Educator Annie Sullivan Honored in Massachusetts in March 2022 During Irish Heritage Month and Women History Month

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The Boston Irish Tourism Association is proud to honor Annie Sullivan as we celebrate Irish Heritage Month and Women History Month in March 2022. 

Known in her lifetime as the Miracle Worker for her work with the blind, including her pupil Helen Keller, Annie was born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Agawam, Massachusetts, the daughter of impoverished Irish immigrants. 

When she was five, Annie contracted trachoma, an eye disease caused by bacteria, which caused her to become partially blind.  After her mother died in 1874, eight year old Annie and her brother Jimmie were sent to the Tewksbury Almshouse, known as the Poor House for indigent people.  Conditions were horrible, and her brother Jimmie died shortly after arriving.  

When state officials arrived to conduct an investigation of the almshouse, Annie convinced the commissioners to send her to the Perkins Institution in South Boston, which taught blind children to read, write and spell.  Annie entered the school in October 1880. 

After graduation, Annie was sent to Tuscumbia Alabama to teach a six year old blind child named Helen Keller. She began teaching Helen on March 3, 1887.

An epiphany came for Helen one summer day when Annie splashed water on Helen's hand, then spelled out the word 'water' over and over until Helen realized that everything had a name that could be spelled out. 

Keller later attended Radcliffe College in Cambridge, MA and became a nationally renowned leader for women's rights and a founder of the American Foundation for the Blind. The Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe houses the Helen Keller Collection. 

In 1960, Keller placed a plague in Braille and English at Radcliffe College, next to a small fountain, that reads, "In Memory of Annie Sullivan, teacher extraordinary." 

In 1985, the Town of Tewksbury installed a memorial, created by sculptor Mico Kaufman, in front of the Town Hall.  In 1992, a variation of the statue, along with a stone marker, was installed in Agawam, where Annie was born.  

Annie remained Helen's teacher until Annie's death in 1936. Their lives together were made into a film called The Miracle Worker, staring Anne Bancroft as Annie and Patty Duke as Helen.

For more information on Annie Sullivan, read an excellent biography from the Perkins School for the Blind. 

For more about women in Boston, visit the Women's Heritage Trail. 

For more information on Irish heritage in Massachusetts, visit IrishHeritageTrail.com.

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