Helen Keller

Helen Keller (1880–1968) was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was nineteen months old, an illness left her deaf and blind. The story of her education, from learning her first word at the age of seven to entering Radcliffe College twelve years later, has inspired millions of people all over the world, and was the basis for The Miracle Worker, a Tony Award–winning play and Academy Award–winning film. A tireless advocate for people with disabilities and for women’s rights, Keller was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.