Chainsaw History - The Value of Helen Keller

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

Dive back into 1980s children's biographies as podcasting siblings Bambi and Jamie Chambers explore The Value of Determination: The Story of Helen Keller. Bambi reads us the tale of an adorable baby named Helen who becomes a "nasty" little girl after being stricken blind and deaf by a fever. (Hey, it's their word not ours!) But with the help of a trio of imaginary leprechauns and a small assist from Anne Sullivan our heroine is able to overcome her disabilities and learn to communicate and somehow become a vaudeville performer. It's all about DETERMINATION in this kids' book that completely ignores Keller's political activism as a pacifist, feminist, and open socialist.Support the show and stay tuned with us on social media and discover more on our website: http://www.chainsawhistory.com

Welcome to the Chainsaw History Series, The Value of Everybody. Hello! I'm Jamie Chambers, this is my sister Bambi. Hello! And today she is going to be reading sections of a children's history series that was inflicted on us when we were kids in the eighties. Yes, although I have to say this is the most softballed, lobbed episode because not only do I remember this book fondly as a child, but she's a pretty well documented human

being. So I'm pretty excited. I mean, previously we've done, you know, Lincoln and other fairly well-documented people, so why not? Yeah. You know, sometimes I like not having to do a lot of research. So who are we talking about today? Today, it's the value of determination, the story of Helen Keller by my very favorite by Ann Dunigan Johnson.

Ann Dunigan Johnson. Which means there's going to be some weird shit going on in this book. I'm so excited. Part of the dynamic duo that started this whole series. Yes. All right. So Helen Keller. This feels like Bambi setting a trap for her older

brother, but I'm not going to fall into it because I used to tell a lot of Helen Keller jokes that were bad, inappropriate, and I'm sorry. And he's still going to do it. No, I'm not going to do it. You'll have to imagine they were bad and I should be ashamed of myself. But he's not. Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Helen Keller. When she was a baby she was bright and lovely with clear sparkling eyes, a happy little smile,

and a soft baby voice. What do you see, Jamie? I see a bald little Winston Churchill stuck in a cradle little Winston Churchill stuck in a cradle where the dad looks like he has red demonic eyes. But yeah, other than he does. I mean, dad's fucked up. But here we begin in this wholesome little thing with good old once upon a time letting us know we're getting some real history. Oh, for sure. So Helen Keller was a baby.

Yep, she was a completely normal, bald little baby. She was a happy baby and she was a fun baby and a pretty baby. Yep, she was a completely normal, bald little baby. She was a happy baby and she was a fun baby and a pretty baby. And everything worked out great. And she loved to play with her bear. So we're going through the first page. I am really glad nothing is going to happen to this little girl. Yeah, I mean look how how darling she is. And then one day Helen fell sick. Dun dun dun. Doctors could not tell why she had that fever. Her worried mother sat by her bed and nursed her, putting cool wet clothes on her forehead. At last the dreadful fever left Helen.

Miss Keller was so happy. The little girl seemed as well as ever. So if I remember right, this was scarlet fever, which was famous for crippling children. Or maybe I'm getting confused with the Velveteen Rabbit. Possibly or little women. Well, I mean, that was scarlet fever. Scarlet fever was a prevalent thing. But I actually do not think it was. You can give me 10 seconds and I can tell you.

An unknown eldest described as acute congestion of the stomach and the brain believed it might have been meningitis. So not tuberculosis, meningitis. Well, tuberculosis would have been a whole different one. Or possibly hemophilius influenza. Sounds gross. So they don't really know. Or possibly hemophilius influenza. Sounds gross. So they don't really know. I don't think I want that.

So they have no idea what she contracted. It changed everything. Yep. So her parents were really happy she survived, but they also noticed that something was wrong. Look, father, she said, Helen doesn't close her eyes when I put water on her face. I'm afraid something is wrong I think we had better take Helen to the doctor right away. Good call mom. Yeah, so they were like wait And again, look at this child now Happy and looks stoned out of her gourd

This ain't right. Yeah. Well, no kidding. My kid looked like that. They're going straight to the hospital. So they took her to the doctor and Helen didn't blink when the doctor peered into her eyes. She paid no attention when the doctor rang the bell close to her ears. I'm afraid said the doctor that Helen's illness is very unusual. Most sick children soon become completely well.

Although it hardly ever happens, the fever has damaged Helen's eyes and she will never be able to see again. So she's blind and can't hear shit. Yeah, this is terrible news, but the doctor had not finished. She is deaf too, he told Helen's mother and father. Her ears are damaged and she will never be able to hear again. It is very unusual and very sad." So sad parents that that child looks fucking... But she's happy all the time. She's just woo. She doesn't need eyes to know where dad hides the good drugs. Apparently.

So her mother and father took her home and there was really nothing they could do for her and they just kind of. Well, this is our kid now. Everybody's like, how awful. What will the poor child do if she cannot see or hear talk? Everyone just assumes, well, she's just going to be a useless cripple. Yeah, everybody's like, well, that's fucked. And she's like, cool, I'm still just a happy baby.

But soon, Helen soon showed what she would do. For her, the world was dark and silent. She felt very much alone and very angry. I'm going to be a nasty little girl, she said to herself. In fact, I'm determined. I've made up my mind I will be a nasty little girl, very nasty. And she threw her toys on the floor and kicked her teddy bear. Yeah. So now she becomes a scared, angry, frustrated little girl. And so… It so it's very difficult to communicate with anybody or yeah So Helen's living in her own scared dark lonely world now and as she grows

It's making her fucking not happy as it fucking would Yeah, so you see poor mom not being able to give her a fucking bath and they're like, well, we can't do nothing. So Helen's mother traveled a long way to a very special school. It was a school for girls and boys who are blind and deaf and mute, just like Helen. I have a child who cannot hear, see or speak, Helen's mother told the man who was in charge of the school. What's more, she seems determined to be as nasty as can be. Be glad she has determination, said the man. She'll need it a lot. Children who are deaf and blind try very hard, but they can learn to see and hear in a special way. We have a young lady here in our school who can

teach your child to see and hear. Her name is Anne Sullivan. Yep, so in walks Anne, because again, this is probably like one of the most documented things in history. And if you have not heard of Helen Keller, you probably are very young or live under a rock. I'm wondering if we're going to hear the word nasty again, because at this point, it sounds like Donald Trump wrote this. Yeah, I mean, it's not great writing. It never is. The word eight nasty was like eight times in one paragraph.

You know what's sad is so far, this is the least egregious thing that we've read. Right. Yeah. This is, this one seems pretty much, yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Okay. This happened, then this happened, and then this happened. You know, as it did. And we haven't gotten any weird imaginary anythings yet.

Oh, but wait. Oh shit. Just wait. I shouldn't have jinxed it. Yup. Before long, Anne Sullivan came to Helen Keller's home. She wanted to be friends with the angry wretched child. Not scared lonely child, but angry and wretched. Poor Helen. I'll take this little dirt ball vagabond in.

Don't worry. I'll beat her into shape. But Helen roughly snatched the doll out of Anne Sullivan's hands. She was determined to be nasty, no matter what. Nasty. I feel like Janet Jackson should come on any minute. Don't need a thing. Yep. So which is actually because again if anyone has ever seen or heard or even considered the miracle this is this happened this was the thing. I've seen

two different versions of the miracle worker. Anne wants to teach Helen but Helen's still being a brat and half. She's being nasty. Nasty. So Anne let Helen play with the doll for a few minutes then Anne took Helen's hand. With her finger she spelled the word doll on Helen's hand. What is she, she spelt the word doll on Helen's hand. What is she doing? Wondered Helen. It was the very first time anyone had tried to teach Helen anything, but she did not understand. So Anne had to tell Helen's parents that they were part of the problem and that she

was spoiled and she couldn't do anything with her if everybody was just going to dote on her all the time. So she took her to a cottage on the property. So she still lived in the realm of her household, but separated so she could write. Cause her education is literally full time. Yes. Her and Anne, they moved into this little bitty cottage. And at first Helen was being especially nasty one day with Anne Sullivan. It's like she has no other adjectives. It's really sad.

Nasty, what does that mean? Like I think they're using it for mean, but nasty can mean something. It's like she shit her pants and smeared it on the wall. Who knows? She was in a terrible rage. Oh dear, thought Ann. How can I ever make Helen understand that I'm trying to help her? Helen was in such a rage that Ann had to hold her down. Slowly, Helen grew tired. She stopped shouting and fighting. As she lay down on her bed, she pretended that she was surrounded by three special friends. She imagined a hearing leprechaun, a seeing leprechaun, and a talking leprechaun.

Oh, Faith and Magora, the leprechauns are here. They're always after me. Lucky charms. It's so goddamn weird. That, of all the things, why would, why would Helen, was she from an Irish family? No. Just random leprechauns. Random fucking leprechauns. In fact, I think she, hold on. I can tell you where she was, like her family was from, because there was a thing.

Yeah, native of Switzerland. Oh yes. Her family was from Switzerland. Famed home of the leprechauns. What? No, Switzerland. Thank you, Ann Dunigan. Yeah, she didn't do any research on these people. Wikipedia had more information.

I mean, to be fair, they didn't have Wikipedia back then. She might have had to like go to an entire library. Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine, like again, one of the most well documented women in history. I mean, I guess if you're going, again, one of the most well-documented women in history. I mean, I guess if you're going to make fictional imaginary friends, what the fuck ever. It doesn't matter if it's culturally relevant or not. So... So we got, we got... Fucking weird.

And I mean, they are straight up dressed like little Irish leprechauns. Ooh. Bilarney. They are going to take her to a rainbow one day. She's gonna find a pot of gold. This is so weird. And what does a blind girl imagine a leprechaun? Okay, nevermind. Okay, I mean we can go to the page. Jamie, what do you see? I mean, I see a mustachioed leprechaun, a bearded leprechaun, another leprechaun who's doing inappropriate things to a doll.

Yeah, I mean, I think technically he doing inappropriate things to a doll. Yeah. I mean, I think technically he's just sitting on it, but still. I don't like the way he's sitting on it. It's all very weird with this sad, just dirty little grudge of a child. Their coat tails are starch so heavy that they stick out. Of course they do, Jamie, because they're leprechauns. Like some little backwards replica of leprechaun boners. It's so fucking weird.

Anyway, she sat up a dirty rumpled little girl and for the first time in her silent world, she seemed to hear someone. This can't go on forever, Helen, the first leprechaun said. You're determined to be bad, but Anne is just determined to help you to learn and to see and hear. So the second leprechaun. Stop it being so nasty, you girl. What is wrong with you?

Take a bath. I wonder thought Helen, what determination really means, because I'm sure in her seven year old world, the word determination is in there. She's been described as the Tasmanian devil up until this point. And suddenly she's like, forsooth, I w I shall ponder the meaning of the word determination. I have so weird.

My leprechauns will help me. Helen didn't understand. Well, being bad didn't work. Perhaps I'll be good for a while and see what happens. So the leprechauns convinced her to like fucking take a bath and to comb her hair. She stops looking like the Tasmanian devil. Yeah, so now she's just like, huh, fuck it.

I guess I just gotta go along. She looks, for the first time, she was so happy in the beginning and now she's like, now that she's getting somewhere, she's miserable. Yeah. It's just, well, this is resignation. She's just like, fuck it. I can't get out of this. I'm just stuck here with this woman who will not leave me. This on bathing me, not letting me scream and pitch fits all the time. Great.

Yep. And she kept spelling words on her hand, but Helen didn't understand what she was trying to do. I hope I'm going to understand this soon, thought Helen. I will. I will understand it. I won't give up. One day they went to go get some water and Helen put her hand, she got water on her hand and it felt nice and cool. And then Anne took Helen's hand and spelled the word water on it.

And suddenly Helen understood. She had felt the cool water and then Anne had written it on her hand the name of the thing that she had felt. Anne was teaching her words. Helen jumped up and down with joy. The leprechauns danced in a merry circle. Hearing leprechauns was the happiest of the three. He knew that most people hear with their ears, but Helen could now hear in a special way by having her hand touched. So they were all excited, and Anne wanted, or Helen wanted Anne to teach her the words of everything. Leprechaun getting roaring drunk.

Oh yeah, well he's excited now and they're going to start like giving her things to spell and she's very happy because now she's learning what things are. Right. Okay. Yep. Clock. E. Lamp. Couch.

Leprechaun, whatever. Hallucination. So after she started learning what things were and how to spell, she also started learning to count. And so she started learning to count on beads on a string. She's got a little abacus kind of deal. Yep. And so she started to learn things.

So Anne's like giving her all tactile ways of figuring all this stuff out. Just how you need when touch is the only thing you got. Yep. At last it was time for Helen to go to school and went with her. And so did the three little leprechauns. Weird.

They wanted to remind her to keep trying as hard as she could to be determined, to learn new things, and what to do was right, no matter what happens. That's right, that's what the leprechauns would want. It is, it's, and they stayed with her, making sure she was working as hard as she could. They were fucking, I guess, slave-driving leprechauns.

Some weird shit. We're gonna haunt you till the end of your days Lassie after Helen had been at the school for a long time and a wonderful thing happened. She learned to speak Whoa, do you know how she did it? One of the teachers put Helen's hand on her mouth when the teacher said a word with her and her mouth moved Helen could feel it and move it under her hand. Then Helen moved her own mouth the same way. Then the teacher let Helen's fingers rest lightly on her tongue and her teeth.

She said the word and Helen felt her tongue moved against her teeth and while trying to move her own tongue the same way. Helen found she could make sounds. She tried and tried and at last Helen said a word. She did it, she did it, cried the talking leprechaun. Helen Keller has learned to talk. So now she can... So she has to do it herself.

What the fuck is the talking leprechaun good for? Cheering her on? Yes. Oh, okay. He's just... They're slave driving leprechaun. He's a hype man. Yeah. He's like, you's a hype. They're slave driving leprechaun. He's a hype man.

Yeah. He's like, you got this. You gotta do it. So, Helen learned to read. She could not read with her eyes as most children do. She read with her fingers. The books were printed in Braille. The letters raised up from the page.

Helen could feel with her fingers and know what the letters were. It had taken all of Helen's determination to learn to hear and to see and to speak and she knew that there were many other things she had to know now. And if you don't do it right Helen we're gonna leave the plunger in the toilet again. When I finished with this school said Helen, I will go on to college. She has gone from being a little cave girl to now like headed to higher education. Yes. Sweet. We will not go with you Helen said one of the leprechauns.

You do not need us anymore said the other. We have to go now and help some other little girls and boys. Oh God, it's like that scene from Inside Out with the imaginary friend is going away. Yeah, well good. We don't need, that's the thing, these haunted leprechauns need to get the fuck out of here. They're definitely not good for your college life. Goodbye, Helen's said to the leprechauns and don't worry, I will never forget you. You don't need, when you're going to frat parties. You do not need leprechauns hanging around

Yeah, no shit that now she has a real friend because now she has an and she also learned how to make new friends at school and Also, Helen Keller made and Sullivan incredibly famous Yes, very very at first Helen was a little lonely for her wonderful Very, very. At first, Helen was a little lonely for her wonderful leprechauners, but she and Anne were very excited about college. Helen was eager to do well, and she did very well indeed.

She learned many new things. So Helen went off to Redcliffe College, which was, I guess, the female offshoot of Harvard? Oh, wow. Okay. Let me double check that. This is where she learned the blood rites necessary to summon her new leprechauns. Her first school was the Wright Hummison School for the Deaf. And she learned from Sarah Fuller at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf.

And then she went on to Cambridge School for Young Ladies, before gaining admins to Rod Cliff College of Harvard University. There you go. So she went from fucking Cambridge to Harvard basically, because back then this is the closest that a woman could get. Yep. Considering she's a blind and deaf woman, quite impressive. Yes, and the first one to do it. But like I said, by this point in their lives, I'm pretty sure both of them were world famous. Yes, because one day at a party, Helen met Mr. Alexander Graham Bell.

You know, like a normal person. You know, just an average. Just hanging around that guy who has his own value tales book. Crossover. Yep. Mr. Bell talked with Helen, listening, but not in the usual way. She listened by lightly touching his mouth. When she spoke, she spoke aloud as ordinary people do.

And she was proud to tell Mr. Bell how she could use the telephone. So she became friends with Alexander Graham Bell. Weird. Yeah. The person who can't really make a phone call. Yeah, I'm gonna read you this passage just because it's literally the fucking weirdest shit ever. Okay. And why. Helen and Mr. Bell became good friends.

Once when they were talking in the rain, Mr. Bell asked Helen to put her hands on the trunk of the tree. Tell me what you feel, he said. With the rain falling on the leaves, I seem to feel what the tree moves a little. It makes me think of leaves are whispering things to one another. It's nice. Now, so then he took her to Niagara falls.

I have to wonder, if we were to look up and like the sources on this, is that a, is there any basis to that or is it just some weirdo fantasy that Ann Dunnigan Johnson's got? I have no fucking clue. But then he took her to Niagara Falls. It's like, okay, get in this barrel, Harold. She was not that woman. That's a different woman. So she felt she could, she heard the thunder of the falling water

in her own special way. Feel the vibrations. Feel the fucking water. And so Helen was happy. It was wonderful to be able to hear things and to see things in her own special way. And to be able to talk about things. She was so glad she had been determined and had not given up. She had learned even though learning was hard for her.

And that is when she started putting on this special suit, carrying these batons around and beating the shit out of ne'er do wells and criminals. And so instead of talking about all the dope things she did, they're going to talk about how he gave her a bird Allegheny Graham Bell bird giver he gave her a bird and I mean they are really into this friendship with Bell too Apparently that's the defining thing of her life Screw and Sullivan we got the old bearded man Jean Quill was a cockatoo and he was a gift from Mr. Bell.

And when it wasn't perched on Helen's foot, it sat on her shoulder and rubbed its head against her face. Life was pleasant and yet Helen was not happy. I have friends, she thought. I can talk to them, I can tell them what I feel, but I know that there are people who can't do this. I wish I could help them. If only I had my leprechauns to clean the bird shit off of me.

Well, I mean, she had servants. Yeah. I mean, her parents weren't poor. And at this point she was bringing in so much money. She was stupid money. I mean, they, they do not talk about, this is like, she was already super famous at this point, but it gets like, because it's like the part of, I mean, the, you know, I don't, I'm not like an expert on this story, but I do know that basically after the breakthroughs

and Helen really started doing impressive shit, they capitalized on that shit right away and they were famous and made money, money, money. Everyone was so enthralled by her story that everybody wanted to meet her and bring her out and stuff. Oh yeah. She never had to worry about anything for the rest of her life. She was brilliant. She was articulate. She, you know, she was fucking dope.

So Helen did help people. How did she do it? It was very simple. She did it by going to people and showing them what she had herself learned. She wrote books and she and Anne Sullivan traveled. When she was in England, she was invited to the palace to meet the king and queen like normal people. I'd like to be able to read lips, said the king. Can you teach me? Oh, yes, said Helen. And she showed how she could tell what people were saying by touching

their lips and feeling the way that their mouth moved. It was fun to be able to teach the king and queen something new. And then the king was really awkward with everybody for the rest of his life, putting his hands right on their mouth every time they talked. And now we come to the weirdest chapter of all. Oh God. Even when she was home, Helen Keller kept working encouraging others and showing them what she could do. Once she and her friend, Anne Sullivan put on a vaudeville show.

They danced and told jokes. Helen Keller was especially happy. She learned how good it feels to have determination. So this is the first time Helen Keller became the butt of her own joke. She put on a vaudeville show. I cannot imagine. I can't imagine anything I need I wish I could go back in time now I know what I needed time machine for is to see a Helen Keller's Volveville show. I am such a bad person. What did Helen Keller say at her Volveville show? No, we're not gonna do it. We're better than this Okay moving right along

That's a thing that actually happened I hope that needs to exist Everyone Google Helen Keller vaudeville right now. Get back to us. I mean, because you can learn to speak, but I don't think you can learn to sing. I'm not going to do it. Helen Keller singing. I'm not going to do it. Fuck you, baby.

I'm not. Oh, wow. So she was determined and she went to go talk to wounded soldiers who had been blind and hurt during the war. You have problems, she told them, but everyone in the world has some sort of problem. So get the fuck over it, I guess. Those who are determined to work and can usually cope with their problems, those who give up, those people who are not determined are usually very unhappy.

She became a mascot for rich bosses because her workers like my arm got cut off and she's like, well, I can't even see in here, get back to work. You lazy piece of shit. See, and no, that is exactly not how she was. Fuck you. And don't let anything discourage you. Keep right on trying. Then you will do what you want to do and you will be happier.

Or she could have just fucking, you know, taught those people the things that she'd fucking learned and not given them. Ooh, yes. Just become famous for your disabilities, just like me. So listening to Callen Keller made other people realize how hard it must have been for her to learn to see and to hear and to speak so that others could understand her. They said, Helen Keller must be a very determined person to do something like that. Just think of what it might have been just like for Helen if she had not been determined.

So it's a picture of the places that she went. So she went to like Moscow and Paris and Pisa and I can't see all of it because of the microphone. Oh London and China question mark? Or Japan? Yeah, something. Something vaguely Asian. The others actually have sort of recognizable things. Landmarks. In other words, world traveler Helen Keller, because once again, she was a celebrity of highest magnitude at this point. Now, you might not have to overcome the same difficulties as Helen Keller, but just the same,

perhaps, a little determination in your life might bring you happiness too, just like it did for Helen Keller. So take a large sharp needle to your eardrums and your eyeballs and you too can have the Helen Keller experience. This is a weird fucking book. The vaudeville thing. I'm going to have... I have questions.

So many. So what do we have? We have the biographical page at the back. I'm going to have questions. So many. So what do we have? We have the biographical page at the back. Yeah, we have our biographical page at the back. Helen Keller overcame most difficult physical handicaps being deaf, dumb, and blind and

acted as a source of inspiration to those who became aware of her. It's not a great Senate job. I mean, I don't think she was dumb. Well, dumb means can't speak. I mean, it's technically correct. It's mute. Well, it's used less now. Dumb used to be the common word for that. So, I mean, that's still pretty rough. Given that one a pass, that's actually, like I said, technically correct. She was born in Alabama in 1880.

Helen Keller was a healthy child. She was stricken with a fever at the age of 19 months and became deaf and blind and hence mute. She lived in darkness until she was seven. Then her father, who had been the captain of the Civil War, who had owned a newspaper and learned that there might be help for Helen. He and Helen's mother were delighted when help arrived in the person of Anne Sullivan. Anne could understand Helen's problems, for she herself had been blind until

the age of 16, and operation restored her sight. Anne saw that Helen, like many handicapped children, had been greatly spoiled by her parents, who had felt sorry for her. Anne insisted on the discipline for Helen. Later, Miss Keller was to say to her, Miss Annie, I thank God every day for my life for sending you to us. When Helen's father became ill and Helen did not want to ask him for money for a special needs school, she needed one. One of her admirers came to the rescue and helped raise funds to send her to school. The admirer was Mark Twain. Which again, I mean, was like, oh, I can't afford to send Helen to the school. It's a good thing I have a newspaper.

Good old Sam Clemens. Why doesn't Mark Twain have a value, Tails? So fucking many reasons. He was not what you would say wholesome. Oh, this is true. He's not wholesome. But awesome. Not wholesome. So he was only one of many people who were inspired by Helen Keller.

Because yeah, even at this point, she was fucking famous. Yeah, she's this inspirational, aspirational story of overcoming difficulties. This quality enabled Helen to learn Braille to write, even to speak in 1904 to graduate with honors from Radcliffe College. Anne Sullivan, who taught Helen Keller the value of determination, died in 1936 at the age of 70. After spending almost 50 years with Anne, Helen said of her,

"'A light has gone out that can never shine for me again.'" But Helen now knew the value of determination, kept working until her death. Only took her 50 years. In 1968 to help others. She wrote articles, she gave lectures for the American Foundation for the Blind. She helped raise a fund of $2 million for this foundation. On her 18th birthday, the American Foundation for the Overseas Blind honored her. For the Venetian Blind.

They honored Helen Keller the International Award for those who gave outstanding help to the blind. A source of personal inspiration to many people, Helen Keller was invited to visit every president who occupied the White House from her childhood on. Her determination, no doubt, was a source of amazement and inspiration even to presidents. To show how she valued that of determination, she once showed the marvelous richness of the human experience with Luz something of its rewarding joy if there were not those limitations to overcome. Also, she was nasty.

She was not nasty, she was dope as fuck. Cause let me actually tell you about Helen Keller. I mean, none of that was egregious for once. I mean. We've definitely had worse. Oh, so much worse. And now granted, I'm gonna say the leprechauns are weird and I'm going to be haunted by vaudeville.

But other than that that it wasn't it wasn't awful. Oh god is someone gonna use AI to create Helen Keller's vaudeville show? The Helen Keller memes are still... huh but yeah I mean she was born in Alabama and on June 27th 1880 she Contracted what was some disease? Yeah, she attracted a disease. She went to school and Yada yada. I mean for most of it was pretty straight forward rich and famous What about her personal life beyond and Sullivan? I mean basically it's like yeah after learning some shit she became fucking super famous for it. She became a celebrity and then all she had to do was write books and give lectures. Yeah and she did.

She went to school. So Helen Keller branded merch. Yup. Subscribe to our Patreon. Now Anne Sullivan stayed as a companion to Helen Keller long after she taught her. Sullivan married John Macy in 1905 and her health started failing in 1914. She got nine years of happy marriage before her body went to shit. And so Polly Thompson was hired to keep health and then progressed on to work as a secretary as well as a constant companion.

Yeah, because Helen Keller needed somebody with her. Yeah. At all times. She needed accommodations. Yes. I mean, it's not like she could manage for herself. They all lived in a house together for a while until Ann died. And then after that, she stopped living in the house.

Yeah. Her and Thompson moved to Connecticut. They traveled around the world. Thompson had a stroke, so they had to replace her with Winnie Corbally, and who was a nurse originally hired to care for Thompson and after Thompson's death she was hired as Keller's companion. Switch over to be your Helen's caretaker. Because she needed one.

Career and writing and politics activities. Do do because like I said she was pretty dope. So let's see. Okay. She became an ad advocate for people with disabilities. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, a radical socialist, birth control supporter, and opponent of Woodrow Wilson. In 1915, she and George Kessler founded the Helen Keller International Organization. This organization is devoted to the research in vision, health, and nutrition. In 1916, she sent money to the NAACP as she was ashamed of Southern unchristian treatment of colored people. That's a good Alabama girl. She's a good girl.

And let me read you a quote from Ms. Keller. The few who own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all, the country is governed for the richest. For corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor, the majority of mankind are working people so long as their fair demands and Ownership and control of their livelihoods are set at not we can have neither men's rights nor women's rights The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that a small remnant may live in ease Helen Keller, 1911.

Preach comrade. Right? Fucking dope. She wasn't just so, but yeah, she lived her life as an advocate for everything from women's rights, colored people's rights, the poor, industrial oppression. I guess it makes sense when I think about it. At first I was like, well, it's kind of strange for, you know, a woman in her situation to be concerned about birth control, but the truth is, especially back then,

Yeah. just like we're talking about the construct that birth control is also part of women's rights in a big way back in this point. In 1909, Keller became a member of the Socialist Party. She actively campaigned and wrote in the support of the working class. party. She actively campaigned and wrote in the support of the working class. Many of her speeches and writings were about women's rights, the women's rights to vote and the effects of war. In addition, she also opposed military intervention.

Yeah. All this, it's weird how these post-patriotic book series skipped all of that shit. Right? So yeah, I mean, I could go on and on and on and on and on, but it- The value of determination. Helen Keller- That was, I mean, her works, her later life and death, her portrayals, I mean, there's so fucking much about her.

But I think I'm going to stop because we're just going to be like, Helen Keller was dope and they did not get into it in this book. Yeah, they were just like, yeah, she, you know, she is the only thing they focused on was the fact that she stopped being a scruffy, you know, you know, maniac and actually learned how to, you know, you two children can bathe and behave. All you need is some leprechauns. You need a little determination and you need to not be a nasty little shit.

There we go. But that also means that if you want to not be a nasty little shit. There we go. But that also means that if you want to learn all of the other cool stuff about Helen Keller, yeah go get on the internet and find out some extra stuff unless we decide to do another full on Helen Keller episode one day. But she's so well covered. It's not like other people have already done that. We like getting into the corners that are less explored. Exactly. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love we like we like getting into the corners that are less explored

Exactly. I mean don't get me wrong. I love Helen Keller. I was super happy To fucking share that weird ass book with the rest of you, but I think I'm good Yeah, I mean other than other than wanting to like see her vaudeville show Oh my god, like if I had a chance to give Helen Keller anything like later in life I would see what you need is a rage room. She spent so many, she spent her early life just like being a shitty nasty little girl you know smashing things and flashing out. I'm sure that some part of her was ready to just let the rage loose again just one more time. Nope because she was a pessimist. That's why you do take it out on a roof. No one's getting hurt in a rage room. Just stuff no one wants anymore. You can unleash your inner little nasty girl one last time.

From trash that even goodwill doesn't want. All right. Everybody will have some determination. Go out and be a socialist and AAAC supporting feminist. Do it. Be like Helen Keller. And we will see. Have determination and be cool to women.

And at the end of this, this is where I remind you to go to chainsawhistory.com to see the full catalog of regular episodes, more value of like this one. And our other series, No Time for Love, Dr. Jones, where I drag Bambi through the fictional life of Indiana Jones as he goes through and meets real world people and events from history. And if you have a few extra dollars, give to Planned Parenthood.

Because I think Helen Keller would. She certainly would approve or your... Yup. She was all about birth control, y'all. So, um... So have protected sex. We'll see you next time. Yup. She was all about birth control y'all. So, um, so have protected sex. We'll see you next time. Bye.