2. About Helen
• Named Helen Adams Keller
• Born June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama
• Daughter of Captain Arthur Henley Keller and Kate
Adams Keller
3. • Keller owned and edited
his own weekly
newspaper, the North
Alabamian.
• Captain Keller was an
avid hunter.
• After the death of his
first wife, he married
Kate Adams (whom was
20 years younger than
Captain Keller.)
Captain James Keller
4. CHANGE OF HER LIFE
• February 1882, when Helen was 19 months
old, she fell ill
• Doctors called it “brain fever” otherwise
known today as scarlet fever or meningitis
• For many days, she was expected to die
• When the fever went away, her family
thought she was in the clear
5. Kate Adams Keller
• While Captain Keller
worked in his newspaper
office in town, Kate
tended the pigs, turkeys,
chickens, and sheep that
roamed their property.
• Kate enjoyed gardening
and curing country hams.
6. Helen Meets Anne
• Met for the first time on March 3, 1887
• Starting teaching Helen immediately
• She spelled out the word “doll” on
Helen’s hand to help her recognize what
Anne had brought for Helen
• Helen could repeat the movements on
her hand, but didn’t know what they
meant
8. Helen’s Young life
• Helen Adams Keller
was born in
Tuscumbia, Alabama
on June 27, 1880.
• Helen was born with
both sight and
hearing.
9. IN CHIDHOOD
Helen was a very intelligent
baby
Her parents insisted that at
the age of 6 months she could
say “wah-wah” for water and
“how do you do?”
She took her first steps on her
first birthday
She gleefully ran to her father
every evening to give him a
10. • In February of
1882, Helen
suddenly became ill
with a very high
fever.
• The doctor’s
diagnosis was
“acute congestion
of the stomach and
brain”
Helen’s Illness
• The Keller’s were
ecstatic when
Helen’s fever broke,
but Kate knew within
days that Helen had
lost her sight and
hearing.
• Helen’s brain was
permanently
damaged.
11. • The Kellers took
Helen to Baltimore
to see a famous
oculist, Dr.
Chisholm, in 1886.
• Although Dr.
Chisholm could not
help the Kellers, he
suggested that the
go see Dr.
Alexander Graham
Alexander Graham Bell
• Dr. Bell was a
Scottish inventor.
• He was particularly
interested in the
deaf because both
his mother and his
wife were deaf.
• Bell’s father was a
pioneer in deaf
education, inventing
“visible speech”
12. Dr. Anagnos
• Dr. Bell suggested that the Kellers write
Dr. Howe’s successor at the Perkins
Institute, Dr. Michael Agagnos.
• Dr. Anagnos immediately noticed the
similarities between Laura Bridgman and
Helen Keller.
• He felt that Anne Mansfield Sullivan would
be just the person to teach young Helen.
13. • Annie Sullivan spent
6 months studying
Howe’s files on his
work with Laura
Bridgman.
• Sullivan was to be
paid $25 a week for
her job to teach
Helen.
• In March of 1887
Annie took the long
train ride to
become Helen’s
teacher.
Preparing to teach
15. Awards For Helen
• Was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1964 by
President Lyndon Johnson
• 1965-At the New York World’s
Fair, she was elected to
Women’s Hall of Fame
16. Wright-Humason Oral School for the
Deaf
• Dr. Alexander Graham Bell asked John
Spaulding to pay for Helen to attend the
Wright-Humason Oral School for the Deaf
in New York City.
• Helen began in October of 1894. Annie
Sullivan remained by her side.
• Helen attended the school for two years.
• Helen did very well in all of her studies,
but was never able to speak and lip-reading
entire sentences was difficult for her.
17. • Helen attended the Cambridge School for
Young Ladies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• She began in September 1896. The
school’s director, Arthur Gillman, felt
Helen should remain at Cambridge for a
third year.
• Annie Sullivan was against it. Gillman
wrote to Mrs. Keller and told her Annie
was working Helen too hard.
• Mrs. Keller named Mr. Gillman as Helen’s
legal guardian.
18. • Gillman separated Helen and Annie.
• Annie wrote a telegram to Mrs. Keller
stating “We need you.”
• Mrs. Keller immediately went to them and
was outraged to find that Gillman had
separated the two ladies.
• She immediately withdrew Helen from the
school.
• Helen and Annie worked for two years with
a tutor, Merton Keith, to help prepare
Helen for college.
19. • In 1902 The Ladie’s Home Journal asked
Helen to write the story of her life.
• The magazine paid Helen $3000.
• John Macy, a Harvard professor, agreed
to edit the work, along with Sullivan’s help.
• The first installment was published and
four more followed.
• 1903 – The articles were turned into a
book called The Story of My Life.
