Research Guides: Helen Keller: Biography

Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 - June 1, 1968)

After graduating from college, Keller settled in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and began to write. Although Sullivan decided to marry John Macy, she made a commitment to stay with her student always as her companion and teacher. Keller began to write articles about her blindness -- a taboo subject for women due to its frequent association with sexually transmitted diseases. The well-known editor, Edward W. Bok, took an interest in her writing and published her articles in "Ladies' Home Journal." Other magazines such as "The Century," "McClure's," and "Atlantic Monthly" soon followed. Over the next sixty years,Keller would write over fourteen books including "The World I Live In" (1908), "Out of the Dark" (1913), "Midstream" (1929), "Helen Keller's Journal" (1938), and "Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy" (1955). Continue . . .

Source: Stevenson, Keira. “Helen Keller.” Helen Keller (Great Neck Publising). Aug. 2017, p. 1. From Academic Search Complete database.

Book Collection

Resources

Helen Keller Foundation Based on the legacy of Helen Keller, the Foundation strives to prevent blindness and deafness by advancing research and education. The Foundation aspires to be a leader in integrating sight, speech and hearing research with the greater biomedical research community, creating and coordinating a peer-reviewed, worldwide network of investigators and institutions.
Speaking Out: The Political Career of Helen Keller The aim of this article is to draw the reader's attention to the political career of Helen Keller. It is argued that her draft towards a radical and socialist position was the result of deeply held political convictions which have largely been ignored by commentators. Contemporary newspaper accounts portrayed her as a vulnerable person manipulated by those closest to her and exploited by extremist organizations. These assertions are discussed with particular reference to her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy and the latter's husband John Macy. Despite her prolonged dependence on others and the many pressures upon her, it is evident that she did manage to achieve an independent political career. The lessons for political action by disabled people are briefly sketched.
AFB: Helen Keller Biography Biography from the American Foundation for the Blind.
Perkins: Biography on Helen Keller Biography from Perkins School for the Blind.
The Southern Ties of Helen Keller Describes deaf and blind activist and author Helen Keller as a displaced Southerner whose Confederate roots and beliefs shaped and identified her as a Southern woman with a disability. Keller increasingly linked racism, discrimination against those with disabilities, and the compounded discrimination faced by African Americans with disabilities.

From Films On Demand database:

Karsh: The Searching Eye - Helen Keller Karsh describes photographing the author and her wish that the U.N. would adopt a sunrise slogan.
Helen Keller Zinn says the cultural establishment celebrates Helen Keller but ignores her political radicalism, keeping her harmless.
Helen Keller Meets with John F. Kennedy ca. 1961 Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing when she was 19 months old as the result of an infection. Keller was able to communicate with the help of her interpreter, Anne Sullivan, who spelled words on Keller's hand using a special alphabet. Keller was a prominent advocate for the disabled, as well as a committed Socialist and a supporter of the suffragist movement. Beginning with Grover Cleveland, Keller met every U.S. president that served while she was alive and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. She died in 1968.