This sign marks the location where, in 1832, Prudence Crandall opened an academy to educate daughters of wealthy local families. In 1833, she admitted Sarah Harris, a 20 year old black woman. Parents of the white children mostly withdrew their daughters. As a result, Crandall opened a school for "Young ladies and Misses of colour."
Black families from in and out of the state sent their daughter to the school. Connecticut passed the "Black Laws" which forbid a school for out of state Black women. Crandall continued to teach and was convicted and jailed briefly, under these laws, in 1834. The court of appeals reversed her conviction on technical grounds.
Prudence Crandall closed the school in 1834 after mobs attacked the school. Shortly thereafter, Crandall moved out of the state.
The building was listed the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 1991.
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