Timeline of Helen Keller

Helen Keller was a famous American author, an activist and lecturer. When she was 19 months old, she became very ill and became deaf and blind. She also was not able to speak. But she bravely overcame her disabilities and worked at the American Foundation for the blind people for about 44 years. She was fervent advocate for the rights of disabled people. She was the first person to complete graduation from the deaf/blind college.

Timeline of Helen Keller

1880: Helen Keller was born on June 27, in Tuscumbia. Arthur Keller, a former officer in the Confederate army and Kate Adams were her parents.

1881: At the age of 19 months, Helen was stricken with an acute illness, meningitis and she lost her sight and hearing ability due to a high fever.

1886: Dr. Alexander Graham Bell recognized that Helen was exceptionally bright and he urged to find a teacher from the Perkins Institute for the Blind.

1887: Anne Sullivan became her teacher. Helen progressed with language rapidly under Anne’s tutorage.

1888-98: Helen Keller learnt to read and write in Braille at the Perkins Institution and learned to speak at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf. She studied at the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf, the Cambridge School for Young Ladies and to Radcliffe College.

1899: Mark Twain recognized her great spirit and intelligent despite her deafness and blindness.

1900: Helen enrolled as a regular student in Radcliffe College with the help of Anne Sullivan.

1903: Her first book, her autobiography The Story of My Life was published.

1904: Helen became the first blind/deaf person to graduate from Radcliffe College.

1908: Her book, The World I Live In was published.

1915: Helen Keller International (HKI) was founded.

1919: Helen Keller met Charlie Chaplin, a world-famous personality in the entertainment world.

1924: Helen conducted many tours and lectures in United States of America. She worked for improving education for the deaf, blind and mute.

1925: She successfully challenged Lions International, the largest fraternal organization of the world.

1926: Helen met President Calvin Coolidge.

1927, 29: Her popular book, My Religion was published. Her another book Midstream: My Later Life at 49 was published in 1929.

1932: Braille was accepted as the world’s standard alphabet for the blind. It resulted from the great efforts by the Royal Institute for the blind in UK.

1937: Helen Keller developed a close friendship with the Japanese people. She delivered 97 lectures in 39 cities.

1938: Helen Keller’s Journal was published.

1941: Helen attended a performance at the Opera House in New York. She experienced music through vibrations.

1943-46: Helen Keller visited the military hospitals. She referred to it as the crowning experience of her life.

1946-57: Helen visited 35 countries for the improvement in education of the handicapped people. The government started the schools for deaf and blind.

1953: She met Winston Churchill and Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India. She was honored by the French government in the ceremony commemorating the birth of Louie Braille at Sorbonne, Paris.

1954: Helen’s birthplace, Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Alabama was made a permanent shrine.

1955: Helen Keller achieved an Oscar Award for the documentary movie made on her life. Her book Teacher-Anne Sullivan was published in the same year.

1956: Helen became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Harvard University.

1960: She met President Eisenhower who became the first non-blind person to use the talking books during his recovery from heart attack.

1961: Helen met President John F. Kennedy, the 10th.

1964: Helen Keller suffered from stroke and later retired from public life. She received an award the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.

1968: Helen Keller died at the age of 88 years. She was buried at Washington Cathedral, Washington, D.C.