Prudence Crandall

Prudence Crandall was born in Rhode Island on 3rd September, 1803. After being educated at a Society of Friends school in Plainfield, Connecticut, Crandall established her own private academy for girls at Canterbury.

The school was a great success until she decided to admit a black girl. When Crandall, a committed Quaker, refused to change her policy of educating black and white students together, parents began taking their children away from the school. With the support of William Lloyd Garrison and the Anti-Slavery Society, in March 1833, Crandall opened a school for black girls in Canterbury.

Local people were furious at Crandall's actions and attempts were made to prevent the school receiving essential supplies. The school continued and began to attract girls from Boston and Philadelphia. The local authorities then began using a vagrancy law against these students. These girls could now be given ten lashes of the whip for attending the school.

In 1834 Connecticut passed a law making it illegal to provide a free education for black students. When Crandall refused to obey the law she was arrested and imprisoned. Crandall was convicted but won the case on appeal. When news of the court decision reached Canterbury, a white mob attacked the school and threatened the lives of Crandall and her students. Afraid that the children would be killed or badly injured, Crandall decided to close her school down.

In September 1834 Crandall moved to Illinois where she married Calvin Philleo, a Baptist clergyman. Prudence Crandall died in Elk Falls, Kansas, on 28th January, 1890.           (Source: Ask Jeeves)

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Prudence Crandall (1803-1890) at the request of the community, opened an academy on the Canterbury Green in January of 1832 to educate the daughters of wealthy local families.  The school was extremely successful until the following fall when she admitted Sarah Harris, a 20-year old black  woman.

             Sarah Harris (1812-1878)   had attended the district schools in Norwich, Connecticut, and hoped to become a teacher herself with the help of the education the academy could provide.  Sarah's admittance to the academy led parents to withdraw their daughters.  Losing support from the white community, Prudence began making appropriate contacts throughout New England's free black communities to attract young black women as students.  Eventually more than twenty young black women arrived, some coming from as far away as Boston, New York City and Philadelphia.  By April 1, 1833 announcements were placed in local newspapers announcing the academy's reopening as a school for the education of "young ladies and little misses of color." 

The state of Connecticut responded by passing the "Black Law" which made it illegal for
Crandall to operate her school.  (The Black Law was repealed in 1838.)  Crandall was arrested, spent one night in jail, and faced three court trials while her students courageously faced more than a year of increasing harassment.  Though the final court case was dismissed in July of 1834 due to lack of sufficient evidence, a mob attack on the academy on the evening of September 9, 1834 forced Crandall to close the academy.   Though the academy was open for less than two years, the events which took place there and the courage shown by teacher and students stand without equal in the annals of Connecticut history. 

(Source: Prudence Crandall Museum http://www.chc.state.ct.us/crandall%20museum.htm