Oberlin, Ohio
(click the title to see a sampling of
Cameron's Powerpoint presentation. I studied the life of Helen Keller. I researched her
childhood, adulthood, career, and achievements. I learned
about her teachers and problems. I chose this topic because
I wanted to learn about sign language and Braille. Helen
Keller was a blind-deaf person, and needed to use those
methods of communications. This was an interesting
project. There were many things I hoped to learn. I wanted to
learn how to read Braille, and how to do sign language. I
wanted to learn what it was like to be deaf, blind, and
mute. My original topic was Communications of the Deaf,
Mute, and Blind. That topic was too large, so the title was
changed to The Life of Helen Keller. I learned many things
about her and her life. I researched using many different sources. Books, the
Internet, and movies about Helen Keller helped me. I found a
book with Miss Keller's signature and an old newspaper
article about her visiting injured soldiers during World War
II. Most of my information was from books, because they were
easiest to get facts from. It was hard to find out anything
about her family, since it was not in any books or on the
Internet. I did not find and information about her
grandparents, aunts, or uncles. That was the only difficult
information. Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880. She was
born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in a little house next to a
larger house that was built in 1820 by her grandparents. She
was born with total sight and hearing. When Helen was
nineteen months old, she became ill. Local doctors said she
had "acute digestion of the stomach and brain". Doctors now
think it may have been Scarlet Fever or Meningitis. There
were no antibiotics to treat her high fever, and many
doctors said she would die. Helen recovered, but lost her
hearing and sight. Her parents took her to Baltimore to see
the famous Oculist, Dr. Julian John Chisolm. He said there
was no way of helping her eyes. Helen learned to "listen" to
people by putting her thumb on the persons nose, her index
finger on the mouth, and middle finger on the throat. She
learned her own sign language, and would imitate cutting and
buttering bread when she wanted it. When she wished to hunt
for Guinea Hen eggs, Helen would put her fist in the grass.
Then Helen met Anne Sullivan in 1887. When Anne first arrived at Helen's home, Helen always got
what she wanted and was disobedient. She would walk around
the dinner table grabbing food from everyone else's plate.
She locked Anne in her room and Anne had to climb out the
window and make Helen reveal the key that she had hidden.
Another time she locked her mother in the pantry. Anne
requested that she and Helen be housed away from everyone
else, and without any contact from the entire family. Soon
Anne had disciplined Helen to eat with a spoon, fork, and
knife at the table. She taught the Manual Sign Language
Alphabet to Helen. Helen could imitate these signs, but did
not understand that everything has a name. Anne showed Helen
a mug of water and let her touch the water. She then spelled
it into Helen's hand. She took Helen to the water pump
outside the house, and spelled w-a-t-e-r into her hand
again. Helen suddenly understood. From then on she was eager
to learn more. That was Helen's communication
breakthrough. On May 26, 1888, Helen went to the Perkins Institute for
the Blind. During her time there, Helen raised money to help
Tommy Stringer, a five year old blind deaf boy who was very
poor to attend Perkins. Helen and Anne moved to New York in
October 1894 so that she could go to Wright-Humason
School. Helen had many achievements in her life. She entered
Radcliffe College in September, 1900. She published her
autobiography, The Story of My Life, in 1903. She graduated
with honors from college on June 28, 1904. Helen and Anne
bought a house in Wrentham, Massachusetts. In 1915, Helen
met Peter Fagan, and planned to elope with him. Her mother,
who disapproved of the match, found out, prevented the
wedding, and Helen never saw Fagan again. Anne and Helen
sold the Wrentham farm. In 1923 Helen became a fund raiser
and symbol for the American Foundation for the Blind, under
the director, Robert Irwin. In 1943, Helen started visiting
hurt soldiers with Polly Thompson. She published Teacher, a
biography of Anne Sullivan in 1955. In all, she wrote twelve
books and many magazine articles. Helen had her first stroke
in 1961, and retired from the public. President Lyndon
Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in
1964. Helen Keller died in Westport, Connecticut on June 1,
1968. Helen had several teachers that helped her learn to
communicate and live. Anne Sullivan was born on April 14,
1866. She met Helen in 1857, after going to Perkins School
for the Blind, and getting sent to Tuscumbia to teach Helen.
On May 2, 1905, Anne married John Albert Macy, but only nine
years later in 1914, he asked for a divorce. After the
divorce of Anne and John, Helen met Polly Thompson.
Together, Helen, Anne, and Polly moved to Forest Hills, New
York. Anne died there on October 20, 1936. Polly Thompson
died on March 21, 1960. Those were Helen's teachers. Helen's parents were Kate Adams Keller, and Captain
Arthur H. Keller. Kate Keller was tall, blonde, and
sensitive. She was not Captain Keller's first wife. They
married in 1878, one year after the death of Sara, the
Captain's first wife. He had two sons, fifteen year old
Simpson and twenty one year old James. Captain Keller ran
the local newspaper of Tuscumbia, The North Alabamian, and
owned a six hundred forty acre cotton plantation. The North
Alabamian always had the motto: "Here shall the press the
People's Rights maintain, unawed by influence, unbridged by
gain." Captain Keller was loyal to the South, and served in
the Confederate Army during the Civil War. After the war,
when Helen was born, the family was poor. Her mother saved
money by making her own butter, lard, bacon, and ham.
Captain Keller died on August 19, 1896. Kate Keller died on
November 20, 1921. Braille is the written language of the blind. It is a
code of raised dots and is read by touch. The Braille "cell"
is made of six dots: three dots tall and two wide.
Sixty-three characters can be formed. A man named Louis
Braille invented Braille. He was born in 1809 and died in
1852. The deaf and mute use sign language. It was invented
to help avoid spelling every word in letters by symbolizing
entire words with hand gestures. Spelling every word with
individual letters is called finger spelling. Sign language
was originally used for teaching the deaf at the French
Catholic School for the Deaf in Paris. It was the first free
public school for the deaf in the world. It was founded in
1756 by Abbe Charles. I learned about Laura Bridgman while studying Helen
Keller. Laura Bridgman was born in 1829. She was the first
blind/deaf person to be successfully educated. She learned
to read, write, and sew. Hanover, under the guidance of Dr.
S.G. Howe, was Laura's teacher at the Perkins Institution
for the Blind. She was famous as a girl and woman, but Helen
Keller was more famous. Laura met Helen Keller at Perkins
Institution. Laura Bridgman died in 1889. There were not
many books about her. I learned some facts about Alabama while studying Helen
Keller. In 1865, 435,000 former slaves were free, but could
find no work. Their numbers total more than half of
Alabama's total population. The South owed 712,000,000
dollars to the United States Government. It would also take
many millions of dollars to recover crops, livestock, and
roads. In 1877, three years before Helen was born, the
200,000 federal troops retreated from over twelve years of
occupation. The population in Tuscumbia dropped from 2,491
to 2,348. During the Civil War, about 100,000 men from
Alabama went to fight, but only 30,000 returned. Those were
the facts about Alabama. There are several careers related to my topic. A guide
dog trainer has to do a lot of training. They teach students
who want to become trainers, and must go through three years
of being an apprentice and tests before getting a license. A
sign language interpreter has to take a course for sign
language, pass difficult tests, and get a certificate from
the Registry for Interpreters for the Deaf. I think it would
be hard to get one of these jobs. I had an exciting experience while doing this project.
Researching was easy, because books were straightforward and
easy to find facts in. I had fun researching sign language
and Braille because I learned some words and letters. I
learned how to balance time with this project, and I learned
about history. If there were more time before the
Independent Study Fair, I would have like to learn how to
"speak" sign language more fluently. I would have liked to
find information about Helen's family tree. I learned a lot
from this project. Glossary Acute - severe but of short duration; not chronic; said
of some diseases Almshouse - poorhouse Blind - without sight Braille - a system of printing and writing for the blind,
in which characters are formed by patterns of raised dots
which are felt with the fingers Chronic - lasting a long time; distinguished from
acute Deaf - totally or partially unable to hear Disapprove - To refuse to approve; reject. Disciplined - A state of order based on submission to
rules and authority: a teacher who demanded discipline in
the classroom Disobedient - not obeying or complying with commands of
those in authority Distinguished - different Duration - the time in which anything lasts Eager - Having or showing keen interest, intense desire,
or impatient expectancy Elope - To run away with a lover, especially with the
intention of getting married Guinea hen - an African bird, of the pheasant family. The
common domesticated species has a colored fleshy horn on
each aide of the head, and is of a dark gray color,
variegated with small white spots. Housed - A structure serving as a dwelling for one or
more persons, especially for a family Interpreter - One who translates from one language into
another. Lard - The white solid or semisolid rendered fat of a
hog Meningitis - Inflammation of the meninges of the brain
and the spinal cord, most often caused by a bacterial or
viral infection and characterized by fever, vomiting,
intense headache, and stiff neck. Mute - unable to speak Occupation - An activity that serves as one's regular
source of livelihood Oculist - A physician who treats diseases of the eyes,
ophthalmologist Ophthalmologist - a person dealing with medicine,
structure, function, and diseases of the eye Plantation - large town lots, called plantations by early
settlers Possessed - To have as property; own Registry - A book for official records Reveal - To bring to view; show Scarlet Fever - An acute contagious disease caused by a
hemolytic streptococcus, occurring predominantly among
children and characterized by a scarlet skin eruption and
high fever Sign Language - a system of signs and gestures used as a
language by the deaf and mute Stagnant - motionless; foul or stale from standing Tract - A specified or limited area of land Water pump - device for raising, compressing, or
transferring fluids Bibliography Brown, Christopher. (2004). The Book of Signing.
London. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Women in American History.
[Online] Available http://women/articles/Bridgman_Laura_dewey.html.
1999. Keller, Helen. (1965). Helen Keller. New York. Lawlor, Laurie. (2001). Rebellious Spirit. Royal National Institute of the Blind [Online]
Available http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedia/groups/public/documents/publicwebsites/public_keller.hcsp#
P8_883, 2004. Sanders, Josef I. (1968). Sign Language.
Washington, D.C. Unknown Author. Women in American History. (Online)
Available http://www.women/articles/Bridgman_Laura_Dewey.html. Wilkie, Katherine E. (1969). Helen Keller: From
Tragedy to Triumph. New York. .
Keep in mind that the non-web version will be much
better.
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