Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia Alabama and died on June 1, 1968 in Westport Connecticut. Keller lost her sight and hearing at 19 months old due to illness. Until the age of seven, Keller communicated primarily using home signs. It was then that she met her lifelong companion, Anne Sullivan, who became her first teacher. Sullivan taught Keller language, including reading and writing. Despite being deaf and blind, Keller attended specialist and mainstream schools, and eventually enrolled in Radcliffe College of Harvard University, becoming the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in the United States.