What’s the deal with Helen Keller?
This past Sunday, September 30, was Founder’s Day at CSW. On this date, back in 1886, Arthur and Stella Scott Gilman opened the doors to The Cambridge School for Girls at 20 Mason Street, just outside of Harvard Square. Our school has a fascinating history, and few know it better than my dear colleague, Sherrill Bounnell P‘19, who works right here in the Head’s Office. In addition to organizing and maintaining the school’s archives, Sherrill gives brief talks at assembly about the history of our school. She also manages a bulletin board in the Kluchman Building, which she uses to tempt us to learn more about CSW’s engrossing story.
The community recently left questions for Sherrill, which helped guide her recent assembly presentation.
“What’s the deal with Helen Keller?” one person asked. And, “Was she mean?”
As I’ve shared in previous posts, Helen Keller was 16 years old when she and her companion Annie Sullivan arrived at our school on October 1, 1896. To assist her during her time here, Arthur Gilman and Helen’s German teacher both learned “the manual language.” Gilman later shared that he took particular delight in teaching Helen Shakespeare. And although she only stayed at the school until November 1897, Helen finished her first year at the school with honors in German and the highest score in English of all the students.
So that’s the deal with Helen Keller — at least part of it. Now onto the next burning question: Was she mean?
Arthur Gilman and Annie Sullivan both rejoiced in Helen’s successes, but they disagreed strongly about the pace of her work. Gilman thought it would take four years for Helen to be ready for Radcliffe, believing a faster pace carried the danger of making Helen tense and ill due to the pressure. Sullivan, however, dismissed such danger and asserted it should take only two years. Indeed, Helen’s time at the school was fraught with tension and disagreements between her two mentors, who were in competition to protect and guide Helen. In the end, “Miss Spitfire,” as Annie Sullivan was known during her time as a student at the Perkins School for the Blind, prevailed, criticizing Gilman, and in doing so, questioning his authority before students, teachers, and staff.
The question in fact might very well be: “Was Annie Sullivan mean?”
But back to Helen. Throughout her long life (she died in 1968 at the age of 87), Helen did CSW’s progressive founder, Arthur Gilman, and the school’s founding philosophy of progressive education, proud. She was a lifelong radical who participated in the great movements for social justice of her time. Although she was universally praised for her courage in the face of her physical disabilities, she eventually found herself criticized for her political views. She was a strong advocate for women’s rights and workers’ rights, and she called for reforms around issues of race, class, and economics. She helped found the American Civil Liberties Union. She was a pacifist, speaking out against nuclear war during visits to Japan after WWII. The FBI kept her under surveillance for most of her adult life.
And so, dear reader, that’s the real “deal” about Helen Keller. I think we can safely say she wasn’t “mean,” but instead remember her for breaking the boundaries of disabilities and her time, and for her progressive social vision. May her legacy continue to live on in the students of today at CSW.
Happy (belated) Founders’ Day, CSW!
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CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.