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Audio Clips

Helen Keller Learns to Speak
Even though she'd made great progress, Helen was frustrated because she could not speak.  She'd read about a deaf-blind Norwegian girl, named Ragnhild Kaata, who had learned to do what Helen longed for.  At the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Sarah Fuller worked with her.  Helen's fi...
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Helen Keller on Literature and Poetry
Helen loved to read.  She especially enjoyed poetry and makes this observation about it:  Great poetry needs no other interpreter than a responsive heart. Would that the host of those who make the great works of the poets odorous by their analysis, impositions and laborious comments might...
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Helen Keller Thanks Those Who Helped
In the last chapter of her book, Helen thanks many people who have helped her along the way.  Her words of criticism are directed at those whom she calls "the stupid and curious."  She also reserves choice words for people who treated her in a condescending manner. Read along as you hear ...
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Helen Keller Writes for Youth's Companion
After the controversy about "The Frost King," Helen returned to her family in Tuscumbia.  Afraid to write, lest she once again tell a story not her own, Anne Sullivan encouraged her pupil to write about her personal life for a magazine called Youth's Companion.  She was twelve at the time....
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Inaugural Address - John F. Kennedy
This audio clip, from the National Archives, is the swearing-in and inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, America's 35th president.
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James Gerard - Loyalty Speech
Until 1917, James W. Gerard was the U.S. Ambassador to Germany.  After America joined World War I, Gerard gave a speech which warned German-Americans to be loyal to the United States. This recording is that speech.  It's essential message is:  "Every citizen must declare himself Ameri...
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JFK - Warns the Soviet Union about Cuban Missiles
On the evening of October 22, 1962, President Kennedy shocked the country when he reported the Soviet Union was installing ballistic missiles in Cuba.  This is the audio version of that speech.
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JFK Assassination - Broadcast from Parkland Hospital
Reporters were unsure of the President's condition at Parkland Hospital as they tried to keep the public informed of events.  When someone saw a Secret Service agent hit the back of a car with his fist, it became very clear that JFK's condition was serious. This audio clip is typical of broadc...
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Joan of Arc - A Radio Play
CBS IS THERE (later, YOU ARE THERE) was an "old-time radio" program where CBS "reporters"  and "correspondents" dramatized important historical events which occurred long before radio broadcasts were possible.  In this clip, which aired on February 28, 1947, we hear the story of Joan of Ar...
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Jump Jim Crow - Music from Library of Congress
Thomas ("Daddy") Rice created a character ("Jim Crow") which he incorporated into his popular minstrel show.  He sang the following words, set to the music in this audio clip (from the Library of Congress):Come listen all you galls and boys,I'm going to sing a little song,My name is Jim Crow.Ch...
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