Connecticut’s first integrated school provoked a state law and mob arson

Evidence

In 1832, Harris was one of two Black young women to attend Prudence Crandall’s Female Boarding School in Canterbury, making it the first integrated school in the United States. The community outrage was so swift that Crandall closed the school and reopened in 1833 solely to teach Black students, many of whom came across state lines for the opportunity. Connecticut lawmakers at the time responded by passing a “Black Law” barring African Americans from other states to attend school in Connecticut. This led to Crandall’s arrest and detention. The same evening that the trial ended in a hung jury, a mob attacked the school, smashing windows and setting the structure on fire. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 508

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the moral panic over integration and the complicity of state law — connects to the reader’s ‘immodesty panics’ interest in how communities weaponize law against perceived threats.