Helen Keller dedicated her life to the betterment of others and labored tirelessly on behalf of the deaf and blind. She felt strongly about equality for all and was particularly concerned for the impoverished, those discriminated against because of gender or race, and all who faced social adversity. As a lobbyist, fundraiser, speaker, world traveler and dedicated champion of civil liberties, Helen Keller was unparalleled in promoting and securing equal treatment for those with disabilities.

Helen Keller was born with full sight and hearing in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, to Captain Arthur Henley Keller and Kate Adams Keller. In 1882, when she was nineteen months old, Helen fell ill with what is believed to be scarlet fever. The illness left her unable to see, hear, or speak. Keller lived most of her adolescent years without a means of communicating with those around her, a frustration that turned Helen into an unruly and difficult child to control. Her concerned parents sought out the advice and assistance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, famous for his inventions yet also active on behalf of the deaf community. It was through his intervention that Anne Sullivan entered Keller’s life. Sullivan, who lost the majority of her sight as a child, trained at the Perkins School for the Blind in the manual finger-spelled alphabet. With Sullivan’s tutoring, Keller learned at age seven that objects had names and meanings, and that she could express herself and learn about the world around her. She taught Keller to read Braille and to finger spell.

Keller graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1904 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a keen desire to battle publicly for equality. Keller dedicated the majority of her time on behalf of the disabled, especially the deaf and blind communities. She served as Ambassador for the American Foundation for the Blind and engaged in many public speaking and lobbying efforts. She was also an influential writer whose commitment to human rights inspired her to write of the atrocities of Nazism.

Keller committed her entire adult life to the battle for civil liberties and received numerous honors for her work. She was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was the first woman to receive an honorary Doctorate from Harvard, and was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time Magazine. Keller moved to Connecticut in 1936 and lived in Easton until her death in 1968.