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Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color
Two renowned poets tell the story of Prudence Crandall and her black students, who endured the cruelty of prejudice and hateful actions for the sake of their education. Miss Crandall faced legal proceedings for opening her school of African American women. But her young students knew that Miss Crandall had committed no crime. They knew that the real criminals were the rich white residents of Canterbury, Connecticut, who had poisoned the school's water and set fire to the schoolhouse. But hatred could not destroy their patience and compassion. From March of 1833 to September of 1834, when persecution forced the school to close, these African American women learned that they deserved an education. What they needed was the courage to go after it. Poets Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson have re-created the remarkable story of Prudence Crandall's school in this ALA Notable Children's Book, using the sonnet form with innovative style. Floyd Cooper's powerful illustrations reveal the strength and vulnerability of Miss Crandall and her students.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2007
3 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Alexander
105 books457 followersElizabeth Alexander is a Quantrell Award-winning American poet, essayist, playwright, university professor, and scholar of African-American literature and culture. She teaches English language/literature, African-American literature, and gender studies at Yale University. Alexander was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard during the 2007-08 academic year.
Alexander's poems, short stories, and critical writings have been widely published in such journals and periodicals as The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Village Voice, The Women's Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Her play Diva Studies, which was performed at Yale's School of Drama, garnered her a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship as well as an Illinois Arts Council award.
On December 17th, 2008 it was announced that she will compose a poem which she shall recite at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009.
Alexander's poems, short stories, and critical writings have been widely published in such journals and periodicals as The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Village Voice, The Women's Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Her play Diva Studies, which was performed at Yale's School of Drama, garnered her a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship as well as an Illinois Arts Council award.
On December 17th, 2008 it was announced that she will compose a poem which she shall recite at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 8, 2015
In 1831 Prudence Crandall opened a boarding school for young ladies at the request of the people of the town of Canterbury Connecticut. As a Quaker, she saw no problem with inviting the African American maid of the school to take part in classes once her work was done. Soon after, the first African American student enrolled. Unfortunately, the white residents of Canterbury took exception to African American students learning with their daughters. By 1833 the white students had been withdrawn and an entirely African American student body enrolled. The people in this very white town in the most homogenous state in the nation were in an uproar.
The poems in this beautiful book tell the story of this exceptional school, of its students, of their wish to better themselves and their communities, of the sacrifices they made to learn and of the trials they endured in a place where they were legally free but societally constrained.
The poems in this book and the beautiful illustrations evoke these brave students, their wonder at the fears of the residents of Canterbury, their hunger for learning. All sonnets, they tell a tale of the sacrifice made to get the girls to school and the troubles they face when the town turns against them, fouling the well, and making laws in attempts to drive them away.
I can see a myriad of uses for this book in the classroom. The story illuminates the tensions in the northeast in the mid-nineteenth century. It is easy to believe that all the racism and trouble in this period was in the south; however, Miss Crandall’s School clearly shows that tensions there between white and African American residents were very real and very dangerous.
The poems all take the form of sonnets and could be studied simply as poems or for their form. The details of the story provide avenues for critical thinking. How would you do your laundry, exercise, plant potatoes if the only way to stay safe was to remain within the walls of the school? What case could the students build against new laws made to evict them from the town and the state? Can one group of people restrict the education of another?
Highly recommended.
The poems in this beautiful book tell the story of this exceptional school, of its students, of their wish to better themselves and their communities, of the sacrifices they made to learn and of the trials they endured in a place where they were legally free but societally constrained.
The poems in this book and the beautiful illustrations evoke these brave students, their wonder at the fears of the residents of Canterbury, their hunger for learning. All sonnets, they tell a tale of the sacrifice made to get the girls to school and the troubles they face when the town turns against them, fouling the well, and making laws in attempts to drive them away.
I can see a myriad of uses for this book in the classroom. The story illuminates the tensions in the northeast in the mid-nineteenth century. It is easy to believe that all the racism and trouble in this period was in the south; however, Miss Crandall’s School clearly shows that tensions there between white and African American residents were very real and very dangerous.
The poems all take the form of sonnets and could be studied simply as poems or for their form. The details of the story provide avenues for critical thinking. How would you do your laundry, exercise, plant potatoes if the only way to stay safe was to remain within the walls of the school? What case could the students build against new laws made to evict them from the town and the state? Can one group of people restrict the education of another?
Highly recommended.
May 8, 2016
I picked up Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color on the recommendation of Elaine over at Wild Rose Reader (Elaine has some *very* extensive and cool Black History Month book lists piling up over there). This one caught my eye because it was co-authored by the poet Elizabeth Alexander. Ms. Alexander is a rigorous, well-respected poet in every right, and her 2005 book, American Sublime, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
So I know this makes three children's book reviews in a row, but hey, it's a theme month, so we might as well have a theme-within-a-theme, right?
Miss Crandall's School is based on the true story of Prudence Crandall who, in the early 1830's, opened a private finishing school for young ladies ages 8-18 in Canterbury, CT. The school was quite popular and well attended until Ms. Crandall admitted an African American student who had hopes of becoming a teacher.
When the town responded by pulling all their children out of the school and waging massive protests, Ms. Crandall did something unusual. She put an ad in an Abolitionist newspaper advertising her new school for "Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color." Students came from all over New England to receive an education that was not available for young black girls at the time. For many, it was the first time they had left home, and the opportunity seemed enormous.
The town, however, lashed back in unspeakably horrible ways. Beyond passing a "Black Law" prohibiting the education of African American children in the state, the townspeople also refused to sell food to Ms. Crandall and her students, they poisoned the well water, they left dead animals on the doorstep. Ms. Crandall, a true heroine, kept the school going as long as she could, teaching her girls reading, writing, and arithmetic until, in 1834 a mob attacked the school and set it on fire. At this point, Ms. Crandall decided that she could not ensure the safety of the young girls in her care and closed the school down. Two years later, Connecticut's Black Law was repealed, and 50 years after that, the state awarded Ms. Crandall a small teacher's pension as an acknowledgment and token of reparations for the crimes committed against the school.
In Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color, poets Elizabeth Alexander & Marilyn Nelson explore this story from different angles and different points of view. They don't try to tell the whole story in a typical linear fashion. Rather, the book is divided into 6 parts made up of 4 sonnets each, illustrated in a lovely, dreamlike fashion by Floyd Cooper. The poems give us a glimpse of what might have been going on in the minds of the students, of what the small details of their lives might have been like, what their fears and hopes may have been. In one poem, where a mother and father are sending their daughter off to the school, the second stanza begins: "Does "good-bye" mean we hope or mean we weep?"
Here is one of the more striking poems from the series that blends that mix of hope and fear so well:
We (by Elizabeth Alexander)
Colored are new to these townsfolk, who say
we have come to take white husbands, but we
are young girls who do not think of such things.
They see us horned, tailed, befeathered, with
enormous bottoms and jaws that snap, red-
devil eyes that could hex a man and make him
leave home. Though the state has said no to slavery,
we know how it happens with colored girls
and white men, their red-devil eyes and tentacles.
Our mothers have taught us remarkably
to blot out these fears, black them out, and flood
our minds with light and God's great face.
We think about that which we cannot see:
something opening wide and bright, a key.
You can learn about the Prudence Crandall Museum here.
So I know this makes three children's book reviews in a row, but hey, it's a theme month, so we might as well have a theme-within-a-theme, right?
Miss Crandall's School is based on the true story of Prudence Crandall who, in the early 1830's, opened a private finishing school for young ladies ages 8-18 in Canterbury, CT. The school was quite popular and well attended until Ms. Crandall admitted an African American student who had hopes of becoming a teacher.
When the town responded by pulling all their children out of the school and waging massive protests, Ms. Crandall did something unusual. She put an ad in an Abolitionist newspaper advertising her new school for "Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color." Students came from all over New England to receive an education that was not available for young black girls at the time. For many, it was the first time they had left home, and the opportunity seemed enormous.
The town, however, lashed back in unspeakably horrible ways. Beyond passing a "Black Law" prohibiting the education of African American children in the state, the townspeople also refused to sell food to Ms. Crandall and her students, they poisoned the well water, they left dead animals on the doorstep. Ms. Crandall, a true heroine, kept the school going as long as she could, teaching her girls reading, writing, and arithmetic until, in 1834 a mob attacked the school and set it on fire. At this point, Ms. Crandall decided that she could not ensure the safety of the young girls in her care and closed the school down. Two years later, Connecticut's Black Law was repealed, and 50 years after that, the state awarded Ms. Crandall a small teacher's pension as an acknowledgment and token of reparations for the crimes committed against the school.
In Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color, poets Elizabeth Alexander & Marilyn Nelson explore this story from different angles and different points of view. They don't try to tell the whole story in a typical linear fashion. Rather, the book is divided into 6 parts made up of 4 sonnets each, illustrated in a lovely, dreamlike fashion by Floyd Cooper. The poems give us a glimpse of what might have been going on in the minds of the students, of what the small details of their lives might have been like, what their fears and hopes may have been. In one poem, where a mother and father are sending their daughter off to the school, the second stanza begins: "Does "good-bye" mean we hope or mean we weep?"
Here is one of the more striking poems from the series that blends that mix of hope and fear so well:
We (by Elizabeth Alexander)
Colored are new to these townsfolk, who say
we have come to take white husbands, but we
are young girls who do not think of such things.
They see us horned, tailed, befeathered, with
enormous bottoms and jaws that snap, red-
devil eyes that could hex a man and make him
leave home. Though the state has said no to slavery,
we know how it happens with colored girls
and white men, their red-devil eyes and tentacles.
Our mothers have taught us remarkably
to blot out these fears, black them out, and flood
our minds with light and God's great face.
We think about that which we cannot see:
something opening wide and bright, a key.
You can learn about the Prudence Crandall Museum here.
March 24, 2017
Another good book. Thanks for creating access to a "small piece of history" (as the authors' notes say). Some favorite lines and poems:
14 Family - "For the first time in my life I am at home in this bevy of scholars, my first family."
25 The Tao of the Trial:
Your Honor, I submit as evidence
of the alleged teaching of alleged students
this colored girl here, who openly reads books
and gazes skyward, who has been overheard
conversing animatedly in polysyllabic words
and referring off-handedly to the ancient Greeks.
26 Miss Ann Eliza Hammond - "People's dreams brought me to this school."
30 Etymology:
The filth hissed at us when we venture out--
always in twos or threes, never alone--
seems less a language spoken than one spat
in savage plosives, primitive, obscene:
a cavemob nya-nya, limited in frame
of reference and novelty, the same
suggestions of what we or they could do
or should, ad infinitum. Yesterday
a mill girl spat a phrase I'd never heard
before. I stopped and looked at her, perplexed.
I derived its general meaning from the context
but was stumped by the etymology of one word.
What was its source? Which demon should we thank
for words it must be an abomination to think?
46-47 Authors' Notes: "One of poetry's great strengths is that it invites readers into its world. Poetry refuses hard and fast answers and rather pushes us toward contemplation. For there are so many questions here. What kept Prudence Crandall motivated in her righteousness in the face of overwhelming pressure? What was it like for young women just barely removed from slavery to educate themselves? What did it mean for families to send their children far from home in an era when traveling was time-consuming and wearisome? Why did the townspeople display such fear and vitriol in the face of change? What did faith mean for each of these parties?"
Illustrations by Floyd Cooper are outstanding. I thought at first they were water color over pen and ink, but some have the intense color of pastels. I'd like to read about his art.
14 Family - "For the first time in my life I am at home in this bevy of scholars, my first family."
25 The Tao of the Trial:
Your Honor, I submit as evidence
of the alleged teaching of alleged students
this colored girl here, who openly reads books
and gazes skyward, who has been overheard
conversing animatedly in polysyllabic words
and referring off-handedly to the ancient Greeks.
26 Miss Ann Eliza Hammond - "People's dreams brought me to this school."
30 Etymology:
The filth hissed at us when we venture out--
always in twos or threes, never alone--
seems less a language spoken than one spat
in savage plosives, primitive, obscene:
a cavemob nya-nya, limited in frame
of reference and novelty, the same
suggestions of what we or they could do
or should, ad infinitum. Yesterday
a mill girl spat a phrase I'd never heard
before. I stopped and looked at her, perplexed.
I derived its general meaning from the context
but was stumped by the etymology of one word.
What was its source? Which demon should we thank
for words it must be an abomination to think?
46-47 Authors' Notes: "One of poetry's great strengths is that it invites readers into its world. Poetry refuses hard and fast answers and rather pushes us toward contemplation. For there are so many questions here. What kept Prudence Crandall motivated in her righteousness in the face of overwhelming pressure? What was it like for young women just barely removed from slavery to educate themselves? What did it mean for families to send their children far from home in an era when traveling was time-consuming and wearisome? Why did the townspeople display such fear and vitriol in the face of change? What did faith mean for each of these parties?"
Illustrations by Floyd Cooper are outstanding. I thought at first they were water color over pen and ink, but some have the intense color of pastels. I'd like to read about his art.
March 21, 2008
I'm not sure of the audience for this book... the poems are really complex for a middle school audience, and the illustrations and large format suggest its placement in those libraries, or even younger. I'd definitely pair it with The Forbidden Schoolhouse for a deeper understanding of the background story if using this with kids. Still, I'd love to expose kids to a book with lines like "now I know my capacity for awe is infinite: this thirst is permanent, the well bottomless, my good fortune vast." That's going up on the library wall Monday.
September 12, 2011
Nice Historical read on Manners & treating all humans equally!LOVED IT!Short-read
May 31, 2017
I came across this book while weeding and I am so glad that I did.
July 21, 2024
A beautiful book about struggling against evil. Sonnets. Short but deep.
January 19, 2008
This book has the look and feel of a picture book, but it's definitely not that. This is a wonderful book of poetry, mixed with history. Just when you thought you'd heard every story about the African-American experience during slavery, another book comes along to throw that assumption out the window. Floyd Cooper's illustrations are spectacular as usual. However, I really think this book is going to get lost among the children's poetry sections in libraries. I'm not sure what the publisher was thinking, but the poetry written by these 2 college Ph.D's is, at the very least, on a pre-teen level.
September 21, 2012
Miss Crandall, a Quaker by faith and education and thus an abolitionist, kept her school open from 1833-34 in Canterbury, Connecticut, until the townspeople, motivated by racism, ransacked the building and set it on fire. The two dozen heartfelt sonnets give voice to Miss Crandall’s students who describe their love of learning, backgrounds, discoveries, and responses to the townspeople’s disapproval. Brought to vivid reality in these poems is the courage to live by the power of trust and a belief in the cause of social justice. An introduction describes the history of the school and Miss Crandall’s commitment, and in appended notes, the authors describe their collaborative writing process.
June 28, 2017
I didn't know how much I didn't know.
Like Brer Mosquito on Brer Elephant,
now I know my capacity for awe
is infinite: this thirst is permanent,
the well bottomless, my good fortune vast.
An uneducated mind is a clenched fist
that can open, like a bud, into a flower
whose being reaches, every waking hour,
and who sleeps a fragrant dream of gratitude.
Now it's "illegal," "illegitimate"
to teach brown girls who aren't state residents.
As if Teacher's stealing fire from the gods.
As if Ancestors aren't tickled to death to see
A child they lived toward find her mind's infinity. MN
'Nuff said. I like it.
Like Brer Mosquito on Brer Elephant,
now I know my capacity for awe
is infinite: this thirst is permanent,
the well bottomless, my good fortune vast.
An uneducated mind is a clenched fist
that can open, like a bud, into a flower
whose being reaches, every waking hour,
and who sleeps a fragrant dream of gratitude.
Now it's "illegal," "illegitimate"
to teach brown girls who aren't state residents.
As if Teacher's stealing fire from the gods.
As if Ancestors aren't tickled to death to see
A child they lived toward find her mind's infinity. MN
'Nuff said. I like it.
July 3, 2018
What an amazing book.
It hits you between your eyeballs...still so relevant to today. The poetry pulls you in and yet keeps you at a distance, makes you unwrap the layers of emotion to this story, while the front and back matter give you all the history you need. Everyone should read this book.
I wish it had found or would find a wider audience which given its format I don't know that it ever will. My one tiny quibble with it is I wish it were a smaller trim size...it looks like a picture book but is NOT and anything that limits it from finding a wider audience is a shame.
What an amazing, incredible, powerful, and sad story. Just a fantastic book.
It hits you between your eyeballs...still so relevant to today. The poetry pulls you in and yet keeps you at a distance, makes you unwrap the layers of emotion to this story, while the front and back matter give you all the history you need. Everyone should read this book.
I wish it had found or would find a wider audience which given its format I don't know that it ever will. My one tiny quibble with it is I wish it were a smaller trim size...it looks like a picture book but is NOT and anything that limits it from finding a wider audience is a shame.
What an amazing, incredible, powerful, and sad story. Just a fantastic book.
March 30, 2013
This was pretty obscure and inaccessible as a kids' book -- maybe it wasn't intended as such, but the poems seemed to be both vague and obscure -- not what I expected from poets of this caliber. I think maybe the narrative version, not the poems, would be the way to go.
February 11, 2019
“I have never met souls hungrier for
Learning, that which splits the word akimbo,
Is hope itself in a the absence of grace.
Who would I be if I did not teach these
Young ladies, little misses of color?
Know I will never no never turn back.
My girls, we must sail above the treetops.”
💎
Learning, that which splits the word akimbo,
Is hope itself in a the absence of grace.
Who would I be if I did not teach these
Young ladies, little misses of color?
Know I will never no never turn back.
My girls, we must sail above the treetops.”
💎
November 26, 2007
Reading these poems made me want to read more about Prudence Crandall!
Want to read
February 3, 20092008 ALSC Notable
July 23, 2009
I can't remember if I liked this or not... I know I read in, perhaps in 5th or 6th grade, but I'll have to leaf through it again to give a better knowledge of a rating.
October 22, 2017
At first, I thought there was so much about this book that I didn't understand that I couldn't imagine reading it to my grandson. Then when I finished it, I knew I needed to read it to him.
January 26, 2018
I hadn’t heard this sad tale of discrimination and determination. I’ll be reading The Forbidden School to find out more.
January 13, 2020
Amazing story, and the poetry in this book is just fantastic. It definitely made me want to know more about Miss Crandall. I feel like the poetry might be a bit hard for the intended age range.
August 24, 2024
I highly recommend this book for a unit on poetry. The authors notes alone are worth sharing with a group of students. Excellent description on the art of writing poetry and how these two authors collaborated on this historical event. It’s a nonfiction poetry story on events that took place in Connecticut in the 1800’s. It recounts what transpired as Prudence Crandall opened up her girls boarding school to Blacks. Thr subsequent backlash put a stain on this town. The Poems are written as snippets of the events. And these poems help the reader reflect on the hate, violence and racism that was prevalent at that time. I love that these poems provide a powerful message to the reader without being preachy. Crandall was a Quaker and believed all were equal. A short book but powerful.
December 4, 2021
I got this book from the library. I loved it. I will purchase it as soon as possible. This book describes the struggle and commitment to education. Black women suffer from both sexism and racism. This small book of poetry chronicles those struggles.
Read
October 27, 2025not what I expected when I saw the cover in Old Sturbridge Village.
Not sure I would have requested it if I knew it was poetry. I survived the poems I put together the experiences of Miss Crandall and her students and can be content.
Not sure I would have requested it if I knew it was poetry. I survived the poems I put together the experiences of Miss Crandall and her students and can be content.
February 22, 2021
People can be so cruel to each other. What does it take to do the right thing! Remember 50 million Frenchman can be wrong.
This was a brave woman and a little know piece of New England history.
This was a brave woman and a little know piece of New England history.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews