Helen Keller is a famous historical figure,  but many people little realize the obstacles and hardships she had to overcome to achieve recognition.

Helen Keller Early Life

Born in June, 1880, Helen Keller excelled in a number of fields despite her considerable handicaps. The girl who would become an author, academic and political activist began life on an Alabama plantation to a family with interesting connections. She was born in good health, but as a toddler contracted what might possibly have been meningitis or scarlet fever. This brief ilness left her deaf and blind. The young Helen developed a system of sign language common to deaf people living away from formalized deaf communities. With the help of the family cook’s daughter she invented over 60 separate signs to express thoughts and objects in her environment. Helen lived with an almost complete absence of true language for years.

Learning Sign Language
The breakthrough came when, after years of seeking a way for their daughter to develop like other people, Helen’s parents were directed to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. A former student and hearing-impaired girl named Anne Sullivan became Keller’s teacher, and later her governess. A famous scene from their first meeting is the one in which Sullivan demonstrated the sign for “water” by touching the palm of Keller’s hand, while simultaneously running water over her other palm. This ignited Helen’s curiosity and she insisted on immediately knowing the proper terms for all the other physical objects in her environment. The relationship between the two was to endure for half a century, as Helen Keller progressed to become the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then on to loftier things. The Miracle Worker is the story of this journey and it is no surprise that The Miracle Worker tickets are selling to people who wish to take that journey too.

David Richenthal’s Broadway production portrays this struggle faced by Keller featuring some of our most talented young actresses; “Little Miss Sunshine” actress Abigail Breslin plays the lead role. Annie Sullivan is played by Alison Pill (“The Lieutenant of Inishmore” and HBO’s “In Treatment”). The Circle in the Square theatre is a great place to go to see this production. Buy The Miracle Worker tickets soon, and see the life unfold of the Medal of Freedom winner who beat the odds.

Helen Keller Recognized

Helen Keller is now recognized for her opinions and ultra-progressive attitudes. She campaigned for many things in her lifetime, including women’s suffrage and workers’ rights. She also spoke out against the war, and championed socialism. She lectured and taught, and was a published author. A friend of luminaries such as Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin and even American presidents, Helen Keller left an undoubted mark on this world. She caused people to question the society in which they lived, and that is the greatest achievement of all.