Printer-friendly versionCompare a typical chronology with one that includes Keller's social justice work.
David Adler's best-selling A Picture Book of Helen Keller includes a chronology typical of the dates that other authors include about Helen Keller's life:
1880 Born on June 27 in Tuscumbia, Ala.
1882 As a result of illness, became deaf and blind.
1887 Met Anne Sullivan.
1900 Entered Radcliffe College.
1924 Began to work for the American Federation for the Blind.
1936 Anne Sullivan died on October 20.
1946 Visited injured soldiers.
1964 Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson.
1968 Died on June 1.
There are a few dates I would add to this chronology that highlight her lifelong commitment to social justice:
1903 The Story of My Life is published — first in a series of articles in The Ladies' Home Journal, and then as a book.
1907 Helen writes a groundbreaking article for The Ladies' Home Journal in an effort to prevent blindness among infants caused by the mother's venereal disease. (She rallies forces to convince the medical establishment to treat children's eyes at birth with a cleansing solution as a regular procedure.)
1908 Publication of The World I Live In.
1909 Becomes a socialist and a suffragist.
1912 Publicly speaks out in favor of birth control, and in support of Margaret Sanger's work.
1914 Demonstrates with the Woman's Peace Party to call for peace in Europe; after the demonstration, she makes an impassioned speech for pacifism and socialism in crowded Carnegie Hall.
1915 Writes articles publicly denouncing Rockefeller as a "monster of Capitalism," responsible for the Ludlow Massacre (at his coal mine in Ludlow, Colorado) where men, women and children were killed in a bloody confrontation between strikers and the militia.
1916 Openly supports the Industrial Workers of the World.
1917 Donates money to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and writes a supportive article in the NAACP Journal.
1918 Helps found the American Civil Liberties Union to fight for freedom of speech.
1919 Stars in Deliverance, a silent movie about her life; supports Actors Equity Union's strike by refusing to cross the picket line to attend the opening.
1924 Campaigns for Robert LaFollette, a Progressive running for president as a third-party candidate.
1929 Publication of Midstream: My Later Life.
1948 Visits "the black silent hole" that had once been Hiroshima and Nagasaki and recommits herself to the anti-war movement.
1961 Suffers first stroke; retires from public life.
