Author and social advocate Helen Keller
Helen Keller was born in 1880 near Tuscumbia, Alabama, and became deaf and blind at the age of 19 months due to an unknown ailment.
Her father, Arthur, editor of a newspaper, sought the advice of Alexander Graham Bell who referred the Keller family to the Perkins School of the Blind in Watertown, Mass. The school introduced Irish teacher Anne Sullivan to Keller and Keller later said the arrival of Sullivan was "the most important day I remember in all of my life." Their relationship was made famous in “The Miracle Worker” which premiered on Broadway in 1959. The play was later adapted for the movies and television.
Helen Adams Keller, born June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Ala., is shown in 1887 at the age of seven in New York City. (AP Photo)
With Sullivan at her side, Keller graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904. Her first book, "The Story of My Life" had already been published. Shortly after Keller's graduation Sullivan married John A. Macy, the literary critic and the three formed a family unit. With the aid of her teacher she went on to become a well-known writer and lecturer who championed the rights of workers, the poor, women, and people with disabilities around the world. She gained international fame and received many awards including the prestigious Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon B. Johnson, who named her as a recipient in 1964.
Helen Keller, left, at age 13, is photographed with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, in 1893 at an unknown location. Keller was nineteen months old when a disease left her blind and deaf. (AP Photo)
Sullivan remained at Keller's side until she died in 1936. After her teacher's death, Keller wrote, "It was my teacher who gave me love and opened my mind and helped me acquire knowledge and greatness of life."
Polly Thompson, who had been Keller's secretary since 1914, became a constant companion after Sullivan's death.
Keller died peacefully of natural causes after a prolonged illness aged 87 on June 1, 1968.
Miss Helen Keller (seated, center) met movie funny man Charlie Chaplin in 1918. With them are Miss Polly Thompson, Miss Keller's present companion, and Anne Sullivan Macy, her first teacher. (AP Photo)
The earliest story card indexing AP coverage of Helen Keller. (AP Corporate Archives)
Helen Keller receives the Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Dr. Charles E. Beury, President of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pa. on Feb. 17, 1931. Keller, who is blind and deaf, is a lecturer and a writer. Standing at right is Gov. Gifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania, who received the Honorary Degree of Laws. (AP Photo)
Helen Keller, left, who is among the delegates to the World Conference on work for the blind, stands with U.S. President Herbert Hoover, center, and first lady Lou Henry Hoover at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 22, 1931, during her tour of the country. (AP Photo)
Eleanor Roosevelt, left, wife of New York's Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Helen Keller, center, famous blind educator, met at the annual sale of merchandise made by the blind in New York City, Dec. 7, 1931 and both bought several articles from Miss Mae Burns. (AP Photo)
Sen. Thomas P. Gore, blind senator from Oklahoma, presides at a reception in Washington, March 24, 1936, honoring Miss Helen Killer on the 25th anniversary of the founding of the National Library for the Blind. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt flew from Florida to address the gathering. Left to right are: Sen. Gore; Helen Keller and Polly Thompson, Miss Keller's secretary. (AP Photo/Bill Allen)
Helen Keller, second from left, is shown as she appeared in court in New York, Dec. 2, 1937, to help the woman who has been her "eyes and ears" for 24 years become an American citizen. Miss Polly Thompson, center, born in Glasgow, Scotland, received her final papers at a hearing before Supreme Court Justice James T. Hallinan. Said Miss Keller: "Now that Miss Thompson has her papers, I feel safe. I couldn't carry on without her." (AP Photo)
Helen Keller has the Minnesota-Purdue football game in Minneapolis "telegraphed" to her, play by play, by interpreter Polly Thompson, Oct. 9, 1938. (AP Photo)
"It's the most inspirational thing I've ever done," says famed sculptor Jo Davidson as he puts the finishing touches on the bust of Helen Keller while the great woman sits as his model in Davidson's Bucks County, Pa., farm, April 6, 1942. Davidson has immortalized in marble and bronzes the feature of many of the world's great men and women, some of whom can be seen on the shelves in the background. (AP Photo/Sam Myers)
Polly Thompson, Helen Keller and Adelaide Kerr, Associated Press feature writer on Jan. 15, 1946. (AP Photo)
Helen Keller, 73, guides her hand over U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower's face as her companion Polly Thompson communicates the president's comments by sign language on Keller's palm. Keller and Thompson are visiting the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 1953. (AP Photo/Charles P. Gorry)
President Kennedy holds Helen Keller’s hand during a meeting with the 80-year-old in the White House, Washington on April 8, 1961. Mrs. William Seide, Miss Keller’s secretary, is with them. Miss Keller has visited every President since Grover Cleveland, who held office in the 1880s and 1890s. In rear is Thomas Gwynne, Counselor Lions International. (AP Photo)
Sitting on the floor of her study, Helen Keller reads from her Braille bible at her home in Easton, Conn., Jan. 18, 1955. This is her daily early morning ritual. (AP Photo)
Dr. Helen Keller, deaf and blind author and humanitarian, walks arm-in-arm with India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as he escorts her to a reception room of the Presidential residence in New Delhi, India in Feb. 1955. The reception is given in Keller's honor by the Indian Minister of Education. At right is Polly Thompson. (AP Photo)
Helen Keller, who is blind and deaf, is led from the pier by her new guidedog in New York in 1939. The Akita hound, named Kanzan Go, is presented to Keller by the Japanese State Department to replace a similar dog that died. Kanzan Go was trained by the Tokyo Police department for Keller and sent to New York. (AP Photo)
American author and educator Helen Keller, a lifelong activist for the American Foundation for the Blind, enjoys the scent of the roses outside her cottage home in Easton, Conn., on June 26, 1955, on the eve of her 75th birthday. Keller's companion, a German Shepherd she calls Et Tu, is her pet but not a guidedog. (AP Photo)
Mark Twain once wrote, "The two most interesting characters of the 19th century are Napolean and Helen Keller."
Author Helen Keller, who is blind and deaf, is photographed holding an open Braille book in Jan. 1955. (AP Photo)