Helen Keller with Anne Sullivan in 1888.
Helen Keller Met Anne Sullivan #OTW in 1887
Suffragist, Rights Activist, & Humanitarian
By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs
“The two most interesting characters of the 19th century are Napoleon and Helen Keller.” –-Mark Twain
Keller and Mark Twain, 1902, Keller left her records to the American Federation for the Blind (AFB). Our National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) helped fund online access to this collection.
Happy Women’s History Month!
135 years ago this week, 6-year-old Helen Keller began working with Anne Sullivan (later dubbed “the miracle worker” & immortalized by Hollywood). Undeterred by her deafness and blindness, Keller became a suffragist, activist, educator, writer, and co-founder of the ACLU. Of course we have related records!
Interesting related fact
Keller and Sullivan’s were inseparable for nearly 50 years (from 1877 until Sullivan’s death) and remain together today–interred in DC’s National Cathedral crypt, marked by a bronze plaque in braille. Sullivan was the first woman interred at the Cathedral (source here).
Suffragist Helen Keller
Keller participated in the 1913 “Woman Suffrage Parade” in DC and spoke/wrote/advocated in support of not only women’s suffrage but also civil rights, labor rights, reproductive rights, and disability rights.
Petition to support the Federal Suffrage Amendment,6/15/1916, NARA ID 167059922.
We demand the right to vote, not because we think we are better or wiser than men, but because it is our right as much as it is theirs. And… we cannot abuse this right more than the men have done by themselves.
Excerpt from Keller’s speech: “Why Woman Wants to Vote” 1920, made available in part thanks to a grant from the NHPRC.
Helen Keller and Eleanor Roosevelt
The two first met in 1936 and remained friends for decades. They had much in common as famous women actively involved in human rights, women’s rights, and global cooperation. Our FDR Library holds correspondence between Keller and both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eleanor wrote about Keller in her July 3, 1945, My Day column, emphases added:
Last week I went to the office of the American Federation for the Blind to receive the resolution… which Miss Helen Keller wanted to present to me personally… commemorating my husband’s services as honorary chairman. As I stood and listened to Miss Keller speak, I thought how wonderfully both Miss Keller and my husband typified the triumph over physical handicap. Many of you may not know that Miss Keller, with her faithful friend and interpreter, has visited a number of our service hospitals. Some people felt that she might discourage our wounded men. Instead of that, the men recognized the greatness of her personality and the serene and courageous spirit which has made of her life a rich and full existence. She carried comfort to the men who were facing their own handicaps and trying to find the courage to build normal lives in spite of them.
Eleanor and Helen at Martha’s Vineyard, 8/25/1954, FDR Library, NARA ID 195945.
Letter from Keller to President Hoover, 2/5/1933, Hoover Library, NARA ID 7722949.
Helen Keller and President Hoover
Keller asked President Hoover to visit the American Foundation for the Blind’s NY recording studio to see “talking books recorded on a phonograph disc.”
Your presence at the Foundation studio would give a tremendous impetus to this project, and the blind in this country would be gladdened by a message from you saying that a new pathway of light is being blazed through their darkness.
Helen Keller wrote to 8 U.S. Presidents, from Teddy Roosevelt to LBJ, including: Letter from Keller to President Hoover
Helen Keller and the Hoovers, Hoover Heads blog
Research the Americans with Disabilities Act
Disability History from the Presidential Libraries, Pieces of History
Women’s History Month-related online resources. See also: Women’s Rights
