Helen Keller was born a healthy child. When Helen was 19 months old, she became ill with what was known as acute congestion of the brain and stomach; this is now known as scarlet fever. As a result, she was left blind, deaf, and mute. For many of her earlier years Helen lived in darkness

After 1960, Helen retired from her public speaking and traveling. Her health was beginning to decline. She had a stroke in October of 1961 which caused her to remove herself from the outside world. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 but sent her family to accept the award in Washington. In 1968, Helen Keller died of arteriosclerotic heart disease in her home in Westport, Connecticut.

again wrote with such lyric power," (Notable 390). Also, a collection of socialist essays entitled, Out of the Dark, was published in 1913.

Helen continued to change the world during the 1930s. She began to urge the public in Washington for legislation for the blind. She was extremely successful and got the Pratt bill passed. The Pratt bill provided federal funded reading services for the blind. She also became the vice-president of the Royal National Institute for the Blind in the United Kingdom in 1932. In 1935 she helped enforce Title X in the 1935 Social Security Act. This recognized the blind as a group to receive federal grant assistance. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II, Helen supported President Roosevelt's decision to join with the democracies. She showed her support by touring military hospitals.

Not only did Helen help the organizations for the blind, but she helped individuals as well. Helen reached out to help a young four year old boy who, like her, was deaf, blind and mute. His name was Tommy Stringer. Helen convinced Michael Anagnos to admit him into Perkins. She also raised a fund for the young boy.

After she graduated in 1904, she became even more involved in society. In 1906 Massachusetts instituted it's State Commission for the Blind. Gov. Curtis Guild, Jr. appointed Helen to the commission (Notable 390). The World I Live In was published in 1909. It was a collection of essays about Helen's perceptions of the world around her. Also that year, she became a member of the Socialist party. She was an aggressive suffragist and preferred strong and assertive tactics. During this time she also promoted a textile strike that took place in Lawrence, Mass. The strike was led my the Industrial Workers of the World. Being a socialist made Helen's life more thrill and gave her life more of a purpose. Her beliefs were reflected through her work of this period. In 1910 A Song of the Stone Wall was published.

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Approximate Word count = 1611
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)