Helen Keller: The True Story Some Say Can't Be True | Biography for Sleep

Helen Keller biography for sleep: the calm, true story of a girl who could not see or hear, and the young teacher who never gave up on her. In the spring of 1887, a six year old girl stood at a water pump in Alabama while her teacher spelled one word into her hand: W-A-T-E-R. Seventeen years later, that same girl graduated from Radcliffe College with honours, the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Some people today say a story like this simply cannot be true. Tonight we look at what was written down at the time: Helen's own book, Anne Sullivan's letters from the very weeks it happened, and the records of their lives. You can decide for yourself. We follow Helen slowly, from Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Alabama, through a long and silent childhood, to the morning at the pump, to reading Braille with her fingertips, learning to speak in her own voice, college, and a long life of helping blind people around the world. And we meet Anne Sullivan, a twenty year old teacher, nearly blind herself, who grew up in a poorhouse and changed everything. A slow, gentle bedtime story for adults. No loud music, no sudden sounds. Let the lights go low and drift off whenever you like. Illustrated with historical photographs, with some scenes recreated as artwork. CHAPTERS 00:00 Tonight: Helen Keller and her teacher 04:07 Chapter 1: Ivy Green 08:43 Chapter 2: The fever 11:18 Chapter 3: The long night 16:15 Chapter 4: A ray of hope 21:49 Chapter 5: Teacher 26:57 Chapter 6: The doll 32:18 Chapter 7: Water 38:37 Chapter 8: Everything has a name 43:04 Chapter 9: Reading with fingertips 46:08 Chapter 10: For little Tommy 48:26 Chapter 11: It is warm 53:17 Chapter 12: The Frost King 55:52 Chapter 13: Radcliffe 1:00:58 Chapter 14: How we know 1:03:33 Chapter 15: A life of work 1:06:03 Chapter 16: Goodbye, Teacher 1:08:10 Chapter 17: The quiet years 1:10:15 Chapter 18: Water, one more time SOURCES Helen Keller, The Story of My Life (1903), with the letters of Anne Sullivan and an account by John Macy Helen Keller, Optimism (1903) American Foundation for the Blind, Helen Keller Archive and Anne Sullivan Macy online museum Perkins School for the Blind Archives Encyclopedia of Alabama; National Park Service, Ivy Green ConnecticutHistory.org; Harvard Magazine (2004); The Harvard Crimson (1968) Clinical Infectious Diseases (2018), "Into Darkness and Silence: What Caused Helen Keller's Deafblindness?" Photographs: Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons, public domain Maps: Brave Lives (Natural Earth) Peace and friendship to you all. #helenkeller #biographyforsleep #truestoryforsleep