Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan is best remembered as Helen Keller’s teacher — the “miracle worker” who taught a deaf and blind girl to communicate, using creative and unorthodox but hugely successful methods. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, Keller became the first deaf and blind college graduate, and achieved international acclaim as an author, inspirational speaker, and disability rights advocate. For educators, Sullivan has long been a source of hope and inspiration.

Not one to follow the rules, Sullivan created her own teaching methods when working with Keller. She threw the idea of a hard and fast curriculum out the window, opting instead to go with what interested her student. She stimulated Keller’s thirst for knowledge with novel experiences, such as pouring water over Keller’s hand to teach not only the word but its meaning, by associating a feeling with the water that differentiated it from, say, a mug or glass. She remained devoted to Keller as her teacher through college, and when Sullivan’s own sight failed in the 1930s, Keller became her companion and helper.

Sullivan faced challenges of her own growing up. As a young child, she contracted trachoma, an eye disease that left her vision impaired. After her mother passed away, her father left Sullivan and her brother Jimmie at a poor house that was dirty and overcrowded. Her brother died within thre

e months, but against all odds Sullivan went on to attend Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, where she eventually graduated as class valedictorian.

Being a wallflower was not in Sullivan’s nature. Though she was reportedly a reluctant public speaker, she was a fiery-tempered and headstrong woman throughout her life, until her death in 1936 at age 70.