Latest news with #HelenKeller
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Helen Keller's Family, Companions, & the Life They Built Together
As a disabled social activist and suffragette, Helen Keller is a household name. But her life story doesn't begin and end with her work. Let's take a deeper look into her early life, her evolving relationships with family, mentors, and friends, as well as the ways in which her disability shaped her experiences and informed the legacy we still engage with today. Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1880. She developed a brain fever at just 19 months old — later speculated to be either meningitis or scarlet fever — which left her deaf and blind. Losing both her sight and hearing at such a young age proved challenging, as you'd expect. Without easy access to occupational therapy or specialized schools, as many disabled children have today, Helen had to adapt to her environment on her own. She worked to feel and smell her world through her remaining senses. Many families with nonverbal or disabled children know how that lack of communication can be extremely frustrating for them and often lead to tantrums. Helen Keller was no different, throwing things and eating from others' plates to get her way. It's a common misconception that her famed tutor, Anne Sullivan, swooped in to save the day. Yet, Helen did use a primitive communication technique before ever coming into contact with Anne. She used a simple sign language that consisted of 60 signs with her family members and her companion, Martha Washington, who was the child of her family's cook. In addition to her friend Martha, Helen's dog Belle, an old setter, was also a constant companion to her. She enjoyed Belle's presence, excitement, and overall calm manner. Given her disabilities, Helen didn't lead a stereotypical adulthood. She and Anne Sullivan bought a home together in Wrentham, Massachusetts. Though Anne later married John A. Macy in 1905, Helen continued to live with the couple even into her 30s. Macy, an editor of Keller's autobiography, was also a great friend of Helen's. Both joined the Socialist Party (Helen in 1909), with Helen later becoming a suffragist. Helen seemed happy in the Macy's home, and John devised a system for her to be able to take regular walks. However, the marriage didn't last. While the two never formally divorced, John and Anne parted ways in 1914 and became estranged. Meanwhile, Helen continued staying with Anne. Incredibly, Helen's fight for social rights didn't end with the Suffragist Movement. She was a devout humanitarian and even co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union. She was also active in raising awareness and encouraging support for the blind. Additionally, Helen published four books about her life, one on religion, one on social problems, and a biography of Anne Sullivan. Probably one of the most notable of her accomplishments is that at the age of 75, she did a five-month, 40,000-mile trek across Asia. Helen Keller gradauted cum laude from Radcliffe College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1904. Related: Despite her achievements and triumphs, Helen Keller wasn't a monolith. She had people who loved and supported her, just as you do! We all have people who touch us along the way, and these are some of the important people to pop up in Helen's life. Helen was Arthur and Kate Keller's first child. After serving in the Confederate Army, her father became an editor for the North Alabamian. His first marriage to Sarah E. Rosser left him a widower, though he later married Kate Adams in 1877. Helen had a loving relationship with her parents, who sought to find the best care they could for her. Helen Keller was a distant cousin of Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, through her father's line. Helen was far from an only child, having a younger sister named Mildred and two stepbrothers, Simpson and James. While Helen struggled to adapt in an environment not well-suited for her needs with family who didn't know how to help, James is believed to have had a firmer hand with Helen than most. Helen also had a younger brother, Phillips, whom she helped name. While Helen didn't mention her brothers much in her writings, she did discuss walking hand-in-hand with her sister and attempting to talk to her with her primitive language. Once Helen learned to speak, Mildred became a close confidant. In 1886, Helen's mother contacted Alexander Graham Bell, who was working on a hearing device for the deaf. He led them to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, where Anne Sullivan was studying. With a visual impairment herself, Anne was a star student at Perkins Institute and traveled to Alabama to work with Helen. Through their hard work, Helen learned to use sign language and read braille by the time she was 10 years old! Helen also wanted to learn how to speak, so Anne took her to the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. After having eleven lessons there, Anne took over her instruction, and Helen eventually learned to speak. Unsurprisingly, the two remained close until Anne's death in 1936. Helen Keller never married or had children, not that she didn't try. At 36, she and Peter Fagan applied for a marriage license that was never fulfilled. When Anne became ill, Peter, a 29-year-old reporter, became Helen's temporary secretary. During this time, the two grew close and made plans to marry. However, Helen's family was against the match, believing in the unfortunately common idea at the time that marriage and motherhood were not options for a disabled woman like her. The two planned to elope nonetheless, but Peter never came. Helen later said of the relationship, "His love was a bright sun that shone upon my helplessness and isolation." After the failed elopement, Helen never saw Peter again. Polly Thomson was another companion in Helen's adult life. A housekeeper from Scotland who eventually became Keller's secretary, she worked with both Anne and Helen. After Anne was no longer able to travel with Helen due to her declining health, Polly became Helen's best-known companion. Polly took Anne's place after her death and remained by Helen's side until her own death in 1960. Helen Keller was dealt a difficult hand as a young child, but she took advantage of every opportunity that came her way. Leaning on the friends and family around her, she fought for social and human rights, sought to increase her education at every turn, and lived a rich life right up to the end. And it's this triumphant story that's led to the even richer legacy we revere today.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
On This Day, June 1: Lafayette Square protesters cleared for Trump church photo-op
On this date in history: In 1880, the first public pay telephone began operation in New Haven, Conn. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle became prime minister of France with emergency powers amid the collapse of the Fourth Republic. He was elected president of France at the end of the year amid the rise of the Fifth Republic. In 1962, Israel hanged Adolf Eichmann for his part in the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayers and Bible teaching in public schools on the constitutional grounds of separation of church and state. In 1968, Helen Keller, a world-renowned author and lecturer despite being blind and deaf from infancy, died in Westport, Conn., at the age of 87. In 1973, Prime Minister George Papadopoulos abolished the Greek monarchy and proclaimed Greece a republic with himself as president. Constantine II, the last king of Greece, died in January 2023. In 1980, the Cable News Network -- CNN -- TV's first all-news service, went on the air. In 1993, President Jorge Serrano Elias of Guatemala was ousted by the military. In 1997, Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's widow, sustained injuries when her 12-year-old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz, set fire to her apartment. She died nearly a month later. In 1997, teacher Jonathan Levin, the son of Time Warner's then-chairman, Gerald Levin, was tortured and killed by a former student who knew him to be wealthy and was seeking money. The student, Corey Arthur, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. His alleged accomplice, Montoun Hart, was acquitted despite a signed, 11-page confession. In 2001, Nepalese Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev massacred nine members of his family, including his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya; his siblings, Prince Nirajan and Princess Shruti; and aunts and uncles Prince Dhirendra, Princess Shanti, Princess Sharada, Kumar Khadga and Princess Jayanti. Dipendra also shot himself in the head, but initially survived, and served as king for four days before dying. In 2008, a fire at Universal Studios Hollywood burned two city blocks and destroyed iconic movie sets, including those from When Harry Met Sally, The Sting and Back to the Future. In 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board. In 2015, the Eastern Star, a passenger ship traveling along the Yangtze River from the eastern city of Nanjing, flipped during a violent storm, killing approximately 400 people. In 2020, law enforcement officers cleared protesters from Lafayette Square near the White House using tear gas and other tactics to allow President Donald Trump to walk to St. John's Episcopal Church to pose for a photo while holding a Bible. The photo op came amid protests against the police killing of George Floyd which caused damage to the church. In 2021, Adm. Linda Fagan took over for retiring Adm. Karl L. Schultz, becoming the first female commandant in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Hindustan Times
25-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Memorial Day 2025: 40+ meaningful quotes and messages to honour and remember the fallen on Memorial Day
Memorial Day 2025: Memorial Day is one of the federal holidays observed in the United States. It is observed on the last Monday of May. This year, it falls on May 26. Memorial Day honours and mourns the US military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. In recognition of their courage, here's a list of Memorial Day quotes and messages to pay tribute. Also Read | Memorial Day 2025: Know all about the date, significance, history and traditions of this national day of remembrance 1. Though they are gone, their light remains - guiding us, warming us, living on in memory. 2. Grief is love's echo. It reminds us of how deeply we cared. 3. We carry them with us, not in our arms but in our hearts. 4. Time may pass, but the love remains unshaken. 5. Even in their absence, their presence is felt in the quiet moments. 6. We miss you more than words can say. 7. Love leaves a memory no one can steal. 8. We remember not how they left us, but how they made us feel while they were here. 9. Grief is not a sign of weakness, but the price of having loved deeply. 10. To remember is to honour. To honour is to keep them alive in the stories we tell. 11. Some lives leave behind whispers; others, symphonies. They were the latter. 12. We do not get over great losses - we learn to carry them with grace. 13. The ones we love are never truly gone; their stories are now part of ours. 14. Memory is the way the soul keeps holding hands. 15. We speak their name, not to dwell in sadness, but to celebrate the gift they were. 16. Gone from our sight, but never from God's embrace. 17. The Lord called them home, but love keeps them near. 18. We find comfort knowing they rest in eternal peace and glory. 19. Heaven gained what earth lost - but our hearts still hold them close. 20. Until we meet again, may God hold them in the palm of His hand. 21. 'Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there; I do not sleep.' - Mary Elizabeth Frye. 22. 'What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose.' - Helen Keller. 23. 'Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.' - Barack Obama. 24. 'In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams - that is where you live.' - Lewis Carroll. 25. 'Their absence is like the sky, spread over everything.' - CS Lewis. 26. 'All that we love deeply becomes part of us.' - Helen Keller. 27. 'In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.' - Franklin D Roosevelt. 28. 'As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.' - John F Kennedy. 29. 'It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God such men lived.' - George S Patton. 30. 'America without her soldiers would be like God without His angels.' - Claudia Pemberton. 31. 'The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.' - Benjamin Disraeli. 32. 'A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.' - Joseph Campbell. 33. 'Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.' - Franklin D Roosevelt. 34. 'No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.' - Douglas MacArthur. 35. 'Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of readiness to die.' - GK Chesterton. 36. 'For love of country, they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.'- James A Garfield. 37. 'The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men.' - Minot J Savage. 38. 'Let every nation know... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden... to assure the survival and the success of liberty.' - John F Kennedy. 39. 'In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.' - José Narosky. 40. 'Memorial Day is the most solemn of holidays. It's not about picnics. It's about honouring the fallen.' - Rick Perry. 41. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr. Note to readers: This story includes AI-generated elements.
Politico
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Politico
How Gen Z Became the Most Gullible Generation
The video starts with bold red letters blaring: '2016 Democrat Primary Voter Fraud CAUGHT ON TAPE.' A series of blurry security footage follows, showing blatant instances of ballot stuffing. The only problem: The clips actually depict voter fraud in Russia. Would you have taken the bait? A quick Google search would have easily revealed the dubious source of the video, along with news articles debunking its claims. But when researchers from Stanford studying young people's media literacy — the ability to accurately evaluate information in the wilds of mass media — showed the video to 3,446 high school students, only three succeeded in identifying the Russian connection. 'There is this myth of the digital native, that because some people have grown up with digital devices, they are well equipped to make sense of the information that those devices provide,' says Joel Breakstone, who led the 2021 study. 'The results were sobering.' It's a startling reality about Gen Z, backed up by multiple studies and what we can all see for ourselves: The most online generation is also the worst at discerning fact from fiction on the internet. That becomes an issue when the internet — and specifically, social media — has become the main source of news for the younger generation. About three in five Gen Zers, from between the ages of 13 and 26, say they get their news from social media at least once a week. TikTok is a particularly popular platform: 45 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were regular news consumers on the app. While social media may make news more accessible, there's also little quality control to the information on the platforms. And although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation — which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI — members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There's a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities — which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It's the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim. I've seen it happen in my own social circles, where friends in their 20s will start to regurgitate what they see on TikTok as if it is fact. My friends and I often now make it a point to ask if the 'source' someone has gotten their information from is a TikTok video, and whether they've at least looked it up on Google afterward. The answer is usually no. The misinformation people see on TikTok and other social media ranges from nefarious to absurd: Famously, there was a period when some young people on the app seriously questioned the life story of Helen Keller, who found success despite being deaf and blind ('Did she get any kind of money for lying her way through life??' one user asks). Just last year, when Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton hit North Carolina and Florida, claims the government was 'geo-engineering' the weather gained traction on social media, as people suggested that Democrats were behind the ravaging of Republican-dense areas. Beef tallow as skincare is the latest trend. If some teens next to you smell like fryer grease, they might have fallen victim to videos that claim beef fat is good for your face, despite warnings from dermatologists. The common thread in all these viral conspiracy theories on TikTok is that they are fueled by distrust of institutions — from schools to the National Weather Service to the medical establishment. And that sentiment carries over to the media: Only 16 percent of Gen Zers have strong confidence in the news. It's no surprise then that so many young people are shunning traditional publications and seeking their news on social media, often from unverified accounts that do little fact-checking. The ramifications are potentially huge for American politics. Without some sort of course correction, a growing piece of the electorate will find itself falling victim to fake news and fringe conspiracy theories online — likely driving the hyperpolarization of our politics to new heights. When it comes to fact-checking, Gen Z tends to have its own distinct method: Opening up the comment section. 'They tend to feel comfortable relying on aggregate trust, so they'll rely on Yelp reviews or Amazon reviews,' says Daniel Cox, a pollster who surveys young people. 'This sounds like a very similar thing, right? They're seeing what other people are saying about an article or a product and basing their decisions on that.' In the era of the almighty algorithm, however, the comment sections are often echo chambers. There are few countervailing notions there because the algorithm feeds the video to like-minded people who share the same perspective on the subject, regardless of its accuracy. '[The algorithm] helps segregate people in ways that are profoundly concerning to me,' Cox adds. 'We're not sharing the same experiences online — we're having very discrete, different experiences by our gender or sexual orientation or politics. … Everything that you're experiencing, you can find some kind of validation online for it.' And this is a bipartisan trend: President Donald Trump's fans and haters are both just as likely to fall for fake information that already conforms to their worldview. A prime example of this dynamic is a fake viral soundbite of Trump allegedly musing that the District of Columbia should be renamed the District of America. The audio has been debunked as AI-generated, but you wouldn't know that when looking at the comment section of videos reacting in disbelief. In one video that's gained over 250,000 likes, the comments don't question the source of the audio clip but rather share the same horror. 'Why do we have the dumbest president in American History??' reads the top comment. One must scroll far down the comment section to even spot a clarification from the video's creator, who commented a day later: 'I'm thinking it is AI.' These echo chambers help explain Gen Z's growing affinity for conspiracy theories. We've moved beyond the stereotype of the loner in the basement with the tin-foil hat; today it's the TikTok addict enclosed in their political cocoon who is particularly vulnerable to misinformation. Young people aren't solely to blame for their lack of digital literacy. In school, students are taught to read closely and carefully — which misinformation researchers say has unintentionally enforced the idea that students should drill into a single video and determine its accuracy with their eyes, rather than leave the page and open Google. The technology of misinformation is advancing rapidly, and it is becoming impossible to differentiate what's true from what's false with mere observation. For older generations, who came to the internet later in life, there's still at least some natural skepticism toward what they see online. For the youth, it must be taught. Gen Zers are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation compared to older age groups not just because of their social media habits, says Rakoen Maertens, a behavioral scientist at the University of Oxford, but because they have fewer lived experiences and knowledge to discern reality. Maertens, who helped create a test that measures a person's likelihood of being duped by fake headlines, says that while Gen Zers were most likely to fall for fake news now, there is hope that as time passes, they'll become better at detecting falsities, just like the generations before them. There's also another, far more depressing alternative that may be just as likely — that the rest of the population will go the way of Gen Z. After all, as the internet becomes ever more ingrained in people's lives and more platforms adopt silo-fueling algorithms, even older generations that had held onto their skepticism may embrace the media consumption habits of the youth — and become just as susceptible to AI-fueled conspiracy theories and misinformation. 'It is a systematic issue,' Breakstone says. 'The evidence is clear that folks of all ages struggle to make sense of the overwhelming amount of information that they encounter online, and we need to figure out ways to support people, to find better ways to make sense of the content that streams across their devices.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gen Z, Media Illiterates
The video starts with bold red letters blaring: '2016 Democrat Primary Voter Fraud CAUGHT ON TAPE.' A series of blurry security footage follows, showing blatant instances of ballot stuffing. The only problem: The clips actually depict voter fraud in Russia. Would you have taken the bait? A quick Google search would have easily revealed the dubious source of the video, along with news articles debunking its claims. But when researchers from Stanford studying young people's media literacy — the ability to accurately evaluate information in the wilds of mass media — showed the video to 3,446 high school students, only three succeeded in identifying the Russian connection. 'There is this myth of the digital native, that because some people have grown up with digital devices, they are well equipped to make sense of the information that those devices provide,' says Joel Breakstone, who led the 2021 study. 'The results were sobering.' It's a startling reality about Gen Z, backed up by multiple studies and what we can all see for ourselves: The most online generation is also the worst at discerning fact from fiction on the internet. That becomes an issue when the internet — and specifically, social media — has become the main source of news for the younger generation. About three in five Gen Zers, from between the ages of 13 and 26, say they get their news from social media at least once a week. TikTok is a particularly popular platform: 45 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were regular news consumers on the app. While social media may make news more accessible, there's also little quality control to the information on the platforms. And although people of all ages are bad at detecting misinformation — which is only getting harder amid the rise of AI — members of Gen Z are particularly vulnerable to being fooled. Why? There's a dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities — which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful algorithms and further deepens their distrust. It's the kind of media consumption that differs drastically from older generations who spend far more time with mainstream media, and the consequences can be grim. I've seen it happen in my own social circles, where friends in their 20s will start to regurgitate what they see on TikTok as if it is fact. My friends and I often now make it a point to ask if the 'source' someone has gotten their information from is a TikTok video, and whether they've at least looked it up on Google afterward. The answer is usually no. The misinformation people see on TikTok and other social media ranges from nefarious to absurd: Famously, there was a period when some young people on the app seriously questioned the life story of Helen Keller, who found success despite being deaf and blind ('Did she get any kind of money for lying her way through life??' one user asks). Just last year, when Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton hit North Carolina and Florida, claims the government was 'geo-engineering' the weather gained traction on social media, as people suggested that Democrats were behind the ravaging of Republican-dense areas. Beef tallow as skincare is the latest trend. If some teens next to you smell like fryer grease, they might have fallen victim to videos that claim beef fat is good for your face, despite warnings from dermatologists. The common thread in all these viral conspiracy theories on TikTok is that they are fueled by distrust of institutions — from schools to the National Weather Service to the medical establishment. And that sentiment carries over to the media: Only 16 percent of Gen Zers have strong confidence in the news. It's no surprise then that so many young people are shunning traditional publications and seeking their news on social media, often from unverified accounts that do little fact-checking. The ramifications are potentially huge for American politics. Without some sort of course correction, a growing piece of the electorate will find itself falling victim to fake news and fringe conspiracy theories online — likely driving the hyper-polarization of our politics to new heights. When it comes to fact-checking, Gen Z tends to have its own distinct method: Opening up the comment section. 'They tend to feel comfortable relying on aggregate trust, so they'll rely on Yelp reviews or Amazon reviews,' says Daniel Cox, a pollster who surveys young people. 'This sounds like a very similar thing, right? They're seeing what other people are saying about an article or a product and basing their decisions on that.' In the era of the almighty algorithm, however, the comment sections are often echo chambers. There are few countervailing notions there because the algorithm feeds the video to like-minded people who share the same perspective on the subject, regardless of its accuracy. '[The algorithm] helps segregate people in ways that are profoundly concerning to me,' Cox adds. 'We're not sharing the same experiences online — we're having very discrete, different experiences by our gender or sexual orientation or politics. … Everything that you're experiencing, you can find some kind of validation online for it.' And this is a bipartisan trend: Trump's fans and haters are both just as likely to fall for fake information that already conforms to their worldview. A prime example of this dynamic is a fake viral soundbite of President Donald Trump allegedly musing that the District of Columbia should be renamed the District of America. The audio has been debunked as AI-generated, but you wouldn't know that when looking at the comment section of videos reacting in disbelief. In one video that's gained over 250,000 likes, the comments don't question the source of the audio clip but rather share the same horror. 'Why do we have the dumbest president in American History??' reads the top comment. One must scroll far down the comment section to even spot a clarification from the video's creator, who commented a day later: 'I'm thinking it is AI.' These echo chambers help explain Gen Z's growing affinity for conspiracy theories. We've moved beyond the stereotype of the loner in the basement with the tin-foil hat; today it's the TikTok addict enclosed in their political cocoon who is particularly vulnerable to misinformation. Young people aren't solely to blame for their lack of digital literacy. In school, students are taught to read closely and carefully — which misinformation researchers say has unintentionally enforced the idea that students should drill into a single video and determine its accuracy with their eyes, rather than leave the page and open Google. The technology of misinformation is advancing rapidly, and it is becoming impossible to differentiate what's true from what's false with mere observation. For older generations, who came to the internet later in life, there's still at least some natural skepticism toward what they see online. For the youth, it must be taught. Gen Zers are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation compared to older age groups not just because of their social media habits, says Rakoen Maertens, a behavioral scientist at the University of Oxford, but because they have fewer lived experiences and knowledge to discern reality. Maertens, who helped create a test that measures a person's likelihood of being duped by fake headlines, says that while Gen Zers were most likely to fall for fake news now, there is hope that as time passes, they'll become better at detecting falsities, just like the generations before them. There's also another, far more depressing alternative that may be just as likely — that the rest of the population will go the way of Gen Z. After all, as the internet becomes ever more ingrained in people's lives and more platforms adopt silo-fueling algorithms, even older generations that had held onto their skepticism may embrace the media consumption habits of the youth — and become just as susceptible to AI-fueled conspiracy theories and misinformation. 'It is a systematic issue,' Breakstone says. 'The evidence is clear that folks of all ages struggle to make sense of the overwhelming amount of information that they encounter online, and we need to figure out ways to support people, to find better ways to make sense of the content that streams across their devices.'
