Helen Keller

1880 – 1968 · died at about 88^[1][2]

Activism & Social Change

Fun Facts About Helen Keller

• Helen Keller introduced Akita dogs to America and owned the first Akita in America. On a 1937 visit to Japan she had asked about Hachikō, the loyal Akita.^[1]
• Alexander Graham Bell, then working with deaf children, advised Keller's family to contact the Perkins Institute, which provided Anne Sullivan as her teacher. Bell became her friend.^[1][3][4]
• Keller's mother sought help after reading Charles Dickens's American Notes, which described the successful education of a deaf and blind woman, Laura Bridgman.^[1][5][6]
• Keller and her friend Mark Twain doubted Shakespeare wrote his plays, and Keller became convinced the real author was Francis Bacon.^{[1][7][8][9][10]}
• Keller helped found the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920 and met every US president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson.^[1]
• Keller appears on Alabama's 2003 state quarter, the only circulating US coin to feature braille.^[1]
• Helen Keller was alive at the same time as Jimmy Wales — their lives overlapped for 2 years (1966–1968).^{[1][2][11][12]}
• Helen Keller and Tokugawa Ieyasu died on the same day of the year, June 1.^{[1][2][13][14]}

Helen Adams Keller was an American deafblind author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer.^[1]

Contemporaries

Lise Meitner

88 yr overlap

Bertrand Russell

88 yr overlap

Pablo Picasso

87 yr overlap

Igor Stravinsky

86 yr overlap

Winston Churchill

85 yr overlap

Coco Chanel

85 yr overlap

Albert Schweitzer

85 yr overlap

Harry S. Truman

84 yr overlap

Carl Jung

81 yr overlap

Georgia O'Keeffe

81 yr overlap

Chiang Kai-shek

81 yr overlap

Charlie Chaplin

79 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Helen Keller

When was Helen Keller born?

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, and died on June 1, 1968.

How old was Helen Keller at death?

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, and died on June 1, 1968, at age 87.

What was Helen Keller known for?

Helen Keller was known for: Deafblind author and activist, The Story of My Life. Helen Adams Keller was an American deafblind author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer.

Who was alive at the same time as Helen Keller?

Helen Keller's closest contemporary was Lise Meitner. Their lives overlapped for 88 years.