Post a true but little-known fact about someone famous, living or dead -- (Part 2)

[red dog 1]

48. Helen Keller wasn't born deaf and blind

At 19 months old, she contracted an unknown illness, which may have been Scarlet Fever or Meningitis...The illness left her both deaf and blind.

Despite her disabilities, she was able to enjoy music by feeling the beat, and she was able to have a strong connection with animals through touch.

After attending several schools for the deaf, she gained admittance, in 1900, to Radcliffe College, Harvard.
Her admirer, Mark Twain, introduced her to Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers, who, with his wife Abbie, paid for her education.

In 1924, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree

A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, anti-militarism and other similar causes.

She died June 1, 1968, only 26 days short of her 88th birthday.