Helen Keller & Annie Sullivan Appear Together in Moving 1930 Newsreel

Helen Keller was born on this day in 1880, some 133 years ago. If you don’t know the Helen Keller sto­ry, you can watch The Mir­a­cle Work­er below, the 1962 film star­ring Pat­ty Duke and Anne Ban­croft. You’ll learn about how Keller, at 19 months, con­tract­ed a dis­ease — either scar­let fever or menin­gi­tis, it’s still not clear — that left her deaf and blind. You’ll also learn how Annie Sul­li­van, her beloved teacher, taught her to com­mu­ni­cate by spelling words into her hand. Their rela­tion­ship would last 49 years. And you’ll dis­cov­er how Keller became the first deaf­blind per­son to earn a Bach­e­lor of Arts degree, en route to becom­ing an activist, author and over­all source of inspi­ra­tion. In the clip above, filmed rough­ly 83 years ago, Helen Keller and Annie Sul­li­van appear in the flesh. Cap­tured in an old news­reel, Sul­li­van explains how Keller learned to talk and, in the final line, Helen mov­ing­ly declares, “I am not dumb now!” Find more Helen Keller vin­tage footage below.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Helen Keller Speaks About Her Great­est Regret — Nev­er Mas­ter­ing Speech

Helen Keller Pays a Vis­it to Martha Graham’s Dance Stu­dio Cir­ca 1954