Helen Keller - what you didn’t learn in school, but your students should

Sharon Pennock
Mon, 24 Mar 2025 01:07:12 +0000

A guest post from one of our curriculum writers, Alyson Perry:

If you have been a teacher or a student in U.S. schools, you have met Helen Keller, usually as the theme of a History or Reading lesson.

Keller might be one of the very few people identified as disabled that students will encounter in their lessons. But often she is only remembered as a DeafBlind child at the water pump, who suddenly discovers the word “water.”

Helen Keller, however, was a much more complex person. While I agree with critics, who say that we need more BIPOC and contemporary representation of DeafBlind and disabled people in Disability History, I also think when we come across Keller in a curriculum for any grade level, we have a chance to teach that Keller was so much more than a passive caricature of a helpless inspirational child.

If students are going to learn about Helen Keller anyway, we have a chance to show that she was a much more complex and influential person, than only a child at a water pump.

Did you know?

1. Helen Keller was the first DeafBlind person to earn a college degree. In 1904, she graduated cum laude from Radcliffe, the women’s college affiliated with Harvard, with a Bachelor’s Degree.

2. She worked the vaudeville circuit. There was a period in Keller’s life when she needed money. It was one of the few ways a disabled woman of Keller’s notoriety could make a decent amount of money.

3. Keller was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. In 1952, Helen Keller met with leaders in the Middle East to promote the rights of blind and otherwise disabled people. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize after securing a promise from Egypt’s Minister of Education to create secondary schools for blind students that could lead to a college education.

4. Helen Keller was extremely political. She was a strong advocate for the rights of disabled people, of workers, and of women. She identified as a Socialist for a large part of her political life and was one of the founding members of the ACLU. Her political views often met with controversy.

5. Keller fell in love with and almost eloped with Peter Fagan. When her family learned of their plans, they stopped the couple because they didn’t believe a woman with her disabilities should marry.

6. In 1999, Helen Keller’s name appeared in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most important figures of the Twentieth Century.

7. Keller is credited with introducing the Akita dog to the United States. In 1937, on a visit to Japan, she mentioned how much she admired Akitas. By 1938, the government of Japan formally had given her two Akita dogs, the first ever brought into the United States. By 1939 breed standards for Akitas in dog shows had been established.

There are details of Keller’s life and work, suitable for any grade level, to show that she was a remarkable woman of her time. You can help your students realize that she was so much more than a child at a water pump.

My favorite PBS documentary about Hellen Keller is “Becoming Helen Keller.” I recommend you check it out using the links below.

Watch Becoming Helen Keller

For PBS subscribers: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/helen-keller-documentary/18386/

On Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Helen-Keller-Warren-Snipe/dp/B0CWPJFJR3

Lesson Plan

PBS Learning Media Lessons: https://whyy.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/helenkeller/