Helen Keller, a Women’s History Month Gem

“I believe that life is given to us so we may grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower-The Light in my darkness, The Voice in my silence.”
– Helen Keller.

I loved the quote that Neil Woodburn used in his gadling post on the cutting down of the chestnut tree at Anne Frank’s house. It pulled me right into the story, thus when I saw this quote on the website of Helen Keller’s birthplace, I wanted to share. Helen Keller is one of the women who should get a nod for Women’s History Month, I think.

A few years ago, I read that Helen Keller is not as familiar to kids today as she once was. When I was growing up, along with Anne Frank, Helen was on the top of the list of most admired females. After scarlet fever left her blind and deaf at the age of two, through the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan (my hero), Helen went on to earn a degree at Radcliffe College and toured the world as an inspirational speaker, an advocate for people living with handicaps and a well-known writer. As history has marched forward, it leaves remarkable people trailing behind, I suppose. Helen (and Anne’s story) is one that needs to be retold and retold.

When we went to Alabama a few years back, I wanted to head to Green Ivy, Helen’s birthplace in Tuscumbia. If you go there, you can walk the grounds and tour the house where Helen and Anne once lived. Most of the original furniture is still in the estate’s buildings, including the cottage where Anne lived with Helen.

June 20-24, Tuscumbia turns out for the Helen Keller Festival, a week long event of art, music, food and activities for kids to teach them about what it’s like to be blind and deaf. Each weekend in the summer, the play, “The Miracle Worker,” is performed at Ivy Green.