I started reading Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. I cannot believe what I read! I remember when I was in 6th grade learning about Helen Keller. I remember having this really long unit where we read a book about her childhood and then watched Disney’s The Miracle Worker. I remember all of the Helen Keller jokes and everyone imitating her down the halls. I also remember thinking how she was such an inspiring young child…and that is about it.
I started to tell my mother about Helen Keller and what I was reading. She then told me, “I always thought Helen Keller was a weirdo.” She is always throwing crazy statements around so I asked her how she conjured up that idea…I was flabbergasted with her response. “Because, Kimbra, you never hear about what happened to her. She probably became a lesbian or something.”
Why had I never thought about that? Why did I never question the real Helen Keller? AND she even became something worse than a lesbian…a radical socialist! I now understand why we do not hear anything about Helen’s adult life. “After the Russian Revolution, she sang the praises of the new communist nation: “In the East a new star is risen!...Onward, comrades all together!” Keller hung a red flag over the desk of her study,” (14) and became a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.
To most people today, Helen Keller remains frozen in time; a young courageous girl dealing with her handicap. People need to be aware that textbooks sometimes lie by omission.
