Prudence Crandall

Prudence Crandall ( born September 3, 1803 in Hopkinton, Rhode Iceland, † January 28, 1890 in Elk Falls, Kansas) was an American teacher and activist against racial segregation in education. She founded the first school for African American students in New England.

Life

Prudence Crandall founded in 1831, a private girls' school, the Canterbury Female Boarding School, in Canterbury, Connecticut. In 1832, the 20 - year-old Sarah Harris was the first black woman presented for admission, Crandall took her on as a pupil. Many parents then took their daughters out of the hitherto successful and prestigious school. Then Prudence Crandall decided to found his own school for African-American girls. The High School for Young Colored Ladies and Misses took in 1833 on their operation. The state of Connecticut responded by a law was passed with the operation of the school was incompatible. Crandall was arrested and had to answer in three trials in court. Although the process has been set in the summer of 1834, the school was so exposed to many violent attacks, that they had to be closed in the fall of 1834.

Published in 1886, the state of an official apology for the damage that Crandall and her pupils had suffered.

Your school is now a museum.

Honors

Prudence Crandall is the official heroine of the State of Connecticut. John F. Kennedy dedicated Prudence Crandall a chapter in his book "Profiles in Courage" ( courage )