PPIE Helen Keller Day: Open the door to the world and get me out of the silence and the night

1915 PPIE Anniversary

Special days

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The Organizing Committee of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition arranged the schedule of the Exposition to the fullest and surprising. There is hardly a day without special arrangements — parades, beauty pageants, sporting events, drills, ceremonies, and so-called "special days." They want to keep the public interest alive by offering fresh experiences throughout the fair, especially attracting constant visits from locals. "Not only does it have to be 'doing something every minute,' but it has to be doing something in a hundred different places," Sunset magazine reported. Each of the fair's 287 days is designated as a "special day" to honor and honor someone or something — in fact, usually several a day — and each anniversary must take on more responsibilities in order to accommodate the necessary honors and events.

The fair has a total of 828 special days, plus 966 special events, which means that in addition to regular lectures, movies, aerobatics and musical entertainment, there are about 6 additional events a day on average. In addition, there are various points of view designed by exhibitors themselves. More and more events are held every day, and they are constantly innovating. Most special days represent some gathering, and participants may come from the same place, industry, conference, club, fraternal group, society, or school. Usually, these groups form a procession, with PPIE officials and a military regiment of presidio greeting and escorting them into the venue at the gate.

Character memories of 1915 PPIE

Helen keller

This year, nearly 19 million people from all walks of life flocked to the revolving doors of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition – men, women and children, ordinary people and celebrities alike. Notable visitors included writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, horticulturist Luther Burbank, inventors Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, former President Theodore Roosevelt, fugitive artist Harry Houdini and educator activist Helen Keller.

"Helen Keller is the eighth wonder of the world," her friend and literary magnate Mark Twain wrote in her January 1901 diary. The social reformer Upton Sinclair called Keller "America's most famous blind woman—she sees more than most people with normal eyes." The organizers of the exposition, of course, agreed with him, and they designated November 6, 1915, As Helen Keller Day. As exposition historian Laura M. As Laura A. Ackley puts it, "Of all the speakers at more than 100 educational conferences held at the fair, the most memorable was an Italian doctor, a blind and deaf activist and her teacher. ”

Laura M A. A. Akli refers to Maria Montessori, the creator of the Italian Montessori method of education, Helen Keller and her teacher, Mrs. John A. Macy. Sullivan made Keller famous from an illiterate start to college education—she was the first deaf-mute to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Helen Keller (1880–1968) was born in Scanbia, Alabama, and she was deaf and blind from fever at about 18 months old. With the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, she learned to use sign language, read Braille and learn to speak. Her story was written into a series of theatrical productions that circulated widely, the most famous of which was The Miracle Worker, a name given to Sullivan by Mark Twain.

At Helen Keller Day, Keller, Sullivan, and Montessori all received teacher awards for their contributions to education. Speaking to more than 3,000 members of the California Teachers' Association in the festival hall of the fair, Keller said, "How wonderful it all seems, when I think of her [Sullivan] — a small town in Alabama, that opened the doors of the world and got me out of the silence and the night." Montessori shared the idea of free-form education with Sullivan and commented on her: "I am called a pioneer because you came first", and she called Keller "the first student of the Liberal Academy".

Montessori opened a model school in the Museum of Education and Socio-Economic Development. On the balcony, visitors can observe children between the ages of 3 and 6 who are encouraged to learn at their own pace. The glass-enclosed Casa dei Bambini (Children's Home) opened on August 6, 1915 – the day it was declared Montessori Day at the Exposition – and operated for six weeks. By 1915, there were more than 150 Montessori schools in the United States.

On Helen Keller Day, Sullivan accepted her teacher's medal and published comments expressing her progressive views on educational theory — some of which are no different from what we hear today: "Our schools do not encourage assimilation ... They niped their imagination in the bud. His system allowed students to value high scores more than knowledge, and he entered his life and work from school, always believing that scores were more important than games, and that possession was more commendable than achievement. In tribute to Helen Keller and her teachers, the organizing committee said, "You declare your belief that every child born in the world has the potential to develop a personal potential that will be the glory of humanity; you prove your belief that every teacher worthy of the name can and is willing to help build the school of the future, the school of freedom." ”

A social critic and feminist, Keller also spoke that day at the Free Booth at the Education Pavilion, sponsored by the Congressional Women's Suffrage Coalition. The booth displayed flags, banners and other exhibits on the right to vote to extend to women. In the evening, educators were honored at a dinner party at the Massachusetts building.

Six months ago, on April 6, Keller gave her talk titled "Happiness" at the Festival Hall. Among the posters promoting the event was a guest, Harry Houdini, known as the "Elusive American," who worked to get out of the trap of being "handcuffed, nailed to a box, tied with a rope, and dropped into the bay." After Keller's speech, she left a large photograph of herself signed at the free booth, which hung there for the second half of the show.

In April 1915, Keller spoke to a Boston American reporter about her experience at the exposition: "The exposition — what I saw was amazing... Colors – I can't see them, but you know what, I'm sure I've known how colors feel since I've been at the fair. In your eyes, it cannot be more beautiful than in my heart. Keller also expressed her particular fascination with the art palace and the nursery in the play area.

The day 1915 PPIE commemorates Helen Keller is about her earliest anniversary. In 1971, Helen Keller International (the institution Keller helped establish in 1915) declared June 1 as Helen Keller Day. On June 19, 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued Proclamation No. 4767, declaring June 27, 1980, the 100th anniversary of Keller's birth, as Helen Keller Day, a day of "ceremonies, programs, and events" that honors Helen Keller.