Johanna Mansfield Sullivan Macy, better known as Anne Sullivanis mentioned above all for its role as Helen Keller teacher and guide guidance. Born in 1866 in a family of Irish immigrants in the United States, Anne had a difficult childhood: at five he marked the torna disease that made her sight seriously compromised.
After the death of the mother and the abandonment by the father, he was sent to an orphanage together with his younger brother, who unfortunately died shortly after. Eager to change his destiny, Anne managed to enter the Perkins School for the Blindwhere he received a thorough education and learned the language of manual signs, essential for his future educational mission.
After graduating in 1886, he was entrusted with an arduous task: Educate Helen Kellera blind and deaf girl from the age of 19 months, who lived in a world without communication and discipline. Anne arrived in the Keller family house in 1887 and immediately faced the difficult challenge of teaching Helen to communicate.
Anne and Helen remained inseparable throughout their lives
His method consisted of trace words about the girl’s hand as he made them touch the corresponding object. For weeks, Helen reproduced the signs without understanding its meaning, until the decisive moment: while the water flowed on his hand, Anne wrote the word “water” on the other.
That day, Helen understood that Everything had a nameand his learning became very quick. In the following months, Helen he learned hundreds of words, the braille and the bases of mathematics. Thanks to Anne’s constant support, he managed to continue his studies until graduate With praise at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study of Harvard in 1904, becoming the first sordocieca person in the world to obtain a university title.
Anne and Helen they remained inseparable throughout their lifecollaborating in book writing and participating in conferences in favor of people with disabilities. Anne married Professor John Macy in 1905, but the wedding did not last long. Over time, his health worsened and It almost completely lost the view.
He died in 1936, leaving a legacy of determination and educational innovation. The relationship between Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller remains one of the most extraordinary stories of education: an example of how will, patience and ingenuity can overcome every barrier.