On this day in 1887, 21-year old Anne Sullivan took on a new pupil in Tuscumbia, Alabama: Helen Keller. She worked hard to teach Keller, who was blind and deaf, how to communicate. The two remained close until Sullivan’s death in 1936. 🎥 Seriously Amazing Objects: Legends | Smithsonian Channel

This video explores the incredible story of Helen Keller — who became blind and deaf at just 19 months old — and how she still managed to learn spoken language. Through years of dedicated work with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, Helen practiced placing her fingers on a speaker’s lips, throat, and face to feel vibrations and mouth shapes. Using these tactile cues, she learned to form sounds, then words, and eventually full sentences. Her achievement remains one of the most inspiring examples of huma