1888 photo depicts Helen Keller, teacher

[bananas]

Source: AP



1888 photo depicts Helen Keller, teacher

By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer
54 minutes ago

BOSTON - Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod. The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan's hand and cradling one of her beloved dolls.

Experts on Keller's life believe it could be the earliest photo of the two women together and the only one showing the blind and deaf child with a doll — the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887 — according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which now has the photo.

"It's really one of the best images I've seen in a long, long time," said Helen Selsdon, an archivist at the American Foundation for the Blind, where Keller worked for more than 40 years. "This is just a huge visual addition to the history of Helen and Annie."

<snip>

"The way Anne is gazing so intently at Helen, I think it's a beautiful portrait of the devotion that lasted between these two women all of Anne's life," Seymour-Ford said.

<snip>
___

On the Net:

New England Historic Genealogical Society: http://www.newenglandancestors.org

Helen Keller: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID1

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_us/helen_keller_photograph

[Captain Hilts]

1. Wow. That's a big deal. nt

[vickitulsa]

59. Yes it is! Responding here so people will see

that if you follow the first link in the OP, you can view this photo where you can enlarge it by clicking on it. Much better view to examine ... you can see the details of the doll and other things so much better!

I am so excited about this photo!! :)

[Trajan]

2. What a wonderful find ....

and in great condition ... superb ...

[rusty quoin]

3. That's wonderful. n/t

[Liberal Veteran]

4. That can't be real...they look nothing like Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft!

Just kidding....

It's a marvelous find.

[gratuitous]

47. Awww, reading the latest Twain book and listening to an iPod

Waitasecond.

[Patchuli]

5. That is a lovely photograph!

What a pleasure to be reminded of American history that makes me proud!

[graywarrior]

6. Haunting photo.

[Roland99]

7. Awesome!

[nealmhughes]

8. From Helen and Annie's age it was probably taken at Ivy Green, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Every year there is a performance of The Miracle Worker put on the actual locations, including the famous pump in the summer.
When I was a wee youth I met Miss Keller in Tuscumbia and she spoke to us and we felt her vocal cords and she ours. I don't recall the details, as we also went to the firehouse in Tuscumbia that day and got to slide down the firepole and that was vastly more exciting, but I remember how soft her skin was and how heavenly she looked. I thought she looked like an angel.

[magellan]

12. Oh wow, you met her? What an incredibly special memory to have!

Thank you for sharing it. :)

[EmilyAnne]

27. Your story brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for sharing that. What an amazing experience for you.

[nealmhughes]

61. I have just discovered that the photo was not at Ivy Green, but on Cape Cod, where the Kellers were

summering that year, but that is the original doll that Annie spelt out d-o-l-l into her hand.

[Hawkeye-X]

9. My wife and I have a hell of a lot of respect for both Keller and Sullivan

for their hard work supporting the deaf/disabled.

My wife keeps a lot of Alabama state quarters, and loves reading Helen Keller stories.

Thanks!

[rosetta627]

10. This is an amazing gorgeous photo

Look at this one years later, similar pose:

[NYC]

14. Interesting similarity.

Thanks.

[Lint Head]

39. What an excellent photo.

Looks like Anne put on a little weight in her later years.

[TheDebbieDee]

43. Don't we ALL put on little extra weight in our later years? : ^ P

[fortyfeetunder]

75. The look of a confident young woman

I remember reading about her as a kid, she always impressed me as confident person. This picture shows it.

[AngryOldDem]

11. What an exquisite picture.

And what a breath of fresh air this story is here. Thanks for posting.

[wisteria]

13. What a wonderful find. I don't ever recall such a good picture of both of Helen Keller and Anne

Sullivan.

[Garbo 2004]

15. A reminder of two amazing women who overcame so much. Thanks for posting. n/t

[pnorman]

16. Here's an aspect of Helen Keller not known by many:

http://marxists.anu.edu.au/reference/archive/keller-helen/index.htm

Needless to say, J. Edgar Hoover kept an extensive file on her: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/617193/how_helen_keller_became_a_public_enemy.html?page=2

pnorman

[NYC Liberal]

20. Also a good read here:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/17_01/Kell171.shtml

[pnorman]

21. Thanks for that item.

It was NAUSEATING reading how those mental midgets blurred her life and achievements into virtually nothing. All the more so, since they must have been fully aware of what they were so diligently covering up!

pnorman

[NYC Liberal]

46. She would have more than a few things to say today about our

current state of affairs, I think.

"Helen Keller was not afraid to ask tough, "impolite" questions: "Why in this land of great wealth is there great poverty?" she wrote in 1912. "Why children toil in the mills while thousands of men cannot get work, why women who do nothing have thousands of dollars a year to spend?""

"So long as I confine my activities to social service and the blind, they compliment me extravagantly, calling me 'archpriestess of the sightless,' 'wonder woman,' and 'a modern miracle," Helen wrote to her friend Robert LaFollette, an early pacifist who ran for president as a third-party Progressive candidate in 1924. "But when it comes to a discussion of poverty, and I maintain that it is the result of wrong economics - that the industrial system under which we live is at the root of much of the physical deafness and blindness in the world - that is a different matter!"

[xchrom]

17. beautiful -- and very very moving. recommend

[bitchkitty]

18. I'll never forget seeing "The Miracle Worker"

in Atlanta. The child who played Helen was awesome.

This story never ceases to move me. Remember Patty Duke as Helen?

[NoGodsNoMasters]

19. One should also remember...

...when Helen Keller grew up she became a left-wing activist and protested US foreign intervention. Though they usually skip that part in school.

[ronnie624]

22. Beautiful. n/t

[John Gauger]

23. I guess this is before she became a Stalinist.

Only Communist ever to appear on US currency. Thank you AL legislature for knowing next to nothing about the most important resident in your state's history.

[EmilyAnne]

28. Maybe you mean she thought she was a Stalinist, but was really a Marxist? A lot of brilliant

and well intentioned people were duped into supporting Stalin.

[John Gauger]

53. What is that supposed to mean?

Isn't she the only one who could truly know the answer to that question? I mean, I could "think she was a Stalinist" based on here statements and viewpoints but reasonably be said to be mistaken. But I think she is the only one who could not possibly be mistaken on that count. And Keller was very adamant in denouncing propositions that she had been duped. She believed very strongly that she knew all the facts necessary to make an informed decision.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. What did she have to say about Stalin?

There's a lot of difference between being a socialist, or even a communist, and a Stalinist. I note LBJ gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What's your problem with the Alabama legislature?

[John Gauger]

55. Apparently, nothing.

I have been looking into it and there is no record of her ever saying anything about Stalin. I was taught in school that she was an apologist for Stalin, there is no evidence for that claim, even on teh Internets. It is apparently a smear, and not a very widely supported one at that. I am burned yet again by the assumption that everything I learned in school is true.

My only problem with the AL legislature is that they put Keller on their state coin without knowing anything about her. I have no problem putting her on there, in fact I think it's pretty much all Alabama has to offer, other than the bus boycott, and that sure as hell isn't going to be commemorated by the Establishment. I don't believe for a second that the legislature would have put her on the coin if they knew she was a Communist. So the only assumption is that they didn't bother to know anything about her before putting her on the money.

[bperci108]

51. "Stalinist"?

Red-baiting on DU.....whodathunk it?

I can't say much about her being a "Stalinist" (whatever that's supposed to mean) but she was a Wobbly...

AND a great American. Funny how one so shut off from the world can still be so perceptive; even much more so than many self-identified "enlightened" folks. She maintained her political beliefs until her death, as far as I know.


Mr. Gauger, I'm a Marxist and a Wob, just like Helen Keller... :patriot:

Gonna cast aspersions my way also?

[John Gauger]

57. I think I owe her an apology.

While I was taught that she was an apologist of Stalin's regime in middle school, I have been unable to find any evidence for that claim. In fact, Google's first response to my query was my own post here on DU, so apparently I'm the only one on the entire Internet making that claim. Since I am unable to support my claim, I must withdraw it. And I must apologize for sullying the name of a great American.

I have no problems with the IWW. Though I must disagree with you on a semantic basis - why is Marxist a world Stalinist not?

[vickitulsa]

60. I didn't get that she was saying "Stalinist" was not a word, John.

Just that Helen wasn't one. ?

I'm glad you nonetheless offered your apology to Helen Keller, though it's possible your wrongful accusation may find root somewhere and do harm anyway. I hope not!

Perhaps if anyone finds your initial post here about Helen through an online search, they will follow it to this thread and see the full discussion which includes rebuttals and your own apology.

You may note that in my post #58 in this thread, I encountered someone else years ago who bought the propaganda (smear) about Helen's political views and tried to push that. Interesting how Hoover's wretched lies and hateful maneuvers have lived long after him. Ditto for many actions of the CIA.


Per your sigline quote, one thing about insisting on being heard when desiring to tell the Truth -- we must be certain is IS the Truth, no? ;)

[John Gauger]

73. Well, she seemed to imply that "Stalinist" doesn't have any definition.

I'm big on semantics. I love, or rather love to hate, these terms that don't have any definition, or any meaning, like "Support the Troops." So any time somebody brings one of those up I jump right on it. But really what I was doing was setting up an argument about terms like "Marxist" and "Stalinist." These terms to me have pretty simple definitions - you can play with them however you want and get all kinds of interesting things out of them, but to me a Marxist is somebody who defines his or her economic ideology around the beliefs of Karl Marx, and a Stalinist is somebody who advocates a regime set up like Stalin's. But what I'm really getting at is that I have never understood people who self-identify as something like "Marxist" or "Calvinist." I never liked the idea of defining one's person by the works or qualities of another. During my brief tenure as a socialist I never liked to be referred to as a Marxist, because I have my own ideas thank you very much.

Yeah, I've been burned like that in the past. I usually try to make sure that what I am claiming is true, but every once in a while something like this happens.

[bperci108]

65. I'll try to answer....

if you can clarify the question:

"Though I must disagree with you on a semantic basis - why is Marxist a world Stalinist not?"

I don't understand the question. (typo, perhaps?)

Not to get too far off topic here....:)

[John Gauger]

74. I don't blame you.

What I wrote is not a sentence. I meant to ask why Marxist is a word but Stalinist is not.

My point is you seemed to imply that "Stalinist" is one of those words that just gets tossed around without any real meaning, like "zesty" or "tangy," but to me it seems pretty clear-cut - somebody who advocates a regime like Stalin's. Somebody who was a staunch defender of Stalin's actions would by implication be a Stalinist (though this need not always be the case - someone like Harry S Truman, for example, who was more enamored with the personality of Stalin than his way of running an empire.) But what makes this interesting to me is that my thoughts are just the opposite of what you have presented - I have often thought that "Marxist" is not a valid handle. I have never liked the idea of defining oneself by the ideas or teachings of another. But don't have to bother answering - it's not really an important question.

[bperci108]

79. Okay.

I got it.... :hi:

"My point is you seemed to imply that "Stalinist" is one of those words that just gets tossed around without any real meaning, like "zesty" or "tangy," but to me it seems pretty clear-cut - somebody who advocates a regime like Stalin's."

Right. I don't think it applies to Keller as her political views were of an ideological type not a "cult of personality" type.


"Somebody who was a staunch defender of Stalin's actions would by implication be a Stalinist (though this need not always be the case - someone like Harry S Truman, for example, who was more enamored with the personality of Stalin than his way of running an empire.)"

There might be a few poor old souls in the former USSR who long for the "good old days" (as they perceived them) under Stalin, but they are few and far between.


"But what makes this interesting to me is that my thoughts are just the opposite of what you have presented - I have often thought that "Marxist" is not a valid handle. I have never liked the idea of defining oneself by the ideas or teachings of another. But don't have to bother answering - it's not really an important question."


I see your point, but it is a valid and worthy question. I certainly don't agree with Karl on every point of his Manifesto, in fact there are many things, perhaps even "fundamental" things I disagree with, but I indeed do agree with much of his thinking and world-view.

I wear the label "Marxist" in proud Yankee Doodle-fashion. It scandalizes so-called Conservatives and it's ALWAYS a good discussion starter. But you gotta have a really thick skin sometimes... :D

Anyhoo....all the best to you. :)

[John Gauger]

84. Likewise n/t

[LeftishBrit]

64. Stalinist?

She was certainly a left-winger, who supported workers' causes and women's suffrage. But I fail to see how that makes one Stalinist?????

[John Gauger]

72. I was taught in school that she explicitly supported Stalin's regime.

I have since found out that this is not true.

[ExtraGriz]

24. this is so inspiring

my grandmother was blind and i lived with her while growing up, so i really appreciate all the work and leadership that helen keller provided for the blind/visually impaired organizations.

[xxqqqzme]

25. What a beautiful child she was.

I can only recall pictures of her in later life or seeing her on TV from time to time.

WOW - I didn't know this: '...In 1920, she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)....' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_keller

[SeattleGirl]

26. Wow! Just, wow!

Amazing photograph! Thanks much for posting it!

[DUlover2909]

29. I'm a big fan of Helen. This is great to see.

[0007]

49. Thank you for posting this photo.

[LiveLiberally]

30. Thanks so much for posting this.

[kstewart33]

32. I grew up in northern Alabama, and went back last summer for a visit.

I took my family to Ivy Green in Tuscumbia. What a beautiful home so carefully maintained. It was staffed by two fine elderly Southern ladies who would take visiters through the house and explain each of the rooms and artifacts. A great time.

One interesting difference - in the movie, The Miracle Worker, the house where Annie takes Helen to live for 2 weeks was a mile or so away. Actually it was right next to the Keller home where it remains today. The rooms are exactly as depicted in the movie.

Great find! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[WolverineDG]

38. IIRC

they took Helen on a long carriage ride so she would think she wasn't really at home. Poor thing, but it worked when she finally put 2 & 2 together & spelled "water."

dg

[madaboutharry]

33. Oh, it is so beautiful and lovely.

When I was a child I read every biography and story about Helen Keller available. She inspired me even at a young age.

[vickitulsa]

58. Me too!

I read a biography of Helen Keller when I was as young as about fifth grade, and I'm so glad I did.

Being "legally" blind myself, I remember what a struggle it was for me in school in the early years. My low vision was not even discovered until my own mom, an active PTA member, was participating in a school screening of all the kids -- and her own two turned out to be in desperate need of glasses!

My brother is much less severely myopic than I am, so he made it to sixth grade without glasses, but I was in third grade and could not even see the blackboard! I had to hold books right up to my face to read them, and if allowed I always chose the front row to sit in, trying to read what the teacher was writing on the board.

I think that disability helped shape my young personality, as Mom says that at about age six I began to change from the "angelic" little girl she adored to a cantankerous arguer. :)

I think a lot of that was due to my father's abuse, of course, but there is a definite difficulty in learning to function in a world you see only in big blurs!

I even remember when we got a console TV (on legs) in the fifties, I would lie on the hardword floor on my back, slide my legs UNDER the TV so my face was within a foot or two of the screen, just to watch the programs. Kinda have to wonder how my parents had no clue I couldn't see!

But after reading that book about Helen Keller's life, I suddenly realized my poor vision did not have to limit me my whole life. It changed my entire world, in a similar way (though not to the degree, of course) that Helen's first connection to language changed hers.

What I always think about when I see the movies or any other articles or documentaries about Helen is, good heavens, what on earth would have become of the poor child if Annie Sullivan had NOT turned up in their lives, to persist in helping her??

I mean, as disruptive as the young Helen was (understandably), as hard as she had begun to fight any control of her behavior, I can easily imagine that she could have very easily ended up in some "Bedlam" environment where she'd be shackled, lobotomized, or left isolated in a padded cell for her entire life.

If ever I made a connection to how important my TEACHERS could be to me, it was when I read that book about Helen as an 11-year-old. It gave me a whole new attitude toward teachers in general and made me appreciate deeply and even bond with some of the best teachers in my own life. To my great benefit!

I only learned about Helen's socialist views in 1999, when I was in a Vietnam vets' discussion group online. One of the "oldtimers" had been a CIA agent based in Saigon from 1960-1975, and he was a curmudgeonly old codger who was rabidly anti-communist. When I posted something there about my admiration for Helen Keller, he shot back some nasty stuff about her political views. I'd never even heard about that, or didn't recall it as part of what I knew of her life.

He was apparently doing the smear job his controllers wanted him to about her, even so many years later.

There was a terrific two-hour documentary on the History Channel recently about Helen's life, and it contained a great deal of film footage from the later years of her life that I can't recall ever having seen. It was amazing! To watch how she communicated, how she interacted with people -- especially children -- was just marvelous to see!

As one poster here who met her must have seen, Helen would put her hand on an area of the throat of those talking with her and could actually tell what they were saying that way ... just an astonishing capability she developed.

There was a lot of film footage of Helen and Annie, who was pretty old by then but still so much a part of Helen's life, clearly. Then Helen somehow found a replacement for Annie when she died, who helped her interact with the world in exactly the same way Annie had.

I so much appreciate getting to see that new photo, and thank you so much for posting it here at DU!!

Helen Keller -- a truly great American!

[John Gauger]

76. I always find those types that continue to spread ancient misinformation interesting.

I read an editorial recently about Obama that referred to Kerry's "fictitious trip to Cambodia." I had always thought the American excursions into Cambodia and Laos were filed under, "facts that are not under dispute," but here this guy is still denying forty years on.

[AzDar]

34. Beautiful.

[malaise]

35. That's truly beautiful

Thanks. K & R

[The Backlash Cometh]

36. What an amazing story it was.

[Gman]

37. Helen Keller or Anne Frank?

I thought that was Anne Frank...

..for you deviants that watched Clerks II.

[kath]

78. Heh. Clerks II was a hoot!

THe Anne Frank vs. Helen Keller bit was funny - perhaps not as hilarious as the Star Wars vs Lord of the Rings bit, but very funny!

[Just-plain-Kathy]

40. Beautiful topic. Thanks. ...n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. Wow how wonderful

great find!

[ConcernedCanuk]

42. A timeless speech - "Menace of the Militarist Program " Helen Keller, 1915

.
.
.

Heck, she could have said this yesterday -

"Menace of the Militarist Program"

Speech at the Labor Forum, Washington Irving High School, New York City

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoken: December 19, 1915
Source: Helen Keller: Her Socialist Years (International Publishers, 1967)
Transcription/Markup: Anonymous/Brian Basgen
Online Version: Helen Keller Reference Archive (marxists.org) 2000

The burden of war always falls heaviest on the toilers. They are taught that their masters can do no wrong, and go out in vast numbers to be killed on the battlefield. And what is their reward? If they escape death they come back to face heavy taxation and have their burden of poverty doubled. Through all the ages they have been robbed of the just rewards of their patriotism as they have been of the just reward of their labor.

The only moral virtue of war is that it compels the capitalist system to look itself in the face and admit it is a fraud. It compels the present society to admit that it has no morals it will not sacrifice for gain. During a war, the sanctity of a home, and even of private property is destroyed. Governments do what it is said the "crazy Socialists" would do if in power.

In spite of the historical proof of the futility of war, the United States is preparing to raise a billion dollars and a million sodiers in preparation for war. Behind the active agitators for defense you will find J.P. Morgan & Co., and the capitalists who have invested their money in shrapnel plants, and others that turn out implements of murder. They want armaments because they beget war, for these capitalists want to develop new markets for their hideous traffic.
________________________________________________________________________

more at link

"They want armaments because they beget war, for these capitalists want to develop new markets for their hideous traffic."

Boy, if she could know how right she was, and still is 100 years later

Amazing that a blind person can see reality better than the rest of us . .

(sigh)

[vickitulsa]

62. You said it!

About how a blind person could see so much better than the rest of us....

And she was not just blind, but blind AND DEAF! Completely, not partially. I think none of us can even begin to imagine what it was like to live inside her body, trying as a young being to figure out the world outside herself and her own place in it.

That's why I'm so glad she became a very public woman and did so much, wrote so much, taught so much, after she had studied and grown into a wonderfully intelligent and eloquent adult. Her very life itself is an amazing and beautiful example of the best human traits and capabilities. But her intellectual conclusions go far beyond even that brilliant light she represents, I think.

Paraphrasing your statement, I would say, "How could someone with no sight have so much insight?!" :)

The only way I can imagine what she went through from the time her illness took her sight and hearing is to think of the sensory deprivation chambers that have been created by those wishing to study human endurance for this sort of thing. The way I understand it, individuals are immersed in a sealed container of water that is body temperature, floating and with all sight and hearing muffled to nothing artificially.

I've read that many of the early astronauts in testing and training went through this. In fact, it was quite enlightening for the experimenters, who found that people have a decided inability to sanely cope with such extreme isolation. There were reports of disturbing hallucinations occuring after only a short time in such a chamber.

I also recall that Jeri Cobb, who was an Oklahoma native and the woman who ranked first among the FIRST female astronauts program (that was cancelled "for no reason" early on, only much later to be revived), held out longest in the sensory deprivation environment before calling to be let out. And generally, their findings were that women, for some unknown reason, generally could bear up longer in that state than the men in the astronaut program! Interesting, eh?


Thanks for this link -- this is great reading.

[LostinVA]

44. What a great historical find -- both very interesting women!!

Ms. Keller basically became an educated pinko commie radical!

[racaulk]

45. Wonderful!

What a beautiful picture! :)

[AlCzervik]

48. Wow, just amazing, what a wonderful picture.

[Inspired]

50. Two of our most extraordinary women. It is emotional seeing this picture, isn't it?

It is also hopeful when you learn of all of Helen Keller's accomplishments. Anne Sullivan deserves a very special place in our hearts right along with Helen Keller.

[Iris]

54. I agree.

[FourScore]

52. simply beautiful. n/t

[ljm2002]

56. I have to say...

...they look like mother and daughter, or big sister and little sister. The resemblance in that photo is striking.

[LeftishBrit]

63. Very interesting picture of two remarkable people..

Thanks for posting!

[StarryNite]

66. Both pictures on this thread

of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan are amazingly beautiful. And as someone else said, haunting. Thanks for posting them.

[Kurovski]

67. Wonderful.

I love Ms. Keller's and Sullivan's story, and this is very cool. Beautiful photo.

[annabanana]

68. Helen Keller became a fierce anti-war fighter, suffragette

and noted Socialist.

[AngryAmish]

69. DOes anyone remember Helen Keller jokes when they were kids?

[Oak2004]

80. I remember one "Helen Keller joke" in particular

I was the editor of our high school's underground newspaper, back in the day. One of the establishment types wrote an immature little doggerel that they "submitted" for publication to our paper. They never expected I'd actually publish it -- but of course I was happy to publish such embarrassing tripe and duly credit it to its author ;)

One of the lines, though, I still remember:

"(Oak2004) is their fearless leader
Helen Keller their proofreader"

I figure if Helen Keller had been at our school she'd have eagerly joined our newspaper staff.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

70. Anne Sullivan, the "Miracle Worker" was in fact blind herself

for most of her childhood, and she never had completely good vision until after a series of operations in her teens and young adulthood. It was this experience from both sides of darkness which made her such a brilliant teacher.

This past weekend my wife and I pulled out a letter from Keller written to her father back in the 50's, and we discussed the letter's value, and did a little research.
Aware that Sullivan was a native of Massachusetts (Feeding Hills, now part of Agawam), I knew a little about Sullivan but the knowledge of her own blindness was a revelation for me.
As it turns out, the letter is not especially valuable, since it is a form letter asking for donations to her foundation, however it is actually signed by her.

[badgerpup]

71. Annie Sullivan was a bit of a hero too...

...I remember reading about her when I was a kid.

She didn't have the most stable family life...lost her brother to tuberculosis, and all her life she had trouble with her eyes...
granulation in the eyelids.

Yet she did enough reading to assist Helen to graduate summa cum laude.

Just grey-mattering it as opposed to googling, so I don't remember which college she went to...
think it was Radcliffe, but won't swear to it.

[fortyfeetunder]

77. You're right Badgerpup!!!

Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe cum laude.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

82. The most amazing thing is that Anne Sullivan was only TWENTY when

she went to teach Helen Keller.

She had been trained at the Perkins School for the Blind, where a deaf-blind woman named Laura Bridgeman lived, so she was familiar with that pairing of disabilities.

(Laura Bridgeman was the first deaf-blind person in the U.S. to learn to communicate through finger spelling, although she never learned to speak and never lived independently.)

Still, it's amazing that a twenty-year-old with little education instinctively knew how to reach a child whom everyone else had given up on.

[Kurovski]

81. Kick,

Because I just plain love those two women.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

83. It's a beautiful photo

of two of my favorite heroines. :thumbsup: