(June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)

 Early childhood  Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.  When she was 19 months old an illness left her blind and deaf.  In 1886, former student of Perkins Institute for the Blind Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only 20 years old, became Keller's instructor

  Anne Sullivan began teaching Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand  Both her eyes were replaced in adulthood with glass replicas for "medical and cosmetic reasons"

 Formal education  Starting in May, 1888, Keller attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind  In 1896 Keller entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies before gaining admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe CollegeThe Cambridge School for Young LadiesRadcliffe College  In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe, becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

 Political activities  Helen is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, suffragist, pacifist.  In 1915 she founded the Helen Keller Internaional Organization.  In 1920 she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union  Keller met every U.S. Presedent from Glover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including, Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain.

 Writings  The earliest pieces of writing, at age 11, was The Frost King (1891). The Frost King  At age 22, Keller published her autobiography, The Story of My Life (1903). The Story of My Life  Keller wrote The World I Live In in  Her spiritual autobiography, My Religion, was published in 1927 and then in 1994 extensively republished under the title Light in My Darkness. My Religion Light in My Darkness

 Later life  Keller suffered a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the last years of her life at her home.  On September 14, 1964, president Lyndon B. Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  In 1965 she was elected to the National Woman’s Hall of Fame at the New York World’s Fair.  She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at her home, Arcan Ridge, located in Connecticut