Helen Keller became interested in politics and read extensively on socialism. She began to write articles for The Call, a socialist paper in New York City. “It can’t be unreasonable to ask of a society a fair chance for all. It can’t be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and children and an honest wage for all,” she said.
Written Features
Rethinking disability representation on-screen
Pop culture and the enduring legacy of Helen Keller
Helen Keller and Me – Why it was “her doomed love life that really made me identify”
Two poems influenced by Helen Keller’s legacy
What Helen Keller’s little known journalism taught me
Helen Keller biography and timeline
Video Features
Video Features [Accessible Versions]
Clip | Elsa Sjunneson: DeafBlind fencer, hiker, published author [Audio Description + ASL]
Clip | Elsa Sjunneson: DeafBlind fencer, hiker, published author [Extended Audio Description]
Clip | Helen Keller studied socialism [Audio Description]
Clip | Helen Keller the suffragist [Audio Description]
Clip | Keller’s use of oral communication [Audio Description]
TRANSCRIPT
- She became increasingly interested in politics. And with John Macy, this was her entry into that world. She wanted to know why some people were poor, and some people were not. She thought that was incredibly unjust. And she began to look at why that was the case.
- [Descriptive Narrator] From "Out of the Dark."
- "How did I become a socialist? By reading. It's no easy thing to absorb through one's fingers, a book of 50,000 words on economics, but it is a pleasure I shall enjoy repeatedly until I have made myself familiar with all the classic socialist authors."
- Socialism was an enormously appealing movement in the early decades of the 20th century.
- [Descriptive Narrator] Peter Hall, historian.
- [Peter] It flourished in circles of educated people, especially educated young people.
- [Descriptive Narrator] A photo of women sitting in a circle on a grassy lawn.
- "It can't be unreasonable to ask of a society a fair chance for all. It can't be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and children and an honest wage for all. When should we learn that we are all related one to the other, that we're all members of one body?"
- [Descriptive Narrator] A photo of Helen touching a leafy fern.
- [Narrator] Helen would go on to write articles for "The Call," a New York city socialist newspaper.
- [Descriptive Narrator] A collage of article headlines.
- [Cherry] Its women's pages regularly discussed birth control, wages for women workers and childcare.
- [Descriptive Narrator 2] Closing title, Becoming Helen Keller. Text, premieres Tuesday, October 19th, 9:00/8:00 Central Time. Logo, PBS. Watch on the PBS video app.