$501-$999 Anne Sullivan Circle
Called “the miracle worker” by Mark Twain for her lifelong dedication to teaching the blind and eaf, Anne Sullivan Macy was a pioneer in special education. Overcoming extreme poverty abuse, and her own blindness, Anne Sullivan’s passion and tenacity led her out of a Massachusetts orphanage to demand her own education. She graduated as valedictorian from the Perkins Institute for the Blind and based her teaching of blind and deaf students on the use of the three remaining senses of touch, smell, and taste.
Anne’s most famous student, Helen Keller, was both blind and deaf and six years old when the two met. Sullivan had to begin teaching with lessons in obedience, followed by teaching of the manual and Braille alphabets. Later, Anne taught Helen to speak. She attended classed with Keller and tutored her through the Perkins Institute, the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and Radcliffe College, manually signing all class lectures to Keller. Anne Sullivan Macy was a remarkable woman whose life and teaching remain an inspiration to all educators.
Learn more about Anne Sullivan at www.afb.org/annesullivan/asmbiography.asp
“My heart is singing for joy this morning. A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my pupil’s mind, and behold, all thing are changed.”
—Anne Sullivan
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