Helen Keller: Forever the Girl at the Well

When I was young I wanted to see if I shared my birthday with anyone famous. Not only did I share my birthday with Captain Kangaroo (a big deal at the time!), but I found I also shared it with Helen Keller, born June 27, 1880.

Even as a child I had heard of Helen Keller and basically knew what everybody else did—she was blind, deaf, and couldn’t communicate with the world. A teacher named Anne Sullivan Macy began working with her, and then, during a dramatic moment at a well, Helen finally understood.

And that was it. That was always where her story seemed to end. Sure, sometimes you might hear how she went on to study at Radcliffe, and I was even surprised to find out she lived to be 87 years old, passing away on June 1, 1968. But in my mind, she remained the young girl at that well.

It is sad that the bulk of her life has been so overlooked because it is fascinating. For example, Keller was an avowed socialist and advocate for worker’s rights and votes for women. She spoke out against Hitler as far back as 1933, was vocal against McCarthy when it was risky to do, and openly opposed the apartheid system of South Africa.

Keller also occasionally courted controversy. She once espoused sympathy for the concept of Eugenics and angered many in the deaf community by endorsing the idea that the deaf should learn to lip read rather than focus on signing. She was a highly intellectual and complicated woman who held many great ideas and contradictions. However, to most, she is still the girl at the well.

Of course, Keller is not the only well-known figure to be frozen in the memories of the public as a child. Only recently I saw an article insisting that one of the cast members of Stranger Things would be perfect for the role of an 11-year-old character. This particular actor is almost 21 years old!

When people become famous at a young age, the public has a hard time viewing them as anything but young. Unfortunately, this means many parts of an interesting life get ignored. In fact, in looking for books on Helen Keller, almost all of them focused on her childhood, leaving only a few pages to cover the remaining decades.

I was able to locate two books that were more comprehensive: The Radical Lives of Helen Keller and Beyond the Miracle Worker, both written by Kim E. Nielsen. I recommend both of these for those who want to learn more about her entire remarkable life. On her birthday this year, June 27, let’s remember Helen Keller for more than that moment at the well.

Pamela M.
Antioch Branch