From: "Heather Lawson" <hjlawson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 26 May 2010 9:11:47 AM AEST
To: <dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [DBAust] Fw: [CodaOz] FWD: Helen Keller statue to be
unveiled at Capitol
Reply-To: dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Good morning everyone
for your information. I got this from a friend. enjoy reading.
Cheers heather
Helen Keller statue to be unveiled at Capitol (CNN)
The statue of Helen Keller will be "a wonderful addition" to the
National Statuary Hall, one expert said.
By Ashley Hayes
CNN
(CNN) -- It was a moment vividly depicted in the movie about her
life: 7-year-old Helen Keller, holding one hand under a water pump
as her teacher spelled "W-A-T-E-R" into her other hand.
In that moment, Keller, an Alabama native who lost her sight and
hearing to illness as a toddler, understood that meanings were
hidden in the manual alphabet shapes her teacher, Anne Sullivan, had
taught her to make with her hands. The moment was shown in the play
-- later made into a movie -- "The Miracle Worker."
On Wednesday, a statue commemorating her 1887 breakthrough will be
unveiled in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall, the first
statue in the Capitol of a person with a disability, as well as the
first of a child, according to the Alabama governor's office.
"It's always good to realize how much of an impact people with
disabilities have made on the history and landscape of our country,"
said Nancy Starnes, director of external affairs for the Washington-
based National Organization on Disability. "I'm excited that they're
going to be doing this. I think it's going to be a wonderful
addition."
In 1997, a Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial that opened near the
National Mall drew complaints from disability advocates because its
statue of the former president, who had polio, did not show
Roosevelt in a wheelchair.
In 2001, former President Clinton unveiled an addition to the
memorial including a new statue of the four-term president sitting
in a wheelchair.
Keller, born in Tuscumbia in northwest Alabama, learned to speak at
the age of 10 by putting her hands on Sullivan's mouth when she
talked. She eventually graduated from Radcliffe College, then the
women's branch of Harvard University, and became a prolific author
and speaker who was endowed with numerous honors, including the
Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 1968.
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. Then-U.S. Rep. Bob Riley, now Alabama's governor,
suggested that 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.
"Helen Keller was an extraordinary Alabamian who showed us the
power of a determined human spirit can overcome any obstacle," Riley
said in a statement issued by his office Monday. "The remarkable
moment at the water pump, so vividly captured by this statue, will
inspire countless others and remind them there truly are no limits
to what people can accomplish."
A committee, with Alabama first lady Patsy Riley as honorary
chairman, raised private donations for the statue 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.
"I hope we will continue to acknowledge that disability doesn't
equate with inability in this country," Starnes said.
She said there are many opportunities each year, such as Women's
History Month, to recognize those with disabilities.
"Disability really is an overlay over any discussion about people
in this country," she said. "It's just time to take it off the shelf
that's labeled 'special.' "
Andy Imparato, president and CEO of the American Association of
People with Disabilities, noted that the statue will be seen by
schoolchildren visiting the Capitol.
"She was a real pioneer, as a woman, as a person with a disability,
as an educator," he said of Keller. "We see it as helping to raise
awareness that people with disabilities can do anything, and our
history as a movement is a lot longer than some people assume."
Keller's statue will replace one depicting Jabez Curry in the
Capitol Gallery. Curry was a Georgia native who served as president
of Howard College, which later became Samford University in
Birmingham. The Curry statue, which has represented Alabama in the
Capitol since 1908, is being sent back to Alabama for display at the
university.
The other statue representing Alabama in the Capitol 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.
He was the only one of 425 Confederate generals to do so, according
to a biography posted on the Fort Sam Houston Museum's Web site. His
statue was donated by the state in 1925, Riley's office said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/06/helen.keller.statue/index.html
Thanks to Clayton Bowen
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