Upper Alabama in Springtime

Ivy Green, Tuscumbia, Alabama

The name of Helen Keller’s birthplace is Ivy Green because when her grandparents bought the 640 acres in 1820 there was hedera helix running rampant. They grew and made everything they needed on the plantation including cotton. Today the property comprises 10 acres. Having driven here from the Coon Dog Cemetery, we were just in time for a tour of the house with two other people from Massachusetts.

Helen was born in 1880. At 19 months she contracted what may have been Scarlet Fever. The result was she could not hear or see and never would again.

A Ball of Fury

She was a little hellion. She did whatever she wanted including locking her mother under the stairs one day for a few hours. The family felt sorry for her so they indulged her until a certain Miss Anne Sullivan came along who they hired to be her teacher. Anne was 20 and Helen was 6.

The first day they met, March 3, 1887, Helen managed to lock Anne in her room and hide the key under a heavy piece of furniture. When they found Anne, they went to the barn to get a long ladder so she could climb out the window and finally get out of the room. This was a fine introduction to your first day of work.

Keller's bed — This is the window they retrieved Anne out of. Her bed is to the left and Helen’s is the small bed.

Table Manners

It only got worse. One day, shortly after Anne’s arrival, Helen had put her hands into one too many plates at the dinner table and Anne had had enough. She grabbed Helen’s hand and slapped it. The family was shocked. No one had ever disciplined Helen before. Helen was outraged. Anne asked the family to kindly leave the room and let them alone. They did. What followed was a knockdown drag-out fight to the finish. After that, at least, Helen learned to behave herself at the table.

Sugar on a Plantation in Alabama

Too much sugar was not Helen’s problem. You couldn’t say that the child’s outbursts were due to massive sugar intake. This is the sugar chest. Sugar arrived at the plantation twice a year. Because of this, the precious crystals were kept locked up and only the cook had the key. Man, those were the days. I wonder what the rate of childhood obesity in the U.S. was back then.

Child of Famine Emigrants

This photo of Anne Sullivan was taken around the time she went to work for the Kellers in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

Miss Anne, however, was no pushover. She lost her Irish immigrant parents when she was 10 years old. She and her younger brother Jimmie, who was physically handicapped, were sent to the infamous Tewksbury Asylum for the insane in Massachusetts. Upon arriving, they were put into a cell in the “dead house”. This was not a good place for children. Her brother died 3 months after entering this nightmare. Over the years she experienced many eye infections and many painful often unsuccessful operations so she had vision problems as well. Going to work for the Kellers was a way out for Miss Sullivan and she was offered a good wage.

Helen Keller with Anne Sullivan in July 1888. — Helen Keller and Sullivan vacationing at Cape Cod in July 1888

Breakthrough at the Fountain

Anne would constantly sign the words for things into Helen’s hand. Helen thought it was a game until one day it became real. They were at the fountain. The water poured over Helen’s hand and as it did Anne signed the word water into Helen’s hand. Finally, the scales fell from her eyes (yes, you heard me) and she understood what Anne was trying to do. Somehow she remembered the word water from when she was a toddler. It wasn’t a game anymore. Helen learned more than 400 words that summer. It was the beginning of a new life for her.

keller and sullivan at Bells house in Nova Scotia — 1894 Alexander Graham Bell’s house Nova Scotia, Canada

Helen Keller traveled to more than 30 countries on behalf of the American Institute for the Blind. She wrote books and was an inspiration for millions of people. “The Miracle Worker” written by William Gibson in 1957 was a Tony Award-winning play made into a movie with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. It portrayed the relationship between the two women. “The Miracle Worker” was a name given to Anne Sullivan by Mark Twain.

The Neighborhood

Neighborhood around keller's house — Standing at Ivy Green looking across the street.

The neighborhood around the Keller house is residential. The cherry trees were in full bloom and Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) carpeted the ground around the pines and oaks. It was a bright green spring day; the kind of day that was leaping with life.