By Ruth Leon
13 Feb 2010

	Alison Pill and Abigail Breslin
	photo by John Dugdale

A regular speaker for the rights of working people, Keller was also one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and lived long enough to know that it became a bastion of civil rights throughout the world. An inveterate traveler, she and Sullivan, who remained her companion, visited nearly 40 countries, forming a particular bond with Japan, especially its Akita dogs, which she is credited with introducing into the States.

Abigail Breslin, who earned an Oscar nod for her role in the indie flick "Little Miss Sunshine," plays Keller in this 50th-anniversary revival. "[Her] journey was courageous and awe-inspiring. I feel honored and humbled to be playing the role," says Breslin.

Keller was forthright in her writings and often connected her work for the disabled with her politics, saying, "I, who had thought blindness a misfortune beyond human control, found that too much of it was…caused by the selfishness and greed of employers." It was her humanity, as well as her fierce support for what she believed, that made her a true American original.