Bell connected Helen Keller with Annie Sullivan

Bell worked tirelessly to aid the deaf throughout his life, despite becoming famous for inventing the telephone.

Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Helen couldn't see, hear, or speak when she was a baby due to a brief illness, possibly scarlet fever or a type of bacterial meningitis. She was regarded as a smart, spoiled, and independent young girl. Alexander Graham Bell, the creator of the telephone and an expert on the deaf, was eventually consulted by her parents. He advised the Kellers to get in touch with the Perkins Institution, which in turn gave Anne Sullivan's recommendation as a teacher.

When Sullivan, then 20 years old, first arrived at Ivy Green, the Keller family estate, she set about trying to socialize her unruly, unyielding pupil and teach her by writing words in Keller's hand. Keller didn't understand the finger spelling at first. A breakthrough, however, came when Sullivan submerged Keller's hand in water using a pump while writing the word "water" in Keller's palm. Keller continued to pick up writing, reading, and speaking skills. Keller attended Radcliffe College with Sullivan's help and earned an honors degree there in 1904.

Author and public speaker Helen Keller's first book, "The Story of My Life," was released in 1902. Bell and Keller remained lifelong friends. Keller dedicated her autobiography to Bell, whom she credited with opening the "door through which I should pass from darkness into light."