Prudence Crandall
Prudence Crandall (1803-1890)
In 1995 the General Assembly designated abolitionist and teacher Prudence Crandall our State Heroine. Rhode Island-born Crandall opened the Canterbury Female Seminary in 1831. In 1832, she admitted an African American student, Sarah Harris. Many parents removed their children as a result. Crandall stood firm, re-opening the school as an academy for young black women, the first in New England. Harassment followed: a new state “Black Law” that imposed barriers to equal education, three court trials, and mob attacks that forced the school’s closure in 1834. Crandall left the state but remained committed to social reform. Today, the Prudence Crandall Museum is a site on the Connecticut Women’s Heritage Trail as well as the Connecticut Freedom Trail.
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Prudence Crandall Fights for Equal Access to Education
A headmistress champions education for African American women and although forced to close her school in 1834, she helped win the battle for generations that followed. …[more]
