Anne Sullivan

Overview

Anne Sullivan was born in Massachusetts in 1866 to a poor family from Ireland. An eye disease left her nearly blind as a child, and after her mother died, she was sent to live in a poorhouse. At 14, she begged a state official to let her go to school, and she was admitted to the Perkins School for the Blind, where surgeries improved her eyesight. She graduated at the top of her class in 1886. The next year, she traveled to Alabama to teach six-year-old Helen Keller, who had lost her sight and hearing to an illness at 19 months old. Sullivan spelled words into Helen’s hand, and about a month later, Helen finally understood that the letters w-a-t-e-r meant the cool liquid pouring over her other hand. Sullivan stayed by Helen’s side for 49 years. She even spelled college lectures into Helen’s hand until Helen graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904.

Why She Matters: 

Anne Sullivan showed that a great teacher keeps searching for a way in, even when a student seems impossible to reach. She turned Helen’s frustration into curiosity by making learning hands-on and connecting words to real things Helen could touch. With Sullivan’s help, Helen learned to read, write, and speak. Helen went on to become a famous author and speaker who worked for people with disabilities around the world. Sullivan’s story shows that teaching is about believing in what a student can do and finding the right key to unlock it.