By: HISTORY.com Editors

1904

Helen Keller graduates from Radcliffe, first DeafBlind person to earn a B.A.

Published: March 14, 2024Last Updated: May 27, 2025

On June 28, 1904, Helen Keller—deaf and blind since an illness at just 19 months old—graduates cum laude from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Keller becomes the first DeafBlind person to earn a bachelor’s degree.

According to an article the next day in The Boston Herald, Keller earned enthusiastic applause at the commencement exercises held at Sanders Theatre. In his graduation speech, Radcliffe President Le Baron Russell Briggs seemed to allude to Keller when he said that, at Radcliffe, “shall the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped.” And while every newly minted grad got their share of cheering while receiving their diplomas, the applause seemed “a little more spontaneous,” the reporter wrote, when Keller crossed the stage with her teacher and "miracle worker" Annie Sullivan.

Helen Keller

By: HISTORY.com Editors

Keller went on to live a life of extraordinary achievement. She grew up in a small town in Alabama but later traveled to nearly 40 countries as a Goodwill Ambassador. She become a prominent advocate for improved educational and job opportunities for people with disabilities. She wrote more than a dozen books, the best-known being The Story of My Life, which was translated into 50 languages and adapted for both stage and screen as The Miracle Worker. Keller fought for many causes, working as a pacifist, suffragist, labor union advocate, supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a card-carrying socialist and a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She met with every U.S. president from Grover Cleveland to John F. Kennedy. And in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Keller’s alma mater, originally a women’s liberal arts school, formally merged with Harvard University in 1999. Keller lived to be 87, and died on June 1, 1968 in her longtime home of Easton, Connecticut.

Timeline

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1519

Charles I of Spain crowned Holy Roman Emperor, becomes Charles V

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1836

Former President James Madison dies

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1914

Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand assassinated

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August. The archduke traveled to Sarajevo in […]

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1940

Hitler takes a tour of Paris

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1940

Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as leader of the Free French

On June 28, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle, having set up headquarters in England upon the establishment of a puppet government in his native France, is recognized by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the leader of the Free French Forces, dedicated to the defeat of Germany and the liberation of all France. Churchill would […]

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1965

U.S. forces launch first military offensive in Vietnam

In the first major offensive ordered for U.S. forces in Vietnam, 3,000 troops of the 173rd Airborne Brigade—in conjunction with 800 Australian soldiers and a Vietnamese airborne unit—assault a jungle area known as Viet Cong Zone D, 20 miles northeast of Saigon. The operation was called off after three days when it failed to make […]

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1969

The Stonewall Riots begin in NYC’s Greenwich Village

In what is now regarded as history’s first major protest on behalf of equal rights for LGBTQ people, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn—a popular gay club located on New York City's Christopher Street—turns violent as patrons and local sympathizers begin rioting against the police.

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1972

Nixon announces draftees will not go to Vietnam

President Nixon announces that no more draftees will be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteer for such duty. He also announced that a force of 10,000 troops would be withdrawn by September 1, which would leave a total of 39,000 in Vietnam.

1992

Two big quakes rock California

Two of the strongest earthquakes ever to hit California strike the desert area east of Los Angeles on June 28, 1992. Although the state sits upon the immense San Andreas fault line, relatively few major earthquakes have hit California in modern times. Two of the strongest, but not the deadliest, hit southern California on a […]

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1997

Boxer Mike Tyson bites off part of an opponent’s ear

On June 28, 1997, Mike Tyson bites Evander Holyfield’s ear in the third round of their heavyweight rematch. The attack led to his disqualification from the match and suspension from boxing, and was the strangest chapter yet in the champion’s roller-coaster career. Mike Tyson enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom. In 1986 he became the […]

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2006

DaimlerChrysler announces Smart Car’s arrival in United States

After a flurry of rumors, DaimlerChrysler chairman Dieter Zetsche announces on June 28, 2006 that the company’s urban-focused Smart brand—already popular in Europe—will come to the U.S. in early 2008. Smart—an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART—began as a joint venture between Swatch, the company known for its colorful and trendy plastic watches, and the German […]

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2007

Bald Eagle removed from list of threatened species

On June 28, 2007, the United States removes one of its most commonly-used national symbols from its List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The de-listing of the bald eagle, which had been close to vanishing from North America around the middle of the 20th century, was one of the most notable wildlife rehabilitation efforts in […]

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