Here's what they don't teach: When the blind-deaf visionary learned that poor people were more likely to be blind than others, she set off down a pacifist, socialist path that broke the boundaries of her time—and continues to challenge ours today.
“So long as I confine my activities to social service and the blind, they compliment me extravagantly, calling me 'arch priestess of the sightless,' 'wonder woman,' and a 'modern miracle.' But when it comes to a discussion of poverty, and I maintain that it is the result of wrong economics—that the industrial system under which we live is at the root of much of the physical deafness and blindness in the world—that is a different matter! It is laudable to give aid to the handicapped. Superficial charities make smooth the way of the prosperous; but to advocate that all human beings should have leisure and comfort, the decencies and refinements of life, is a Utopian dream, and one who seriously contemplates its realization indeed must be deaf, dumb, and blind.”
—Helen Keller (taratasy ho an’ny Loholona Robert La Follette, 1924)
The bronze statue of Helen Keller that sits in the U.S. Capitol shows the blind girl standing at a water pump. It depicts the moment in 1887 when her teacher, Anne Sullivan, spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into one of her 7-year-old pupil's hands while water streamed into the other. This was Keller’s awakening, when she made the connection between the word Sullivan spelled and the tangible substance splashing from the pump, whispering “wah-wah,”—her way of saying “water.” This scene, made famous in the play and film “The Miracle Worker,” has long defined Keller in the public mind as a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds.
Tsy dia fantatra loatra (fa tsy dia manentana loatra) ny zava-misy fa i Keller, izay teraka tamin'ny 1880 ary maty tamin'ny 1968, dia radikaly nandritra ny androm-piainany izay nandray anjara tamin'ny hetsika lehibe ho an'ny rariny ara-tsosialy tamin'ny androny. Tamin'ny fanadihadiana nataony momba ny antony mahatonga ny fahajambana, dia hitany fa ny mahantra dia azo inoana kokoa noho ny manankarena ho jamba, ary vetivety dia nampifandraisina ny fampijaliana ny jamba amin'ny fampahoriana ny mpiasa, ny vehivavy ary ny vondrona hafa, izay nitarika azy handray ny sosialisma. feminisma, ary pasifisma.
Voalohandohan'ny fiainana
Keller dia teraka tao amin'ny toeram-pambolena iray tany Tuscumbia, Alabama, ho an'i Arthur Keller, manamboninahitra Confederate taloha ary mpamoaka gazety mpandala ny nentin-drazana, ary Kate Keller, taranak'i John Adams. Teo amin’ny fahasivy ambin’ny folo volana izy, dia tsy nahita sy tsy nandre intsony noho ny tazo. Lasa tsy voafehy intsony izy, ary mora tezitra — nandaka, nanaikitra, ary namotika izay rehetra tratra. Tamin'izany vanim-potoana izany, jamba sy marenina maro no nampidirina fialokalofana. Nisy mpianakavy nilaza fa tao no nisy an’i Helen.
Ny reniny kosa dia nifandray tamin'ny Sekoly Perkins ho an'ny jamba any Boston, izay nanoro hevitra fa ny mpianatra taloha, Sullivan, 20 taona, dia lasa mpampianatra manokana an'i Helen. Tamin’ny 1887, i Sullivan — zanakavavin’ny mpifindra monina irlandey mahantra sady saika jamba — dia nifindra tany an-tranon’ny Kellers. Nampitony ny hatezeran'i Helen izy ary nampita ny fahalianana tsy mety afa-po sy ny faharanitan-tsaina miavaka. Nanam-paharetana izy nanoratra taratasy sy teny teny an-tanan’i Keller. Noho ny fanohanan’i Sullivan, dia tsy ela dia nianatra namaky teny sy nanoratra Braille ilay mpianany, ary nanomboka niteny izy tamin’izy folo taona.
Nalaza ny tantarany ary izy, olo-malaza. Nanoratra tantara mamirapiratra momba an'i Keller tanora ny gazety sy gazety any Eoropa sy Amerika. Ny fifandraisany amin'ny fianakaviany sy ny lazany dia nanokatra fahafahana maro, anisan'izany ny sekoly tsy miankina sy ny fianarana ambony eny amin'ny oniversite. Mark Twain, izay nankamamy ny herim-pon'i Keller sy ny asa sorany tamin'ny fahatanorana, dia nampahafantatra azy tamin'i Henry Huttleston Rogers, mpanangom-bokatra Standard Oil, izay nandoa ny fianarany. Niaiky izy tatỳ aoriana hoe: “Nahazo tombony tamin’ny fahaterahako sy ny tontolo iainako aho. Nianarako fa tsy azon’ny olon-drehetra ny hery hitsanganana.”
Tamin’ny 1894, tamin’ny faha-14 taonany, dia nanomboka nianatra tamin’ny fomba ofisialy i Keller — tany amin’ny Sekoly Wright-Humason ho an’ny marenina tany New York tamin’ny voalohany, ary avy eo tao amin’ny Sekoly Cambridge ho an’ny tovovavy tanora. Niaraka taminy i Sullivan, ka nanoratra ny taratasiny isan-taratasy mba hahafahany mamaky ireo boky voatendry ao amin’ny kilasiny. Tamin'ny 1900, tamin'ny faha-20 taonany, dia niditra tao amin'ny Kolejy Radcliffe i Keller niaraka tamin'i Sullivan mbola teo anilany. Tao amin'ny Radcliffe (izay nahazoany mari-pahaizana magna cum laude tamin'ny 1904), i Keller no voalohany niharan'ny hevi-diso izay nanampy azy hifandray amin'ny endrika tsy rariny. Nanomboka nanoratra momba ny tenany sy ny fahatakarany izao tontolo izao izy.
“Tsy maintsy miteny aho”
Ao amin'ny lahatsoratra 1901 mitondra ny lohateny hoe "Tsy maintsy miteny aho" ao amin'ny Ladies Home Journal, Nanoratra toy izao i Keller: “Indray mandeha aho dia nino fa ny fahajambana, ny marenina, ny tioberkilaozy ary ny antony hafa mahatonga ny fijaliana dia nilaina, tsy azo sorohina. Nefa niitatra tsikelikely ny famakiako, ary hitako fa ireo ratsy ireo dia tsy tokony hapetraka eo amin’ ny varavaran’ ny Tompo, fa eo amin’ ny varavaran’ ny olombelona; fa izy ireo, amin’ny ankapobeny, dia noho ny tsy fahalalana, ny hadalana ary ny fahotana.”
She visited slums and learned about the struggles of workers and immigrants to improve their working and living conditions. "I have visited sweatshops, factories, crowded slums,” she wrote, “If I could not see it, I could smell it."
In 1908 Sullivan’s socialist husband, John Macy, encouraged Keller to read H. G. Wells’s New Worlds for Old, which influenced her views about radical change. She soon began to devour Macy’s extensive collection of political books, reading socialist publications (often in German Braille) and Marxist economists. In addition to giving inspirational lectures about blindness, Keller also talked, wrote, and agitated about radical social and political causes, making her class analysis explicit in such books as Antony ara-tsosialy mahatonga ny fahajambana (1911), Ny tsy an'asa (1911) ary Ny tsy manan-katao (1931). Tamin’ny 1915, rehefa avy nianatra momba ny Fandripahana tao Ludlow — izay namonoan’ny tafika tsy miankina an’i John D. Rockefeller ireo mpitrandraka arina sy ny vady aman-janany tao anatin’ny fifandonana teo amin’ny asa tany Colorado — i Keller dia nanameloka azy ho “bibilavan’ny kapitalisma”.
Tamin'ny 1909 i Keller dia nanatevin-daharana ny Antoko Sosialista, nanoratra lahatsoratra ho fanohanana ny heviny, nanao fampielezan-kevitra ho an'ireo kandidàny, ary nampindrana ny anarany mba hanampiana ireo mpiasa mitokona. Na dia noderaina eran'izao tontolo izao aza izy noho ny herim-pony teo anatrehan'ny fahasembanana ara-batana, dia izao izy dia voatsikera noho ny fomba fijeriny ara-politika. Ny tonian'ny Voromahery Brooklyn nanafika ny heviny mahery vaika izy, ka nilaza fa “fahadisoana nipoitra avy amin’ny fetra miharihary eo amin’ny fivoarany”. Tao amin'ny lahatsorany 1912 "Ahoana no nahatonga ahy ho sosialista," navoaka tao amin'ny The Miantsoa, gazety sosialista iray, nanoratra i Keller hoe: “Tamin'izany fotoana izany, tena nalala-tanana ny teny fiderana natolony ahy, ka menatra ny mitadidy azy ireo. Saingy rehefa nivoaka ho amin'ny sosialisma aho izao dia nampahatsiahy ahy sy ny vahoaka izy fa jamba sy marenina ary indrindra mety ho diso."
Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights, and War
Keller dia anisan'ny faribolana midadasika amin'ny fanavaozana sy ny radikaly izay nandray anjara tamin'ny antony mifanipaka. Mpisolovava matanjaka ho an'ny zon'ny vehivavy sy ny fifidianana ny vehivavy izy, nanoratra tamin'ny 1916: "Hitaky ny vehivavy fa tsy afaka miantehitra amin'ny hafetsenan'ny lehilahy izy ireo mba hanomezana rariny azy ireo." Nanohana ny fanabeazana aizana izy ary nidera ny mpisolovava azy, Margaret Sanger, izay nanana namana maro. Nolazain'i Keller fa tian'ny kapitalista hanana fianakaviana lehibe ny mpiasa mba hamatsy asa mora amin'ny orinasa fa nanery ny ankizy mahantra hiaina ao anatin'ny toe-javatra mampalahelo. “Amin’ny alalan’ny fandraisana ny andraikitry ny fandrindram-piterahana eo am-pelatanan’izy ireo ihany”, hoy i Keller, “ny [vehivavy] dia afaka mampihemotra ny onjam-pahoriana mahatsiravina izay mamely azy sy ny zanany.”
She donated money to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)—then a young and controversial civil rights organization that focused on opposition to lynching and job and housing discrimination against African Americans—and wrote for its magazine. At an antiwar rally in January 1916, sponsored by the Women’s Peace Party at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Keller said, “Congress is not preparing to defend the people of the United States. It is planning to protect the capital of American speculators and investors. Incidentally this preparation will benefit the manufacturers of munitions and war machines. Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought! Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other tools of murder! Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to millions of human beings! Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction! Be heroes in an army of construction!”
Tamin'ny 1918 izy dia nanampy tamin'ny fananganana ny American Civil Liberties Union, izay nokarakaraina tamin'ny voalohany mba hanohitra ny fikasan'ny governemanta amerikana hanakanana ny hevitra sy hanagadrana na handroaka ireo radikaly nanohitra ny Ady Lehibe I, anisan'izany ny Sosialista sy ny mpikambana ao amin'ny mpiasan'ny indostrian'izao tontolo izao.
Ny taona nanaraka dia nanoratra taratasy izy, nalefa ho an'i “Mpiara-malala malala” Eugene Debs, mpitarika ny asa Sosialista sy kandidà ho filoham-pirenena, tany am-ponja noho ny fisoloan-tena ho fanoherana nandritra ny Ady Lehibe I. Nanoratra izy hoe: “Tiako ho fantatrao fa tokony hirehareha aho. raha nanameloka ahy ho mankahala ady ny Fitsarana Tampony, ary manao izay rehetra azoko atao mba hanoherana izany.”
In 1924, while campaigning for Senator Robert La Follette, the Wisconsin radical and anti-war stalwart who was running for president on the Progressive Party ticket, Keller wrote him a note: "I am for you because you stand for liberal and progressive government. I am for you because you believe the people should rule. I am for you because you believe that labor should participate in public life."
After 1924, Keller devoted most of her time and energy to speaking and fundraising for the American Foundation for the Blind, but still supported radical causes. Even as feminism began to ebb, she continued to agitate for women's rights. In 1932, she wrote an article for Home magazine, "Great American Women," praising the early suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She also penned a humorous article for the Atlantic Monthly, "Put Your Husband in the Kitchen."
Teo anelanelan’ny 1946 sy 1957, dia nitsidika firenena 35 tany amin’ny kontinanta dimy izy. Tamin’ny 1948, dia nitsidika an’i Hiroshima sy Nagasaki, tanàna noravan’ny baomba atomika amerikanina tamin’ny faran’ny Ady Lehibe II, i Keller, ary nanohitra ny ady nokleary.
In 1955, at the height of the Cold War, she wrote a public birthday greeting and letter of support to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a leading Communist activist, then in jail on charges of violating the Smith Act. In response, some supporters of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), for which Keller was the national face, threatened to withdraw their support. The AFB's executive director wrote to one of his trustees, "Helen Keller's habit of playing around with communists and near communists has long been a source of embarrassment to her conservative friends."
Ny FBI dia nitazona an'i Keller ho eo ambany fanaraha-mason'ny ankamaroan'ny fiainany lehibe noho ny fomba fijeriny. Saingy i Keller, izay maty tamin'ny 1968, dia tsy nahita fifanoherana mihitsy teo amin'ny crusade nataony hamahana ny anton'ny fahajambana sy ny ezaka nataony mba hampiroboroboana ny rariny ara-toekarena sy sosialy.
I Keller dia fanta-daza amin'ny maha-jamba azy, saingy mendrika ny holazaina ihany koa izy noho ny fahitana ara-tsosialy mivoatra.
Peter Dreier adapted this article for ENY! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas and practical actions. Professor Dreier is the E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and chair of the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. He writes frequently for Ny Firenena, American Prospect, ny Los Angeles Times, ary Huffington Post.
Ny bokiny vaovao, The 100 Greatest Americans: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, from which this article was adapted, was just published by Nation Books. You can learn more about the book at100greatestamericans.org.
Ny ZNetwork dia mamatsy vola amin'ny alalan'ny fahalalahan'ny mpamaky azy fotsiny.
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