Helen

helen Keller

By Grace_kincade

  • Birth of Helen Keller

    Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia to Arthur H. Keller and Kate Adams Keller

  • Helen contracts meningitis

    Meningitis left her deaf and blind and she had difficulty making herself understood. She often became frustrated and threw temper tantrums

  • Anne Suvillian becomes her teacher

    Helen Keller's parents recruited her after Dr. Alexander Graham Bell advised them to find a teacher from the Perkins Institute for the Blind

  • Helen understands the meaning of words

    Anne taught Helen to understand language through the combination of water from a pump on one hand and the spelling of "water" with the manual alphabet into her other hand.

  • Helen learns to speak

    She attended Horace Mann School, with the principal, Miss Sarah Fuller as her first speech teacher

  • Helen writes "The Frost King"

    It was so similar to The Frost Fairies by Margaret Canby that people believed that she plagiarized it. An investigation revealed that she may have experienced a case of cryptomnesia- which was that she had read the book but forgot about it, while the memory remained in her subconscious

  • Helen publishes her first book

    With the help of editor John Albert Macy, Helen wrote her autobiography, "The Story of My Life".

  • Helen was accepted to Radcliffe College.

    Helen receives her certificate of admission to Radcliffe College.

  • Helen becomes a suffragist

    Helen joined the Socialist Party of Massachusetts

  • Helen hires Polly Thompson

    She was hired as Anne Sullivan's health was failing. Initially hired to keep house , she progressed to working as a secretary as well, and eventually became a constant companion to Helen.

  • The founding of Helen Keller International

    Helen Keller and George Kessler founded Helen Keller International (HKI), which combats the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition by establishing programs based on evidence and research in vision, health and nutrition

  • Helen appears in a movie

    The movie "Deliverance" is a silent film which tells the story of the life of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Helen acts as herself.

  • Helen joins the American Foundation for the Blind

    Helen was invited to be a spokesperson for the organization. She traveled extensively with Anne and Polly, giving speeches and raising funds for the blind and for related causes

  • Helen goes abroad for the first time

    Helen, Anne, and Polly travel abroad for the first time, visiting Scotland, Ireland and England for over six months.

  • Anne Sullivan dies

    At the age of 70, Anne died of myacarditis and arteriosclerosis at home

  • Helen visits disabled soliers

    Helen began her visits to the blinded, deaf, and disabled soldiers of World War II in military hospitals around the country. She called this the crowning experience of my life

  • Helen retires from public life

    She did so after a series of strokes which started three years earlier and spent the remainder of her life being cared for at her home

  • Helen recieves the Presidential Medal of Freedom

    She was awarded America's highest civilian award by President Lyndon Johnson

  • Polly Thomson dies

    Polly Thomson suffered from a stroke and died

  • Helen Keller's death

    She passes away 26 days before her 88th birthday in her sleep. Over 1,200 mourners attend the funeral at the National Cathedral. Helen ashes are interred there with those of Anne and Polly.