Report of the arguments of counsel: in the case of Prudence Crandall, plff. in error, vs. State of Connecticut, before the Supreme Court of Errors, at their session at Brooklyn, July term, 1834
(This volume is produced from digital images from the Corn...)
This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Prudence Crandall was an American educator and reformer. She was known for advocating for women's suffrage and the rights of African Americans in the United States.
Background
Prudence Crandall was born on September 03, 1803 at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, United States. She was of Quaker descent, the daughter of Pardon and Esther Crandall. The family had a tinge of fanaticism in their blood and her younger brother was imprisoned for nearly a year in Georgetown, D. C. , without trial, for spreading Abolitionist doctrines there.
Education
In Providence, Rhode Island, Crandall attended Friends' Boarding School.
Career
Prudence had a brief career as a teacher at Plainfield. Later she settled at Canterbury, Connecticut, where in 1831 she opened a school for girls. A colored girl wished to attend and received Miss Crandall’s permission. Immediately there were protests, whereupon Miss Crandall decided to keep a school for African Americans only. A town meeting was held on March 9, 1833, to prevent her. She was denied opportunity to be heard in defense by counsel, although she offered to retire to a more secluded place if reimbursed for her preparatory expenses at Canterbury. The leader of the movement against her declared that no African American school should be established anywhere in Connecticut, but Miss Crandall continued firm in her resolution and opened her school.
Disgraceful forms of intimidation were used against her. Her well was filled with refuse, physicians refused to attend the sick in her home, she was forbidden to enter the church, her house was attacked and narrowly escaped burning, and she was threatened with personal violence. Her opponents secured (May 24, 1833) the passage of an act in the state legislature making it illegal for any one to set up a school for colored people who were not inhabitants of the state without the consent of the selectmen of the town in which the school was to be located. Under this law, she was arrested and imprisoned.
By this time the case had attracted very wide attention in Abolitionist circles, the Reverend Samuel J. May and Arthur Tappan took up her cause, eminent counsel were retained in her behalf, and a newspaper, the Unionist, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, edited by C. C. Burleigh, was established to defend her. The first trial resulted in a divided jury but a new case was made up and she was tried a second time. Her counsel claimed that the law was unconstitutional, as African Americans were citizens and it infringed that clause of the Federal Constitution which gave the “citizens of each state . .. all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. ” The case, however, was decided against her.
It was then appealed to the supreme court of Connecticut which reversed the decision of the lower court on the ground merely of insufficient evidence and dodged the real issue. The supreme court decision was rendered in July 1834. The project for educating colored girls in Connecticut was obviously hopeless, and she moved to Illinois. After her husband’s death in 1874, Mrs. Philleo lived with her brother Hezekiah in southern Kansas, dying at Elk Falls in that state. She retained both her mental vigor and her great interest in the colored race until her death.