Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller

Helen Keller lost her ability to see and hear before she turned two years old.

But in her lifetime, she learned to ride horseback and dance the foxtrot. She graduated from Radcliffe. She became a world famous speaker and author. She befriended Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, and Alexander Graham Bell. And above all, she revolutionized public perception and treatment of the blind and the deaf.

The catalyst for this remarkable life's journey was Annie Sullivan, a young woman who was h…