Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan, Annie Sullivan also, born Johanna Mansfield Sullivan ( born April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, † October 20, 1936 in New York) was a teacher of blind children whose most famous pupil, Helen Keller was.

Life

She was born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Her parents, Thomas Sullivan and Alice Cloesy, were poor farmers who had emigrated in 1847 because of the Great Famine in Ireland. Her father was an alcoholic and beat her. Her mother suffered from tuberculosis and died when Anne was eight. Two years later, her father left the children who were brought then in the orphanage in Tewksbury. Anne took care of there, especially to her younger, disabled brother, who was also suffering from tuberculosis. He died later in hospital.

When Anne was three years old, her vision deteriorated. At the age of five years, her cornea scarred due to a bacterial infection. After having unsuccessfully visited a number of doctors, struck a Catholic priest before an operation in which her ​​eyes were anesthetized with cocaine. The intervention deteriorated their eyesight further. Another surgery in Boston brought no improvement.

From 1880, Anne attended the " Perkins Institute ". There she learned the manual alphabet for the deaf know, in which each letter is represented by finger movement (not to be confused with the sign language ). All the teachers and students of the Perkins Institute dominated this alphabet to communicate with Laura Bridgman can. Laura lived in the Perkins Institute and worked as a sewing teacher. She was deaf, blind since early childhood and learned this language by her teacher Howe made ​​her feel objects and their spells at the same time the corresponding word on the palm until she realized that the perceived finger movements the name of the object are. Anne Sullivan acquired special skill in the use of the manual alphabet and was one of Laura's favorite pupils.

1887 Anne began the deaf-blind Helen Keller with Howes teaching methods. The success was even Laura Bridgman's achievements in the shadows and brought Anne Sullivan not only admiration but also envy and resentment in.

Anne and Helen changed later in the Cambridge School for Young Ladies and finally to the Radcliffe High School, where Helen graduated in 1904. Then they went together to the farm of a benefactor. On May 2, 1905 Anne married the Harvard professor John Albert Macy ( 1877-1932 ), who had helped Helen at work on her biography. However, the marriage was very unhappy. Anne stayed with Helen in touch and accompanied them in their work. 1935 Anne completely blind and died a year later in New York. It was in the Washington National Cathedral, as later Helen Keller buried.