Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan (1866–1936) was an American teacher best known for educating Helen Keller. Born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, she experienced severe eye problems in childhood and later studied at the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. In 1887 she became Keller’s instructor in Tuscumbia, Alabama, and developed hands-on methods to teach language and communication to the deafblind child, beginning with spelling words into Keller’s hand. Sullivan accompanied Keller for decades, supporting her education and public work. She married John Albert Macy in 1905. Sullivan died in 1936 in Forest Hills, New York, and was buried at Washington National Cathedral.