Joanna Sullivan (1866–1936,) known throughout her life as Anne or Annie, also Anne Sullivan Macy, was the American teacher of the author and political activist Helen Keller. Sullivan is renowned for her triumph in educating to a high level a person without sight, hearing, or normal speech.
Born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, Sullivan prevailed over an impoverished and abusive upbringing. At age five, Sullivan contracted trachoma, a bacterial eye infection—the disease left her half-blind.
At age 20, Sullivan accepted a position as a teacher to Keller, then a seven-year-old girl who was left blind, deaf, and mute by an illness she suffered when she was 19 months old. Sullivan moved into Keller’s Alabama home and found Keller to be a spoiled and temperamental child, subject to tantrums.
After a short period, Sullivan and her student moved into a garden house on the Keller property. There, the strong-minded tutor and student began their lifetime of interdependence. Sullivan taught Keller to obey and to associate words with objects and ideas. Sullivan coached her through Radcliffe College and accompanied her in public appearances worldwide. Sullivan served as Keller’s eyes and ears until her death.
The story of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller has been depicted in William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker (1956,) originally a television play and later a Broadway play (1959) and a film (1962.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Anne Sullivan Macy
People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved.
—Anne Sullivan Macy
Children need guidance and sympathy far more than instruction.
—Anne Sullivan Macy
Topics: Parents
I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built up on the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think.
—Anne Sullivan Macy
Topics: Education
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