HELEN KELLER

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She grew up on a cotton plantation. When she was only 18 months old she had what doctors called a "brain fever". This left her blind, deaf, and mute. When she got older her parents got her a teacher named Anne Sulivan. She couldn't teach her anything until they went to a cottage on the plantation by themselves. Anne put Helen's hand under a water spout and spelt out water in her hand. Then Helen spelt it back in her hand. That night Anne taught Helen her first 30 words. This was the start of Helen's very inspirational lifetime.

When Helen was ten years old she went to Wright-Humanson School for the deaf. She later attended Cambridge School for young ladies in college. Anne sat beside her everyday interpreting books, articles, and assignments. In 1905, she married John Macy an instructor at Harvard University. Anne and John became distant, so Helen and John separated but never divorced. Helen traveled in many countries. When she was in Japan she mentioned that she wanted an Akita breed dog. So the Japanese government gave her one as a gift. This is how that breed became known to the U.S.

INTERESTING FACTS

• Helen stared in a movie.
• She meet eleven presidents.
• She was a great friend to Alexander G. Bell.
• She traveled 40,000 miles in Asia.

I learned many things about Helen Keller by doing this project. I learned that someone's disabilities are just another reason to try harder. You might not think you can change the world but with some hard work and determination everything is possible. Helen would have never thought that she could achieve the impossible, but she did and you can too.

BOOKS HELEN WROTE

• Her auto biography, The Story of My Life
• To Love This Life
• Optimism
• This World I Live In

I would suggest that you research Helen Keller because she is a great inspiration and an example of hard work and determination. She lived her life to the fullest just as we should do too.

HELEN KELLER'S DEATH

• Helen died on June 1, 1968.
• She died quietly in her sleep.
• Her ashes sit beside her teacher, Anne Sulivan.
• She was 87 when she died.

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