Brian Trautman (email, bio), who teaches peace and world order studies at Berkshire Community College History Department shared this great photo from The Zinn Education Project, a collaborative effort by Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools.
The stripping of Helen Keller's reputation from progressive activist to blind girl has been going on for years. I wrote about it briefly in 2007, when I mentioned Saif Rahman's (email, bio) essay for the Institute for Policy Studies "Five Reasons Why I'll March on January 27 (and You Should Too." Reason Four was:
Be Part of History: Thirty-nine years ago Dr. Martin Luther King led a group of protestors in Chicago against the Vietnam War. Seventy-six years ago, Gandhi led the Salt Satyagraha where he and his followers marched to Dandi to protest the unjust taxation of salt by the British Empire. And 87 years ago Helen Keller protested by marching with actors for labor rights. It is because of that tradition that I love to march, knowing that I am part of something much bigger than myself. The consistency of photographs of people expressing themselves in the streets is vitally important to have in our history books. When people look back at January 2007, they should remember the march on Washington as the defining moment of our time, just as Dr. King’s, Gandhi’s, and Helen Keller’s marches did during their time.
