[Nfb-history] Fw: [AERNet] Helen Keller statue unveiled

Thu Oct 8 01:58:57 UTC 2009

Hello Colleagues:

     I thought the following would be of interest.

Regards,

Robert

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Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 12:38 PM
Subject: [AERNet] Helen Keller statue unveiled

> WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A bronze statue of Helen Keller was unveiled at the
> U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as lawmakers praised her as a trailblazer and
> an inspiration
> for those with disabilities.
>
> The Helen Keller statue depicts the moment when Anne Sullivan spelled
> "W-A-T-E-R" into the child's hand
>
> The Helen Keller statue depicts the moment when Anne Sullivan spelled
> "W-A-T-E-R" into the child's hand
>
> "Some are still dismissed and cast aside for nothing more than being less
> than perfect," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said
> at the
> unveiling ceremony. "The story of Helen Keller inspires us all."
>
> The statue shows Keller -- who lost her sight and hearing to illness when
> she was 19 months old -- standing at a water pump as a 7-year-old, a look
> of recognition
> on her face as water streams into her hand. It depicts the moment in 1887
> when teacher Anne Sullivan spelled "W-A-T-E-R" into one of the child's
> hands
> as she held the other under the pump. It's the moment when Keller
> realized meanings were hidden in the manual alphabet shapes Sullivan had
> taught her to
> make with her hands.
>
> "W-A-T-E-R," said Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. "Five simple letters that
> helped rescue 7-year-old
> Helen Keller
> from a world of darkness and a world of silence.
>
> "It is this defining moment that we celebrate today. And in time, this
> moment so vividly depicted by this statue helped the world to understand
> that all
> of us, regardless of any disability, have a mind that can be educated, a
> hand that can be trained, a life that will have meaning."
>
>
> Keller learned to speak and earned a degree from Radcliffe College and
> the women's branch of Harvard University. She traveled the world as an
> adult, wrote
> 12 books and championed causes including women's suffrage and workers'
> rights.
>
> Carl Augusto, president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind,
> told the crowd he thinks Keller, who worked for the foundation for the
> last 44
> years of her life, "would have loved this impressive statue of herself
> and the symbolism attached."
>
> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and others assisted Augusto
> as he ran his hands over the statue.
>
> The foundation, Augusto said, still considers Keller "our guiding light.
> She embodies the American spirit of limitless possibility ... her biggest
> desire
> was to leave the world a better place than she found it, and ladies and
> gentlemen, that's the legacy she leaves all of us."
>
> More than 40 of Keller's descendants attended the ceremony in the Capitol
> Rotunda. Students from the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind sang
> a medley
> of patriotic songs.
>
> The statue, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will "always
> remind us that people must be respected for what they can do rather than
> judged
> for what they cannot."
>
> The statue is also the Capitol's first depicting a child, Riley's office
> said.
>
> Since 1864, each state has been allowed to place two statues in the
> Capitol. In 2002, Congress changed the law to allow states to change
> their statues.
> Riley, then a U.S. representative, suggested the state place a statue of
> Keller, and the state Legislature passed a resolution asking Congress to
> accept
> a statue of Keller as a gift.
>
> A committee with Alabama first lady Patsy Riley serving as honorary
> chairwoman raised private donations and selected Utah bronze sculpture
> artist Edward
> Hlavka to create the piece.
>
> The 600-pound statue is made of bronze with a base of Alabama marble,
> Riley's office said.
>
> In 1997, a Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial that opened near the
> National Mall drew complaints from disability advocates because the
> statue of the president,
> who suffered from polio, did not show him in a wheelchair. In 2001,
> President Clinton unveiled an addition to the memorial including a new
> statue of the
> four-term president sitting in a wheelchair.
>
> "By placing this statue in the Capitol, we appropriately honor this
> extraordinary American, and will inspire countless children who will come
> to understand
> that with faith and with courage, there truly are no limits on what can
> be accomplished, and there is no obstacle that can't be overcome," Riley
> said.
>
> Keller's statue will replace one depicting Jabez Curry. Curry, who has
> represented Alabama in the Capitol since 1908, was a Georgia native who
> served as
> president of Howard College, which later became Samford University in
> Birmingham. The Curry statue is being sent back to Alabama for display at
> the university.
>
> The other statue representing Alabama is of Joseph "Fightin' Joe"
> Wheeler, a Confederate general during the Civil War who, three decades
> later, volunteered
> to serve in the Spanish-American War at age 62 and attained the same rank
> in the U.S. Army, the only one of 425 Confederate generals to do so,
> according
> to a biography of him posted on the Fort Sam Houston Museum's Web site.
> His statue was donated by the state in 1925, Riley's office said.
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