another deafblind child. Soon after, the Perkins Institute for the Blind delegated one of its teachers and a former student, Annie Sullivan, herself visually impaired, to become Helen's teacher. Thus began a 49-year-long relationship, up to Annie's death in 1936.
First, Sullivan got permission from Helen's father to isolate the girl from the rest of the family in a little house in their garden. The next and most daunting task was to instill discipline in the spoiled little girl, for she was driven into rages by her indescribable handicap and completely out of control. Story Continues Below
One day there was a breakthrough in the teacher-student relationship. Sullivan fingerspelled the word "water" while pumping cold water on Helen's little hand. Right away, the pupil made an exciting connection between words and things. Helen's next step was to learn to fingerspell the alphabet and read Braille ... and the rest is history.
Even as a little girl, Helen expressed a desire to go to college, and in 1900 she entered Radcliffe College and graduated cum laude in 1904 – the first deafblind person to graduate from college. Throughout the years Annie Sullivan laboriously spelled books and lectures into her pupil's hand, and all this led to an amazing writing career for Helen, which was to continue for 50 years.
First came "The Story of My Life," followed by 11 other books and numerous articles on blindness, deafness, social issues, and women's rights. Yet despite the broad range of her interests, Helen Keller never lost sight of the needs of others who were blind and deaf.
In later years, Helen Keller became a leader in labor movements and a member of the Socialist Party and actively campaigned and wrote in support of the working classes. She supported Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs in each of his campaigns for the presidency. When asked to explain her championing of "the sweating, dirty and downtrodden," as she described them, she stated, "I have visited sweatshops, factories, crowded slums. If I could not see or hear their plight, I COULD SMELL IT!"
Of course, moviegoers are familiar with Keller's heroic story as brought to the silver screen by Academy Award-winning performances by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, and a TV movie in which Melissa Gilbert played the part of Helen.
In 1948 this reporter interviewed Helen Keller at WOR Radio in New York. What at first appeared to be an almost impossible challenge became a delightful learning experience. Helen placed her index finger on my lips and her thumb on my throat and through this "Tadoma" method (touching lips and throat) we were able to communicate. Also during the interview she was able to utter brief words. I was simply overwhelmed by the experience, and even more so when I learned that Helen later learned to read English, French, German, Greek and Latin in Braille!
Helen Keller could have lived her life in complete darkness, but through her own determination and the lifelong dedication of Annie Sullivan, Helen triumphed over triple disabilities of blindness, deafness and a severe speech impediment. She traveled the world bringing hope and inspiration to the handicapped and became a world-famous speaker and author, best remembered as an advocate for the handicapped as well as countless other causes. She was also a suffragist, a pacifist and a birth control supporter.
In 1936 Helen Keller moved to Westport, Connecticut, where she lived until her death on June 1, 1968, at the age of 87. In his eulogy at her funeral, U.S. Senator Lister Hill said of her: "She will live on, one of the few, immortal names not born to die. Her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith."
On September 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Helen Keller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of America's highest civilian honors. Always focused on the needs of others, Helen lived a full and productive life. But this reporter will remember her most by her words, "I have visited sweatshops, factories, crowded slums. If I could not see or hear their plight, I COULD SMELL IT!"
Helen and her dedicated lifelong teacher, Annie Sullivan, are now together in eternity, and their legacy will live on forever.
Related Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deafblind http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadoma
Editor's note:
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