- Prudence Crandall
Prudence Crandall, a schoolteacher raised as a Quaker, stirred controversy with her
education of black girls in Canterbury,Connecticut . Her private school opened in January 1832, was boycotted when she admitted a 20-year old black female student in the autumn of 1833; [cite web |url=http://www.chc.state.ct.us/crandall%20museum.htm |title=The Prudence Crandall Museum Homepage |accessdate=2007-02-28] creating what is generally regarded as the first integrated classroom in theUnited States . Parents of the white children mostly withdrew their daughters, leading Crandall to found a school for "Young ladies and Misses of colour".Word of the school passed down the
Atlantic Seaboard , and black people began sending their daughters from out of state to the school. This led Connecticut to pass the "Black Law" which prohibited the education of black children from out of state. Crandall persisted in teaching, and was briefly jailed in 1832. Prudence had many supporters including famous writers such asMark Twain andArthur Tappan , a New York Abolitionist who printed anti-slavery papers.Mobs forced the closure of the school in 1834, the same year she married the Rev. Calvin Phileo. Prudence Crandall Phileo moved out of state, to
Massachusetts ,New York ,Rhode Island , and toIllinois , where Calvin Phileo died. She then moved with her brother toElk Falls, Kansas , where she is buried.Connecticut repealed the Black Law in 1838, and later recognized Prudence Crandall with an act of the state legislature, providing her with a $400 yearly pension in 1886 (a little more than $9,120 in 2007 dollars). Born
September 3 ,1803 inHopkinton, Rhode Island , she died inElk Falls, Kansas , in 1890 at 87; a Kansas statehistorical marker recognizes her memory.The school still stands in Canterbury, Connecticut, and currently serves as the Prudence Crandall museum.
The
Prudence Crandall House in Canterbury, Connecticut, was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1991.Garrison Keillor claims that Crandall is his ancestor in his book "Homegrown Democrat ".In 1995, the Connecticut General Assembly designated Prudence Crandall as the state's official heroine. [ [http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionX/SITESEALSYMB.htm STATE OF CONNECTICUT, Sites º Seals º Symbols] ; "Connecticut State Register & Manual"; retrieved on
January 4 ,2007 ]A
One-man show about Prudence Crandall entitled "A Passion for Justice: The Prudence Crandall Story" was written by Connecticut-based writer and directorDexter J. Singleton References
External links
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/crandall/crandall.htm "”From Canterbury to Little Rock: The Struggle for Educational Equality for African Americans”", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
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