Helen Keller was born a normal child in Tuscumbia Alabama on June 27th 1880. Her mother and father were Kate Adams Keller and Capt. Arthur Keller, a newspaper editor. Later, Helen had a sister named Muriel. But in the month of February 1882, Helen was struck with 'brain fever'. When she recovered from it, she was left blind and deaf. At first, her parents thought she was fine, but then they noticed that she did not blink at bright lights or turn towards sounds. As she grew older, her parents did not discipline her in any way. Thus, no one stopped her from taking food from other people's plates, wandering at meal times, and throwing tantrums. When Helen was seven years old, her parents decided to get her a special teacher from the Perkins Institution for the Blind. They had found this school through Dr. Alexander Graham Bell whom they visited when Helen was seeing an eye specialist. Annie Sullivan, Helen's new teacher, arrived on March 3, 1887. Helen would later call this her 'Soul's Birthday, and they would be together for the rest of their lives. But first, Annie would have to teach Helen self control and respect of others. This done, Annie could then begin teaching Helen the Manual Alphabet which involved learning hand symbols for the alphabet. On April 1887, while at the Keller's water pump, Annie spelled W-A-T-E-R into Helen's hand and at that moment, Helen finally understood that words had meanings. By nightfall, Helen had learned 30 new words. Then she asked Annie what her name was, and Miss Sullivan gave her the symbols for 'Teacher'. Later, Annie would teach Helen the Braille alphabet for the blind. Helen was taken later to the Perkins Institution to learn more, access a Braille library and meet other similar children. The school helped her to learn English grammar and other subjects. Helen was now about ten years old and probably about the most famous child in the world. Helen later heard that another blind-deaf girl in Norway had learned to speak and was determined to do so as well. So, Helen was introduced to Mrs. Fuller from another school and began speech lessons. In March 1890, Helen spoke her first words, even though it was a flat tone that only Teacher and Mrs. Fuller could understand. After Helen's father's death in 1896, Helen decided she wanted to go to college. Teacher warned that books would not be in Braille and the other students could both see and hear the professors. This meant Helen had a lot more studying to do than most students. But Helen was determined. Then Teacher made her realize that she didn't have enough money. Fortunately, Helen's old friend Mark Twain helped her raise the needed money. Helen had to go to Cambridge School for Young Ladies to help prepare for entry exams to Radcliffe College, which was Harvard ' s female college at the time. A year later, Helen's sister Mildred came to Cambridge School. The three (Helen, Teacher and Mildred) were inseparable. In 1900, Helen entered Radcliff College for Girls. Teacher did about half of Helen's work, because few textbooks were written in Braille. Teacher had to spell words into Helen's hand, and Helen would then respond to questions on her Braillewriter that was a special typewriter. When it was time for Helen to sit for examinations, Teacher had to leave and someone else would spell the questions into Helen's hands. She had typed her answers on her Braillewriter so perfectly that her answers were given a place of honor in the school. In 1904, Helen graduated from Radcliffe College with her degree: A Bachelor of Arts with Honors. In 1914, Polly Thomson joined Helen and Teacher to help them with things because Teacher's eyes were going bad. Helen was also touring around the world giving speeches, and they needed someone to help make arrangements for their travels. In 1924, Helen started to work for the American Foundation for the Blind. In 1936, Teacher died leaving Polly and Helen by themselves. Helen had received many honors for the things that she did to help the blind and deaf. During World War II, Helen went to visit the soldiers that had been blinded while fighting. Many of the soldiers knew about Helen and so her visits gave them hope for themselves. Helen knew that they wanted to be treated like normal people and not like heroes. Polly suffered several strokes and died in 1960. A year after Polly's death, Helen retired from public life and made very few appearances after that. After Helen suffered strokes, she was unaware that President Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Nor was she aware that she was elected to the Women's Hall of Fame in 1965. Helen died on June I, 1968 at her home she called Arcan Ridge in Connecticut at age 87, just a few weeks before her 88th birthday. The ashes of Annie, Polly and Helen were placed together in Washington, D.C.'s National Cathedral. Throughout her life, Helen was never known to shrink from difficulties. In fact, Helen once wrote, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

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