Helen Keller in Sandusky

On June 30, 1925, Helen Keller, the famous blind and deaf social activist, addressed the national convention of the Lions Club at Cedar Point. She was accompanied by her teacher, Ann Sullivan-Macy, who assisted her in her presentation.

The Sandusky Register described her visit and summarized her life's accomplishments in a front-page article in the July 1, 1925 edition. She spoke at the convention to solicit aid for the American Foundation for the Blind, for which she worked for over 40 years. While there, she and her teacher were inducted as honorary life members of the Lions Club, the first women accepted into the organization.

Substantial portions of her speech were quoted in the article. In her speech, she explained that the object of the American Foundation for the Blind "is to make the lives of blind people worth while by increasing their economic value, and by giving them the joys of normal activity, which is their birthright."

Helen Keller died in 1968, at age 87, ending a lifetime of accomplishments and public service.


(The image above, from the Sandusky Library's collections, shows Helen Keller, at left, with her teacher, Ann Sullivan, and Alexander Graham Bell.)