of newly constructed whaling and fishing vessels.11 As a measure of the couple’s standing in the community, Reverend Thomas Paul performed James and Maria’s wedding.12 Paul helped create the first independent black Baptist churches in the United States. His congregation met at the African Meeting House in the Beacon Hill section of Boston—the center of activity for the black community and the abolitionist movement. James and Maria Stewart’s wedding likely took place at the African Meeting House.
At the beginning of December 1829, three years after they married, James Stewart became seriously ill and drafted his will. He died on December 17, 1829.13 Maria and James had no children, and James left a considerable inheritance to Maria. When Maria brought an action in probate court to settle her husband’s affairs, however, four white businessmen filed a separate action featuring a fraudulent Mrs. James Stewart. They succeeded in stealing James Stewart’s estate and left nothing of value for Maria Stewart.14 A friend described Stewart’s experience: “I found her husband had been a gentleman of wealth, and left her amply provided for; but the executors literally robbed and cheated her out of every cent.”15 This was not an unusual fate for the widows of black men. Black businessman and activist David Walker wrote about such cases in Boston: “When a man of colour dies, if he owned any real estate it most generally falls into the hands of some white person. … The wife and children of the deceased may weep and lament if they please, but the estate will be kept snug enough by its white possessor.”16
The meager opportunities available to black women frustrated Stewart: “How long shall a mean set of men flatter us with their smiles, and enrich themselves with our hard earnings?”17 For Stewart, the discussion of ending prejudice and discrimination too often focused on the rights of men. “Look at many of the most worthy and most interesting of us doomed to spend our lives in gentlemen’s kitchens,” Stewart wrote.”18 “Have you prayed the legislature for mercy’s sake to grant you all the rights and privileges of free citizens, that your daughters may rise to that degree of respectability which true merit deserves?”19
Beginning in 1832 Stewart delivered speeches on the issues of slavery and prejudice, often before mixed gatherings of both black men and women. This earned her both admiration and contempt; some in her own community did not appreciate receiving a call to action from a woman.20 Women were expected to refrain from public speaking and avoid controversial issues.
William Lloyd Garrison’s decision to print her speeches in a booklet and in the Liberator bolstered Stewart’s efforts to challenge her community on a broad scale. A network of volunteer agents distributed the Liberator throughout New England.21 These included many black individuals and families who promoted the newspaper and solicited subscriptions.22 By 1832 several thousand subscribers received the weekly Liberator.23 The number of readers was significantly greater, as subscribers passed along copies to family and friends. Stewart’s call for equality for blacks and women commanded attention from many thousands of readers, both black and white.
Sarah Harris, a young black woman who lived in Canterbury, Connecticut, may have read Stewart’s essays in the booklet printed by Garrison, as well as the other articles concerning emancipation and equal rights in Garrison’s Liberator. The local agent and distributor for the Liberator in northeastern Connecticut was William Harris, Sarah’s father. William Harris traveled from the West Indies to the United States and settled in Norwich, Connecticut. He married Sally Prentice in 1810; together they raised twelve children and moved to Canterbury, where William made his living as a farmer.24
18. Harris family sampler, which states, “Sarah … was born April 16, 1812.” Sarah Harris was Prudence Crandall’s first black student.
Harris family sampler. Courtesy of the Collection of Glee Krueger.
The Harris family was part of a growing network of literate and informed black families who aspired to more than what the prejudices of the day permitted. Academies for blacks did not exist in Canterbury or anywhere else in Connecticut. William Harris was frustrated by what he saw as deliberate barriers to opportunities for blacks.
“The free blacks are prevented by prejudice and legal restraints from resorting to innumerable modes of supporting themselves and their families by honest industry,” a commentator in Connecticut noted. “Our colleges and seminaries exclude them; the professions are sealed against them … they are prohibited, if not by law, yet in fact, from pursuing anything but menial occupation.”25 Reading the Liberator helped Harris imagine a country with equality for all. Harris thought so much of the Liberator and Garrison that he named one of his sons William Lloyd Garrison Harris.26
Maria Stewart’s promotion of education and self-improvement would have resonated with William Harris and his daughter Sarah. “Many bright and intelligent ones are in the midst of us; but because they are not calculated to display a classical education, they hide their talents behind a napkin.”27 Stewart wrote that there were “no chains so galling as those that bind the soul,” and encouraged her readers to claim their rights.28 “Possess the spirit of independence,” Stewart said. “Possess the spirit of men, bold and enterprising, fearless and undaunted.”29
Mariah Davis, a close friend of Sarah Harris, worked at Prudence Crandall’s school as a servant, or as Crandall referred to her, a family assistant.30 Mariah was engaged to Sarah’s brother, Charles Harris, and shared the Harris family’s interest in education for black men and women. When Mariah finished her daily chores at the school, she occasionally sat in on classes with the white girls.31 She read the Liberator and once gave a copy to Prudence Crandall; thereafter, Crandall faithfully read Garrison’s newspaper.32
Sarah Harris dreamed of becoming a teacher.33 On a visit to Crandall’s school to see Mariah in September 1832, Sarah summoned the courage to ask Prudence Crandall if she could enroll as a student and attend class full-time.34 Sarah said she did not need to board as she could walk each day from her father’s farm. Her father could afford to pay the tuition. Sarah told Crandall about her desire “to get a little more learning, if possible enough to teach colored children.”35 Sarah also understood the magnitude of the request. “If you think it will be the means of injuring you, I will not insist on the favor,” Sarah told Crandall.36
Crandall knew that no one objected when Mariah Davis sat in on classes after she finished her work. Mariah, however, was a school employee, not a student. The distinction was obvious and important. Crandall listened carefully to Sarah’s request but did not give an answer. She told Sarah she needed time to think it over.37
Prudence Crandall considered the potential reaction of her family, the town fathers, the school’s Board of Visitors, and her students and their parents. Crandall depended on the success of her school in a number of ways. Her family had invested in the school, and a significant mortgage on the schoolhouse was still outstanding. She employed her sister Almira at the school. The school provided Crandall with the opportunity for leadership and a career path with the potential for long-term financial security.
Crandall’s first inclination was to deny Sarah’s request. She later confided her doubts to Rev. Samuel May, who became a staunch supporter and teacher at her school. “Miss Crandall confesses that at first she shrunk from the proposal,” May wrote, “with the feeling that of course she could not accede to it.”38 Crandall had succeeded against all odds as a single woman in establishing a well-respected school. “I am, sir, through the blessing of Divine Providence, permitted to be the Principal of the Canterbury Female Boarding School,” she once wrote. “Since I commenced I have met with all the encouragement I ever anticipated, and now have
