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Even if you’ve watched The Miracle Worker a handful of times, you probably still have a sizable gap in knowledge about Helen Keller’s life. As history’s most famous deaf-blind person, she was an inspiring author and activist, but she was also a vaudeville performer, a close friend of Mark Twain, and a world traveler investigated by the FBI for her political views. Here are 15 things you probably did not know about Helen Keller. 1. Accomplished Author Helen was a prolific author who wrote a dozen books and several articles in her lifetime. Her first book was her autobiography, The Story of My Life, first published in 1903. 2. History-Changing Graduate In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. 3. She Was Good Friends With Mark Twain… In 1895, as a teenager, Keller met Mark Twain at a lunch in New York. Later, she wrote that he “treated me not as a freak, but as a handicapped woman seeking a way to circumvent extraordinary difficulties.” Twain had a daughter the same age as Keller, and eventually, the two bonded over their political views and mutual admiration for each other. She recognized the author by his scent, as he often reeked of tobacco. Twain convinced the industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers to help pay for Keller’s education, and Twain was also the first person to call Anne Sullivan, Keller’s teacher, and companion, a miracle worker. Twain even gave Keller a blurb for her 1903 autobiography, which she wrote at age 22. 4. …As Well as Alexander Graham Bell. When Keller was 6 years old, her parents took her to Julian John Chisolm, Professor of Diseases of the Eye and Ear at the University of Maryland, a renowned physician who recommended that she see Alexander Graham Bell. Because Bell’s wife was deaf, the inventor founded schools for the deaf (as well as their teachers) and was involved with teaching deaf children. Due to Bell’s suggestion, Keller’s parents enrolled her at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, through which she met Sullivan. Bell mentored Sullivan and was friends with both her and Keller until his death in 1922. 5. Gifted Communicator Helen learned to communicate in many different ways, including finger-spelling, lip-reading, reading Braille and raised type, and using a typewriter. But did you know that she also learned to speak? Watch this incredible video of Helen's devoted teacher, Anne Sullivan, demonstrating how she taught Helen speech. 6. Music Aficionado Helen was a great fan of music. Through her highly sensitive fingers, she could "hear" the vibration of the instruments as well as the human voice. Here she is pictured "listening" to violinist Jascha Heifetz. 7. Dog-Lover Helen was a great lover of dogs, owning them from her young child and throughout her life. She was responsible for introducing the Japanese breed, The Akita, to America. Here she is pictured with her first Akita, Kamikaze-Go, whom she received as a gift from police officer Ichiro Ogasawara during one of her trips to Japan. 8. Entertainer In 1919, Helen Keller starred in a silent film about her life entitled Deliverance. She and Anne Sullivan and also performed on the Vaudeville circuit for two years in the 1920s. In 1956, a documentary about Helen's life entitled The Unconquered won the Academy Award for best documentary; Helen herself accepted the Oscar. 9. World Traveler A staunch advocate for people with disabilities, Helen traveled to 39 countries in her lifetime, including England, Scotland, France, India, South Africa, Japan, and Korea. During her travels, she gave speeches and lectures and met with such illustrious figures as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Indian Premier Jawaharlal Nehru, and Japanese Emperor Hirohito. 10. Supporter of Our Troops Helen visited disabled veterans in military hospitals around the country during and after World War II, bringing them comfort, support, and encouragement. 11. Political Activist Helen was a member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and she campaigned for many leftist causes such as women's suffrage, birth control, workers' rights, and socialism. She helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920. 12. Dignitary Helen met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson; here she is pictured with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. She was friends with many famous figures, including Mark Twain and Alexander Graham Bell, and met many artists of the day, including Charlie Chaplin, Martha Graham, and Enrico Caruso. In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Helen America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 13. Her Image (WITH BRAILLE) Is On Our Currency. Keller’s image is on the Alabama state quarter (part of the 50 state quarters program). She appears as an old woman sitting in a rocking chair, holding a book (Keller died at age 87 in 1968). Introduced in March 2003, the words “Helen Keller” are on the quarter in the Latin alphabet and in braille. 14. She had three failed elopements with her boyfriend At 36 years of age, Helen fell in love with her temporary assistant, Peter Fagan, a newspaper journalist who was seven years her junior. Fagan and Keller took out a marriage license and tried to elope three separate times. However, during an era in which eugenics beliefs still existed , coupled with complex relationships and concern that Helen could only be properly cared for by her family, Keller's family stood in the way of at least one of the failed elopements. 15. Her Life Story Got The Bollywood Treatment. Released in 2005, the Bollywood film Black is about a young deaf-blind girl named Michelle, her relationship with her teacher, and how she deals with her inability to hear and see. Inspired by Keller’s life, Black’s director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, read her autobiography and visited The Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind before writing and directing the film. It premiered at Cannes and won both lead actors Indian Filmfare awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?vSmd_xZHCCzI (Sources: goodhousekeeping.com and mentalfloss)

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