Helen Keller's Letter to Tule Lake Students

Helen Keller's letter to Hannah Takagi (later Holmes) and the students of the Helen Keller School in Tule Lake Relocation Center was reprinted in the camp newspaper, The Daily Tulean Dispatch.

The Daily Tulean Dispatch, August 13, 1943. Library of Congress

Helen Keller Sends Message To Handicapped Student Here

When the students of the school for handicapped children in this Project informed Miss Helen Keller that they had decided to name the school in her honor, Miss Keller wrote the following letter to Hannah Takagi, one of the students and spokesman for the group.
--Editors Note

Arcan Ridge
Westport, Conn.

Dear Hannah,
How I love your beautiful, sweet letter and the love that made you write it! Truly it is wonderful that you and the children at the Tule Lake School should think so kindly of me, a stranger, when you must miss your homes and many other things dear to you.

I shall never forget the tribute you have paid me—giving my name to the Tule Lake Project. I am glad of the chance that the children there have to learn to read books, speak more clearly and find sunshine among shadows. Let them only remember this—their courage in conquering obstacles will be a lamp throwing its bright rays far into other lives beside their own.

Often I think of the marvelous, artistic, poetry-filled Nippon I knew and loved. Always I am grateful to all the people there—blind and seeing, deaf and hearing, great and humble, who showed me every kindness and the most touching hospitality. War, change and sorrow cannot take from us really noble, gracious and helpful in our lives.

You live in golden California where I have spent many of my happiest days. I live here in New England where the winters are cold and skies gray, but how lovely the springs are when the birds return from the South, and the old stone walls, pastures and woods burst into rich bloom! I wish I could show the children the garden and the rocks around which I work from half-past five until breakfast, weeding, raking up leaves and clipping grass. The fragrances from roses and evergreens make me feel that I truly see, the morning peace and the sweet, quiet earth bring courage when I need it for tasks hard to accomplish.

With best wishes for the children in their studies and victory over limitation, and with warmest thanks for writing to me, I am,

Affectionately your friend,
Helen Keller (Signed)