Chapter 1 Summary

The Story of My Life is the autobiography of Helen Keller, written in her third year at Radcliffe College. Though the autobiography of a 22-year-old might not interest most people, Helen's was very popular when it was first published in 1903. Helen had been blind and deaf since before the age of two, yet she had earned a place at Radcliffe College among hearing and seeing young women.

Helen was born near Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 23, 1880, into a well-connected family. Her father, Arthur H. Keller, had been a Confederate Captain who was related to Robert E. Lee. Helen's mother, Kate Adams Keller, was a well-read young woman from an intellectual family.

Arthur had two sons from a previous marriage, but Helen was Kate's first child, so she was fussed over, as many first children are. There were several family stories about how outgoing and...