June 27, 1880: Helen Keller is Born
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia on June 27, 1880. Beset in childhood with seemingly insurmountable challenges, her story continues to inspire.
Before her second birthday, young Helen was stricken with a fever that left her deaf, blind and unable to speak. Rejecting calls to have their daughter institutionalized, Arthur and Kate Keller sought out a private tutor for their daughter. In March 1887, Anne Sullivan, a recent graduate of Boston’s Perkins School for the Blind, arrived in Tuscumbia to teach Keller. There, Sullivan helped open the world to Helen Keller. The “miracle worker” and her pupil were inseparable for nearly half a century.
1904 photograph of Helen Keller, her hand on a Braille book in her lap, smelling a rose. Photo Courtsey Library of Congress
Keller became a bestselling author in 1903 at just 23 years of age. She leveraged her fame to become an advocate for others in need—the disabled, forgotten and poor—both at home and abroad, visiting more than 30 countries.
Although she left Alabama at a young age, Keller always referred to the Yellowhammer State as her home. Neither have Alabamians forgotten Helen Keller. She was selected to represent the state on its official quarter issued by the U.S. Mint in 2003. Soon, a new statue of her as an adult will grace the grounds of the State Capitol in Montgomery.
A bronze statue depicting a seven-year-old Keller standing at a water pump in Tuscumbia was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol in 2009—one of Alabama’s two contributions to stately Statuary Hall. At the statue’s base are these iconic words from Keller, written in both English and Braille: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.”
– Scotty Kirkland
