

Fun Facts & Quotes About Helen Keller Fun Facts About Helen Keller Helen Keller loved hot dogs! Helen Keller wrote to eight Presidents of the United States, and received letters from all of them—from Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 to Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, a small rural town in Northwest Alabama, USA. Helen was an excellent typist. She could use a standard typewriter as well as a braille writer. In fact, she was a better typist than her companions Anne Sullivan Macy and Polly Thomson. Helen loved animals, especially dogs. She owned a variety of dogs throughout her life. The first Akita dog in the United States was sent to Helen from Japan in 1938. Helen visited 39 countries around the world during her lifetime. Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a college degree. She graduated from Radcliffe College, with honors, in 1904. Helen was friends with many famous people, including Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, the writer Mark Twain, and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Helen won an Oscar for the documentary about her life, "Helen Keller in Her Story." Helen Keller Quotes "We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others."

- Helen Keller "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart."

- Helen Keller, 1891 "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

- Helen Keller, 1941 "The chief handicap of the blind is not blindness, but the attitude of seeing people towards them."

- Helen Keller, 1925 "I believe humility is a virtue, but I prefer not to use it unless it is absolutely necessary."

- Helen Keller, 1916 "What a strange life I lead—a kind of Cinderella-life—half-glitter in crystal shoes, half mice and cinders!"

- Helen Keller, 1933 "If I, deaf, blind, find life rich and interesting, how much more can you gain by the use of your five senses!"

- Helen Keller, 1928 "The most beautiful world is always entered through imagination."

- Helen Keller, 1908 "Faith is a mockery if it does not teach us that we can build a more complete and beautiful world."

- Helen Keller Read more Helen Keller quotes on the American Foundation for the Blind's website. Chronology of Helen Keller's Life June 27, 1880 Helen Keller is born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her father's name is Captain Arthur Henley Keller and her mother is Kate Adams Keller. February 1882 After being struck by illness, Helen loses both her sight and hearing. No one is ever sure exactly what disease she had, but some people think it was scarlet fever. March 3, 1887 Anne Sullivan comes to the Keller home and begins teaching Helen letters by signing into her hand ("manual sign language"). April 5, 1887 Anne makes the "miracle" breakthrough, teaching Helen that everything has a name by spelling W-A-T-E-R into Helen's hand as water flows over her palm. Fall 1889 Helen goes to Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, her first formal education. September 1900 Helen becomes a member of the freshmen class of 1904 at Radcliffe College. 1902 With the help of an editor, Helen writes The Story of My Life. June 28, 1904 Helen becomes the first deaf-blind individual to earn a college degree, graduating with honors from Radcliffe. Spring 1909 Helen joins the Suffragist movement, demanding the right to vote for women. October 1924 Helen and Anne begin their work with the American Foundation for the Blind. April 1930 Helen, Anne, and Polly Thompson travel abroad for the first time, visiting Scotland, Ireland, and England for over six months. This trip is only the beginning of Helen's travels overseas -- she would eventually visit 39 countries! October 1936 Anne Sullivan Macy dies. January 1943 Helen visits blind, deaf, and disabled soldiers of World War II in military hospitals around the country. September 1964 President Lyndon Johnson gives Helen the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. June 1, 1968 Helen Keller dies in her sleep.

Learn more about Helen Keller's life on the American Foundation for the Blind's website.

