03-06-2025
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.
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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.
