Anne Sullivan Macy

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Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan in 1887
Born April 14, 1866(1866-04-14)
Feeding Hills, Massachusetts
Died October 20, 1936 (aged 70)
Forest Hills, New York, New York
Spouse(s) John Albert Macy (m. 1905–1932) «start: (1905)–end+1: (1933)»"Marriage: John Albert Macy to Anne Sullivan Macy" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sullivan_Macy)

Anne Mansfield[1] Sullivan Macy, born Johanna Sullivan (April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936), was a teacher best known as the instructor and companion of Helen Keller. She is also known as Annie Sullivan.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Anne Sullivan was the oldest of five children, born in Feeding Hills, a subsection of the town of Agawam, Massachusetts. Her parents, Thomas Sullivan and Alice Cloesy, were impoverished cooks who left Ireland in 1847 during the Potato Famine. Her mother suffered from tuberculosis and died when Anne was eight years old.[2] Her father was an alcoholic farmhand who abandoned his three surviving children after his wife died. Although her sister Mary was sent to live with an aunt, when Annie was ten, she and her brother Jimmie moved in with other relatives,[3] who later sent the two siblings to the Tewksbury Almshouse (today Tewksbury Hospital).[4] Annie spent her time there with Jimmie, in hopes that they would not be separated; however, his condition resulting from a tubercular hip weakened him and he died three months later.[3]

When Anne Sullivan was three she began having trouble with her eyesight as a result of the eye disease trachoma,[2] a bacterial infection that often causes blindness by scarring. Sullivan underwent a long string of surgeries. Doctors in Tewksbury had made a few vain attempts to clean her eyelids. Later, Father Barbara, the chaplain of the nearest hospital, took it upon himself to arrange a procedure. This operation failed to correct her vision. Still more attempts were made. Father Barbara took her to the Boston City Infirmary (today Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary[5][6]) this time, where she had two more operations. Even after this attempt her vision remained blurry. Sullivan returned to Tewksbury, against her will. After four years there, in 1880, she entered the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind in Boston,[7] where she underwent surgery in 1881 and regained some of her sight. After the improvement of her eyesight, and graduating as class valedictorian in 1886, Michael Anaganos, the school's director, encouraged her to become a teacher for Helen Keller[8] and she received special training to do this. In 1887, Sullivan had an additional surgery which restored more of her vision.

Sullivan with an 8-year-old Keller while vacationing at Cape Cod in July 1888

When Helen was six years old, in 1887, Anne moved in and acting as her governess started teaching her. Sullivan began by teaching Helen Keller nouns using the sign language alphabet signed into Keller's palm that had been developed by Spanish monks in medieval times. After its adoption by French educators, it was adapted by British and American educators including the founder of the Perkins Institution, Samuel Gridley Howe.[9]

On May 2, 1905, Sullivan married a Harvard University instructor and literary critic, John Albert Macy (1877–1932), who had helped Keller with her publications. The three lived together. However, within a few years, their marriage began to disintegrate. By 1914 they had separated, though they never officially divorced. In the early years after their separation, John Macy wrote and asked for money. As the years progressed he appears to have faded from her life.

Sullivan Macy and Keller were lifelong companions who lived, worked, and traveled together. In 1932 they were each awarded honorary fellowships from the Educational Institute of Scotland. They also were awarded honorary degrees from Temple University.[10] By 1935, Sullivan Macy became completely blind. She died after a coma at age 70, with Keller holding her hand.[11] When Keller herself died in 1968, her ashes were placed in the Washington National Cathedral next to Anne's.

[edit] Media representation

Anne Sullivan is an integral character in The Miracle Worker, by William Gibson, originally produced for television, where she was portrayed by Teresa Wright.[12] It then moved to Broadway, and was later produced as a 1962 feature film. Both the Broadway play and 1962 film featured Anne Bancroft in the Anne Sullivan role.[13] Patty Duke—who played Helen Keller in the 1962 film version—later played Anne Sullivan in a 1979 television remake.[14] The most recent portrayal was by Alison Elliot in a 2000 television movie.[15] Alison Pill will be playing Annie Sullivan on Broadway in March 2010 in The Miracle Worker, with Abigail Breslin as Helen Keller.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Herrmann, Dorothy. Helen Keller: A Life, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1998, p. 35. ISBN 0679443541
  2. ^ a b Herrmann, p. 28.
  3. ^ a b Herrmann, p. 30.
  4. ^ "Tewksbury Historical Society, Tewksbury Massachusetts". Tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org. http://www.tewksburyhistoricalsociety.org/Archives/StateHospital/. Retrieved 2009-08-11. 
  5. ^ Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
  6. ^ Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
  7. ^ Herrmann, Dorothy. Helen Keller: A Life, 1998, p. 33.
  8. ^ "The life of Helen Keller". Rnib.org.uk. http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_keller.hcsp. Retrieved 2009-08-11. 
  9. ^ Herrmann, p. 338.
  10. ^ Herrmann, p. 252–53
  11. ^ Herrmann, p. 255.
  12. ^ Teresa Wright (I) at the Internet Movie Database
  13. ^ Anne Bancroft (I) at the Internet Movie Database
  14. ^ Patty Duke at the Internet Movie Database
  15. ^ Alison Elliott (I) at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links

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