Helen Keller's Forgotten Radicalism

"[Helen Keller] is most often remembered for proving that people with disabilities can achieve success and live independently. But to frame her life as an up-by-the-bootstraps tale, in which sheer optimism and perseverance solve the personal challenge of disability, is to miss a large portion of what Keller fought for." 

As a refresher, we talked about how the narratives of many historical figures can be simplified and packaged in a way that is easy to digest or tell. Helen Keller's story was one of them. We remember her as the blind-deaf mute who overcame her adversity through educational curricula, but have failed to hear some of the  more radical accounts of her achievements and engagement: 

(1) Joining the Socialist Party (1909),
(2) Demanding "revolution rather than reform," 
(3) Becoming a target for FBI surveillance, 

and many more found here.  

I liken it to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. whose full story and sentiments around his "life's missional goals" are seldom told. It's interesting to see how we document history and what we deem to be important for future audiences, especially reading Freedom's Daughters, and pulling back the curtains on lesser told stories.