Helen Keller

Eleanor Roosevelt called her "America's goodwill ambassador to the world." Helen Keller called herself "an international beggar." She remains, quite simply, Alabama's most famous and celebrated citizen. The winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States, and friend of ten presidents, she was eulogized by Senator Lister Hill as "one of the few names born not to die."

Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1880, she lost her sight and hearing at the age of 19 months as a result of illness. Yet she became the first blind and deaf person to communicate effectively with mankind, largely through the efforts of an extraordinary teacher, Annie Sullivan, a 21-year-old partially blind orphan. Mark Twain called Sullivan "The Miracle Worker."

Keller was the first blind and deaf person to complete college, graduating cum laude from Radcliffe.

Throughout her life, Keller traveled the world, dedicating herself not only to the sightless and the afflicted, but to all of humanity. She gave 97 lectures in 39 cities on tours to Japan; during World War II, she made countless trips to comfort those in military hospitals, calling this period "the crowning experience in my life." Between 1946 and 1957, she visited 35 countries on five continents, urging governments to begin schools for the deaf and blind.

Helen Keller received an Oscar for her role in a documentary about her life; the French government saluted her with its highest honor; and she was the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Harvard. The author of many books, Keller also was a compelling speaker who enthralled audiences even when she could not speak their native languages.

"Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing," wrote Keller, whose personal miracle of speech singularly embodies the human aspiration to communicate. "It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks."