Helen Adams Keller 

was born on June 

27, 1880 in 

Tuscumbia, 

Alabama. 

She had one sister 

and two 

stepbrothers.

Keller was born with her 

senses of sight and hearing, 

and started speaking when she 

was just 6 months old. 

Arthur H. Keller 

was Helen's 

father.   He was 

an officer in the 

Confederate 

Army during 

the Civil War.

This is Helen's mother, 

Katherine Adams Keller.  

She noticed that her 

daughter didn't show any 

reaction when the dinner 

bell was rung, or when a 

hand was waved in front 

of her face. Keller had lost 

both her sight and 

hearing. She was just 18 

months old.

     Helen did not have a way to 

communicate her feelings. The only 

way she knew how to express 

herself was to throw tantrums. 

Photo of Anne Sullivan in 

1887

Anne Sullivan was a recent graduate from the 

Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, MA. 

When Helen's mother came searching for an 

education for Helen, Sullivan was suggested. 

Anne came to the 

Keller home to teach 

Helen in 1887. Anne 

began by teaching 

Helen fingerspelling. 

She would give Helen 

an object and 

fingerspell the name 

of in Helen's hands. 

Photo of Anne and Helen

in 1888

American Sign Language Alphabet

Anne held Helen's hands under water and then 

signed W-A-T-E-R to Helen. Helen understood 

the signs in her hands were the names of 

objects. She was thrilled and wanted to know 

the name to every object she could find. 

In 1890, Helen started speech classes at the Horace 

Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. 

From 1894 to 1896, she attended the Wright-

Humason School for the Deaf in New York City.

While there, she worked on improving her 

communication skills and studied regular academic 

subjects.