When was Helen Keller born?

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At 19 months old, Helen contracted a mysterious illness that left her both blind and deaf. In 1887, the Keller family hired Anne Mansfield Sullivan, who taught Helen how to communicate by spelling words into hands.

Helen Keller grew up to become a professional writer as well as a social and political activist. In 1903, she wrote an autobiography entitled "The Story of My Life." The 1962 film "The Miracle Worker," which stars Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke as a young Helen, famously depicts Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach Helen to communicate.