Anne Sullivan Macy

Originally Aired: March 2, 1938 Cavalcade of America #124, "Anne Sullivan Macy," chronicles the remarkable journey of a woman who overcame her own blindness and desperate poverty to become one of history's greatest educators. The story opens in a bleak Massachusetts almshouse where young Annie Sullivan, blind and abandoned, seizes a fleeting opportunity when investigator Frank Sanburn visits. With encouragement from sympathetic attendant Maggie Hogan, Annie boldly calls out to Sanburn, pleading for a chance to attend school. Her courage wins her admission to the Perkins Institution for the Blind, where she excels academically and undergoes surgery that partially restores her sight. After graduating as valedictorian, Anne faces uncertainty about her future, knowing she must protect her fragile eyesight. The opportunity she dreams of arrives when the Keller family from Tuscumbia, Alabama seeks a teacher for their seven-year-old daughter Helen, who has been blind and deaf since infancy. Despite her own recent eye surgery and difficult journey south, Anne arrives to meet the anxious Mrs. Keller, who describes her daughter as like "some little wild animal" trapped within herself, setting the stage for Anne's greatest challenge.