Helen Keller Would Be Nothing Without This Remarkable Woman Forgotten By History

Until the age of 7, Helen Keller had almost no way to communicate with the outside world. We take it for granted now that she would someday become a celebrated advocate for education and disability rights, but back then, most people told the Kellers that their daughter should have been institutionalized for life. That may have been her fate if not for one oft-forgotten teacher, Anne Sullivan, who found a way to unlock all of Helen's potential.

Humbling beginning

If she were alive today, Anne Sullivan probably wouldn't brag about her accomplishments, nor her survival of abuse, neglect, and ridicule at a young age. But she overcame a ton of adversity that started from the moment she was born.

Traveling from trouble

Born in 1866, Anne was the daughter of two poor Irish immigrants. They moved to Massachusetts to flee the famine in Ireland and make a better life for their future children — Anne and her brother Jimmie. They soon found that life in the U.S. wasn't as ideal as they'd hoped.

Everyday struggle

The family struggled financially, and racial tensions against immigrants made everyday life a challenge. Little Anne had her own personal struggles at the tender age of five as she contracted the eye disease trachoma and painful infections. Untreated, Anne's corneas became so irritated and scarred that she was left with severe vision loss. That wasn't even the worst of her troubled childhood.

First goodbyes

When Anne was only eight years old, her mother died from tuberculosis, leaving her and Jimmie with their abusive father, who decided in the end that he was done raising a family by himself. Instead of finding help, or even a new wife, he abandoned Anne and Jimmie to live in a poor house in Tewksbury. The conditions were so vile and inhumane that Anne had to suffer another painful loss.