Helen Keller Timeline

One of Keller's earliest pieces of writing, at age 11, was The Frost King (1891).

Image source: The Frost King

At age 22, with help from Sullivan and Sullivan's husband John Macy, Keller published her autobiography, The Story of My Life (1903), which publicized her education and life with Sullivan.

Image source: The Story of My Life (biography)

Keller also published Optimism: an essay in 1903, reflecting her famously hopeful outlook on life.

In 1908, Keller wrote The World I Live In, giving readers an insight into how she felt about the world.

Image source: The Skin I Live In

Keller, along with her friend Mark Twain, became involved in the dispute about the authorship of the Shakespeare plays, which they discussed extensively during Keller's, Sullivan's and Macy's visit to Twain's home in 1909. She later asked Richard Watson Gilder to publish an article advocating Booth's hypothesis, but he declined.

Image source: Mark Twain

Keller's work The song of the stone wall was published by The Century Co. in 1910.

Out of the Dark, a series of essays on socialism, was published in 1913. That year she also gave her first public talk on behalf of progressive causes.

When Keller was young, Anne Sullivan introduced her to Phillips Brooks, who introduced her to Christianity. Her spiritual autobiography, My Religion, was published in 1927 and then in 1994 extensively revised by Ray Silverman, and re-issued under the title Light in My Darkness.

Image source: My Religion (Keller book)

Keller's work We bereaved was published in 1929.

Keller's book Peace at eventide was published by Methuen & Co. in 1932.

Helen Keller's journal was published in 1938.

Let us have faith was published by Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc. in 1940.

In an article Keller wrote in 1907, she brought to public attention the fact that many cases of childhood blindness could be prevented by washing the eyes of every newborn baby with a disinfectant solution.

In 1909, Keller became a member of the Socialist Party of America (SPA); she actively campaigned and wrote in support of the working class from 1909 to 1921.

Image source: Socialist Party of America

In 1912, Keller joined the Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW, known as the Wobblies), saying that parliamentary socialism was "sinking in the political bog". She cited the 1912 strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, as instigating her support of socialism.

Image source: Industrial Workers of the World

In 1915, she wrote in favor of refusing life-saving medical procedures to infants with severe mental impairments or physical deformities, saying that their lives were not worthwhile and they would likely become criminals.

In 1916, Keller sent money to the NAACP, as she was ashamed of the Southern un-Christian treatment of "colored people".

Image source: NAACP

Keller wrote for the Industrial Workers of the World between 1916 and 1918, supporting labor organizing efforts.

On January 22, 1916, Keller and Sullivan traveled to Menomonie, Wisconsin, delivering a lecture described by the Dunn County News as "a message of optimism, of hope, of good cheer, and of loving service" that would linger long with those fortunate enough to have received it.

Image source: Mabel Tainter Memorial Building

In 1920, Keller helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Image source: American Civil Liberties Union

She visited Akita Prefecture in June 1937 and asked about Hachikō, a loyal dog who searched for his deceased master for about 10 years.

Image source: Hachikō

From 1946 to 1957, Keller visited 35 countries as part of her advocacy work for people with disabilities around the world.

In 1948, Keller touched the re-made statue of Hachikō at Shibuya Station during her international travels. That year she also went to New Zealand and visited deaf schools in Christchurch and Auckland.

As a result of her advocacy, Keller was placed on the FBI's watchlist; the FBI wrote on July 1, 1953, that although they had not "conducted an investigation with regard to Helen Adams Keller", their files of Keller reflected pertinent information concerning this individual.

Image source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

She and her companion Anne Sullivan appeared in a silent film, Deliverance (1919), which told her story in a melodramatic, allegorical style.

Image source: Deliverance (1919 film)

She was the subject of the Academy Award-winning 1954 documentary Helen Keller in Her Story, narrated by her friend Katharine Cornell; in 2023, the film was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

Image source: Helen Keller in Her Story

William Gibson's first realization of The Miracle Worker, starring Patty McCormack as Keller and Teresa Wright as Sullivan, was the 1957 Playhouse 90 teleplay. When Keller heard about it, she said: "Never did I dream a drama could be devised out of the story of my life."

Image source: The Miracle Worker

Within the cultural context of the early civil rights movement, Gibson adapted his teleplay for a Broadway production in 1959, which was praised by critics as a contemporary classic.

Keller had a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the last years of her life at her home, Arcan Ridge, in Easton, Connecticut.

Gibson adapted his play as an Oscar-winning feature film in 1962, starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.

Image source: The Miracle Worker (1962 film)

In 1964, Keller was made an honorary member of the Southern Dames of America during their second national assembly in Washington, D.C.

On September 14, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Keller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the United States' highest civilian honors.

Image source: Presidential Medal of Freedom

In 1965, Keller was elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame at the New York World's Fair.

Image source: National Women's Hall of Fame

She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968, at her home, Arcan Ridge, located in Easton, Connecticut, at the age of 87.

Keller was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971.

Image source: Alabama Women's Hall of Fame

In 1973, Keller was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

A commemorative stamp was issued in 1980 by the United States Postal Service, depicting Keller and Sullivan, to mark the centennial of Keller's birth.

Image source: United States Postal Service

An anime movie called The Story of Helen Keller: Angel of Love and Light was made in 1981.

In 1984, Keller's life story was made into a TV movie called The Miracle Continues.

In 1999, Keller was listed fifth (at 30 percent) in Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century. That same year, she was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.

Image source: Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century

In 2003, Alabama honored its native daughter on its state quarter.

Image source: 50 State quarters

The Bollywood movie Black (2005) was largely based on Keller's story from her childhood to her graduation. Also in 2005, a documentary called Shining Soul: Helen Keller's Spiritual Life and Legacy was produced by the Swedenborg Foundation.

Image source: Black (2005 film)

On March 6, 2008, the New England Historic Genealogical Society announced that a staff member had discovered a rare 1888 photograph showing Helen and Anne, which, although previously published, had escaped widespread attention.

Image source: New England Historic Genealogical Society

On October 7, 2009, the State of Alabama donated a bronze statue of Keller to the National Statuary Hall Collection, as a replacement for its 1908 statue of education reformer Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry.

Image source: National Statuary Hall Collection

Keller was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.

Image source: International Motorsports Hall of Fame

In 2020, the documentary essay Her Socialist Smile by John Gianvito evolved around Keller's first public talk in 1913 before a general audience, when she started speaking out on behalf of progressive causes.