Michael Anagnos (; November 7, 1837 – June 29, 1906) was a trustee and later second director of the Perkins School for the Blind. He was an author, educator, and human rights activist. Anagnos is well known for his work with Helen Keller.
Overview
Michael Anagnos (; November 7, 1837 – June 29, 1906) was a trustee and later second director of the Perkins School for the Blind. He was an author, educator, and human rights activist. Anagnos is well known for his work with Helen Keller.
History
Michael Anagnos was born Michael Anagnostopoulos on November 7, 1837, in Papingo, a small village in the mountainous area of Epirus. His father was Demetrios A. Theodore and his mother was Kallina Panayiotes. His father was a farmer and shepherd and placed a high value on educating his son. The region was not disrupted by Ottoman rule and they paid a special tax to the sultan. Ottoman soldiers never came to the village. Anagos went to high school in Ioannina and attended the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens at age nineteen. Over the next four years, he studied Greek, Latin, French, and philosophy. Anagnos then studied law for three years with the intention of becoming a political scientist and journalist. At age 24, he joined Ethnophylax, a daily Athens newspaper. He later became the editor-in-chief.
Anagnos took an active role in opposition to King Otto and his government. He was active in the dethronement of King Otto introducing lodges of Freemasonry as an element of dethronement with the aid of Giuseppe Garibaldi and one of his sons. King George succeeded King Otto and Anagnos left the paper because of a disagreement regarding the revolt of Crete in 1866. Greece was actively at war with the Ottoman Empire from 1821, and American Philhellene and Doctor Samuel Gridley Howe traveled to Greece during the 1860s to offer aid and relief. Doctor Samuel Gridley Howe met Anagnos and hired him as his secretary. Anagnos organized relief for the war effort and was in charge of the Cretan Committee's affairs in Athens. Doctor Howe had to travel back to the United States and invited Anagnos to Boston to continue his work with the Cretan Committee in New England around 1868.
