Helen Keller Day 2024: Early Life, Birth, Achievements, Books, Husband, Death and More
Helen Keller Day: Helen Keller Day is celebrated on June 27 annually. The day encourages people to believe in their own potential and strive for greatness, regardless of the obstacles they encounter.
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Happy Helen Keller Day 2024
Helen Keller Day 2024: Every year June 27 is observed as Helen Keller Day. Helen Adams Keller was a deafblind American author, political activist and lecturer. The day honours and celebrate the life, struggles and achievements of the miraculous woman. An annual fashion show is held on June 27 on the same day as a fundraiser in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania to help and support the ones in need.
Helen Keller Biography
Name Helen Keller
Full Name Helen Adams Keller
Born June 27, 1880
Birthplace Tuscumbia, Alabama
Nationality American
Father’s Name Arthur Henley Keller
Mother’s Name Catherine Everett (Adams) Keller
Siblings Mildred Campbell (Keller) TysonPhillip Brooks KellerJames McDonald KellerWilliam Simpson Keller
Education Radcliffe College (BA)
Occupation Author
Political Activist Lecturer
Notable Work The Story of My Life (1903)
Marital Status Unmarried
Spouse Peter Fagan (About to get married)
Greatest Achievements Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Women's Hall of Fame
Death June 1, 1968
Death Cause Strokes
Resting Place Washington National Cathedral
Early Life Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama to Arthur Henley Keller and Catherine Everett (Adams) Keller. She was diagnosed with a type of bacterial meningitis when she was 19 months old, and as a result, she was unable to see, hear, or communicate. Alexander Graham Bell, a well-known scientist and inventor who is credited with creating the first telephone, responded to the family's request for guidance and advised them to admit her to Boston's Perkins Institute for the Blind.
They followed Bell’s advice and in 1887, Keller was taught by Anne Sullivan, a young teacher who had suffered vision impairment herself. Sullivan used ‘touch teaching’ techniques and her skilled guidance calmed the seemingly uncontrollable Keller. She learned how to read and write in Braille and the hand signals of the deaf and mute.
Writings, Books & Other Works
Keller relocated to Forest Hills, Queens, along with Sullivan and a recruited housekeeper Macy. She utilised her residence as a platform for her advocacy work on behalf of the American Foundation for the Blind. As a speaker and author, Keller rose to fame and supported people with impairments. She made presentations regarding the conditions faced by Deaf people in 25 different countries. She opposed Woodrow Wilson and was a pacifist, radical socialist, supporter of birth control, and suffragist. There are 12 books that Keller has published in all, including the following:
The Frost King (1891)
The Story of My Life (1903)
Optimism: an essay (1903)
My Key of Life: Optimism (1904)
The World I Live In (1908)
The Miracle of Life (1909)
The Song of the stone wall (1910)
Out of the Dark, a series of essays on socialism (1913)
Uncle Sam Is Calling (set to music by Pauline B. Story) (1917)
My Religion (1927; also called Light in My Darkness)
Midstream: my later life (1929)
We bereaved.(1929)
Peace at Eventide (1932)
Helen Keller in Scotland: a personal record written by herself (1933) Methuen, 212pp
Helen Keller's Journal (1938)
Let us have faith (1940)
Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy: a tribute by the foster child of her mind. (1955)
The open door (1957)
The Faith of Helen Keller (1967)
Helen Keller: her socialist years, writings and speeches (1967)
Personal Life
Keller was in her late 30s when Sullivan's health began deteriorating. Keller brought in Peter Fagan, a private secretary, with whom she fell in love and intended to elope. Young Boston Herald reporter Peter Fagan was a fingerspelling socialist. The couple's plans were finally derailed when her family vehemently objected since they thought that women with impairments shouldn't get married. Keller, therefore, relocated to Montgomery, Alabama, with her mother.
Awards & Achievements
She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the two highest civilian awards bestowed by the United States, on September 14, 1964, from President Lyndon B. Johnson. At the New York World's Fair in 1965, she was chosen for induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame. In her later years, she devoted a significant portion of her time to fund-raising for the American Foundation for the Blind.
Here are a few of her posthumous honours:
In 1980, to commemorate Keller's 100th birthday, the United States Postal Service released a stamp featuring Sullivan and Keller.
Keller was included in Gallup's list of the 20th Century's Most Admired People in 1999.
One of Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century in 1999, Keller.
By including braille on a US currency in 2003, Alabama celebrated its native daughter in her state quarter.
She is honoured by the Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama.
K.K. Srinivasan established a Helen Keller-themed deaf preschool in Mysore, India.
The State of Alabama donated a bronze statue of Keller to the National Statuary Hall Collection in 2009.
Helen Keller Day celebrates resilience, raises awareness about disabilities, inspires others, advocates for education, and promotes human rights and social justice. It serves as a reminder of the significance of education and the need to make it accessible to everyone, irrespective of their abilities. As her experiences highlight the importance of inclusivity, accessibility, and equal opportunities for people with disabilities. By dedicating a day to Helen Keller, we promote understanding and empathy towards those living with disabilities.
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