Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan in 1887

Anne Sullivan, Annie Sullivan, or Johanna Mansfield Sullivan Macy, (April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936) Anne was a trailblazer in the field of education. Her teaching of Helen Keller changed the manner in which children with disabilities were educated. She was kind and compassionate and never believed anyone was a hopeless case. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) dubbed her a "miracle worker."

Early Life

Anne Sullivan was born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Her parents, Thomas Sullivan and Alice Clohessy, were poor Irish farmers who left Ireland in 1847 because of the Irish Potato Famine. Sullivan’s father was an alcoholic and sometimes abused her, but he also passed on to her Irish tradition and folklore. Her mother, suffering from tuberculosis, died when she was eight, and when she was ten, her father deserted her and her siblings, leaving them at the Massachusetts State Infirmary in Tewksbury. Sullivan spent all her time with her younger, crippled brother (who, like his mother, suffered from tuberculosis) in hopes that they would never be separated; however, Jimmie soon died in the infirmary.

When Sullivan was three she began having trouble with her eyesight; at age five, she contracted the eye disease trachoma, a bacterial disease that affects the eye and can often lead to blindness, because of the scar tissue it creates. Sullivan underwent a long string of operations in attempts to fix her eyesight. Doctors in Tewksbury had made a few attempts to clean her eyelids, but these procedures did no good. Later, a Catholic priest and the chaplain of the nearest hospital, by the name of Father Barbara set out to correct her condition. He arranged a procedure at the hospital for her eyes. The doctors attempted to numb her eyes with cocaine before the procedure. This operation failed to correct her vision and more attempts were made. Father Barbara took her to The Boston City Infirmary this time where she had two more operations. Even after this attempt her vision remained blurry and unchanged. After this, Sullivan then returned to Tewksbury, against her will. After four years there, in 1880, she entered the Perkins School for the Blind where she underwent surgery and regained some of her sight. After regaining her eyesight and graduating as class valedictorian in 1886, the director of the Perkins School for the Blind, Michael Anagnos, recommended her to teach Helen Keller.

Teaching

Anne began teachings Helen went she was six years old. Helen had been deaf and blind since the age of nineteen months because of a severe illness. Since that time Helen had become quite unmanageable for her parents, Kate and Arthur Keller. Having no where else to turn they had contacted inventor and educator of the deaf, Alexander Graham Bell in Washington, D.C. for help. Mr Bell suggested taking Helen to the Perkins School for the Blind.

Anne Sullivan relocated to Tuscumbia, Alabama on March 3, 1887. She immedietely starting teaching Helen sign language. Helen was a spoiled and unruly child that terrorized her family with frequent temper tantrums. Anne saw the through her anger and confusion, she was a very bright child who needed patience and disipline. Anne did not want to crush Helen's spirit, however Helen's family refused to correct the child. Anne was granted permission to remove Helen from the main house and live alone with her in the nearby cottage where she could teach Helen obedience.

Within one month Anne had broken through Helen's barriers. Helen was anxious to learn. She often asked Anne for the sign for objects faster than Anne could respond. Many of Helen's lessons were outdoors. Anne realized that this deaf-blind child could learn much using her three remaining senses of touch, smell, and taste.

Anne and Helen became well known due to letters Anne had written to Michael Anagnos, Director of the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and Alexander Graham Bell. Both of these well known men made Anne Sullivan's letters public in newspapers and school newsletters.

In 1888, Anne and Helen went to the Perkins Institution where Helen began her formal studies. Later Helen attended New York City's Wright-Humasen School, then the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and finally to Radcliffe College. Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe in 1904.

Accomplishments

Anne's teaching method was adopted Sophia Alcorn, a teacher at the Kentucky School for the Deaf in Danville, Kentucky. She succeeded in teaching two young deaf-blind children named Tad Chapman and Oma Simpson to speak. Alcorn named her method Tad-Oma after these two pupils. The children were taught to speak by touching their teacher's cheek and feeling vocal vibrations.

In June 1892, Anne was elected a member of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf. In 1894, Alexander Graham Bell asked her to give a speech at an Association meeting. Mr Bell was strong force in Anne's life. He was always encouraging her to continue her work.

Later Life

In 1904, Anne and Helen bought a farm and seven acres of land in Wrentham, Massachusetts. They lived in the house with Anne's husband, John Albert Macy. John was a Harvard professor that Anne met while Helen attended Radcliffe College. He helped edit Helen's biography The Story of My Life.

Unfortunately the marriage was constantly strained because of Anne's devotion to Helen. John moved to Europe in 1914. While they never divorced as the years progressed he appears to have faded from their lives. John Macy died in 1932 at the age of fifty-five.

Anne and Helen traveled quite a lot in the following years. Anne's health slowly declined after John's death. Anne died on October 20, 1936. Anne was cremated and her ashes were laid to rest in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. She was the first woman to be given this honor on her own merits.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Lash, Joseph P. Helen and teacher : the story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy New York : Delacorte Press, 1980 ISBN 0440036542
• Trussell-Cullen,Allan. Two great lives : Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Carlsbad, California : Dominie Press, 2003 ISBN 0768518318

External links

• Anne Sullivan Macy: Miracle Worker, a multimedia museum from the American Foundation for the Blind
• Anne Sullivan biography
• Anne Sullivan Macy: Recommended Reading
• Chronology of Anne Sullivan's Life
• Anne Sullivan Biography
• Film about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

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