Prudence Crandall Museum

The Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark located in Canterbury, CT.

In 1832, Crandall, the white principal of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, was approached by a young Black woman named Sarah Harris asking to attend the school. Encouraged by conversations with both Harris and Maria Davis, a Black woman who shared copies of the Abolitionist newspaper The Liberator with her, Crandall agreed to admit Harris. When residents protested the school’s integration and parents threatened to withdraw their students, Crandall closed her school and reopened in 1833 for non-white students. Students traveled from several states. Connecticut responded by passing the “Black Law,” which prevented out-of-state Black and Brown people from attending school in Connecticut towns without local town approval. Crandall was arrested, spent one night in jail, and faced three court trials before the case was dismissed. In September 1834, a nighttime mob attack closed the school. These events made national and international news in the 1830s and galvanized the burgeoning Abolitionist movement. Many of the students, such as Julia Williams, Mary Miles, and Mary Harris, went on to become educators, reformers, and leaders in their communities. "Crandall v. Connecticut" impacted two U.S. Supreme Court decisions and laid the framework for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Prudence Crandall Museum is a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. Owned by the State of Connecticut, the Museum is operated by the State Historic Preservation Office.

Exhibits

The Prudence Crandall Museum, site of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, is currently empty of exhibits at this time. Tours are held Fri--Mon at 9 am, 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, & 3 pm. Tours are limited to 15 people per tour. Once your Smithsonian Museum Day ticket is accessed, please email [email protected] with the tour time you prefer. Tour times will be filled on a 'first come, first served' basis. We look forward to your visit!

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.