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The Harris Sisters: One Story of Many in the Fight for Freedom

Authored by Ashley Kardys

This is a photo of a postcard that was donated to the Otis Library Collection in 2018 and uploaded to the Library’s public Flickr account. The exact year of the postcard’s creation is unknown but estimated between 1787 – 1876. This postcard depicts the Norwich location were two historically famous sisters, the Harris sisters, originally grew up before becoming a profound abolitionist and teacher.

Slavery in the United States has a long and documented history but this photo aids in highlighting  a very personal story, one of thousands, that helps to shed an intimate light on the life of two local Connecticut African American sisters and a Caucasian woman. This pairing of women was astronomical in paving a new and free path in the New England states for the education of African Americans. This image depicts a neighborhood along the river in Norwich, Connecticut, circa 1787-1876, where two African American sisters, Sarah Harris (1812 – 1878) and Mary Harris (1816 – 1899) began their heroic lives. In 1833 Sarah Harris was the first young African American woman to be admitted into what was previously an all-white school for girls run by a Quaker abolitionist and teacher, Prudence Crandall.

Crandall was born in Rhode Island to Quakers that strongly believed in equal educational opportunities for all girls (Michals 2015). This upbringing led to her creation of one of New England’s highest ranked academy’s for young Caucasian women. Upon the admittance of Sarah Harris, Crandall was urged to expel Sarah from her academy and vehemently refused by saying, “[the school] might sink then for I should not turn her out” (Wormley 1923, 73). With the support of William Lloyd Garrison, a well-known abolitionist, Crandall soon opened the first school for girls in New England for free slaves and African Americans (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica 2020). Crandall was then indicted, convicted and imprisoned under the Black Law, created by the General Assembly in 1833. This law “[made] it illegal for out-of-state African American students to attend a Connecticut school without local permission (Moraco 2019). Her conviction was later over turned on technical grounds. Crandall soon closed the school in fear of safety for her students from angry mobs and physical attacks on the academy (Michals 2015).

Though Crandall’s academy was short lived, the admittance of Sarah Harris began a journey for the Harris sisters that changed lives, laws, and freedoms in the New England States.

Sarah Harris, along with her husband George Fayerweather, became famous conductors on the Underground Railroad often working closely with other abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Fredrick Douglas (Walk Norwich Trails 2015). Sarah maintained her relationship with the first Caucasian woman to fight for her freedom and often traveled to visit Prudence Crandall where she resided in Kansas (Walk Norwich Trails 2015).

Mary Harris, who also followed her older sister’s journey in attending Crandall’s academy, became a teacher in Norwich, Connecticut where she met and married another Norwich teacher,  Pelluman Williams in 1845 (Walk Norwich Trails 2015). During the Civil War the two continued the fight for freedom and education teaching African Americans in New Orleans. The two are largely associated with Straight University in New Orleans, a historic black college founded in 1868 (Walk Norwich Trails 2015).  

The struggle for educational freedom expressed by both the Harris Sisters as well as Prudence Crandall represents the Vincentian spirit by “search[ing] out the causes of… social injustice and… foster[ing] a world view to further efforts toward global harmony and development [that] embod[ies] the spirit of compassionate concern for others…” (St. John’s University 2015). Due to the initial compassion Crandall felt for young African American girls and their entitlement to equal education, followed by the compassion demonstrated by the Harris sisters’ continual fight through their careers and activisms, many changes were brought about for New England States in the coming years in the fight for freedom and equality in education. The changes in laws and freedoms, continued by these women, are what paved the path for the freedoms we are all experiencing today.

References

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020. “Prudence Crandall American Educator.” https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States

Michals, Debra. 2015. “Prudence Crandall 1803-1890.” Last Modified 2015. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/prudence-crandall.

Moraco, Diana. 2019. “Prudence Crandall Fights for Equal Access to Education.” Last Modified September 9, 2019. https://connecticuthistory.org/prudence-crandall-fights-for-equal-access-to-education/.

Otis Library. 2018. “Norwich City and the River.” Photograph. c1787-1876. From Otis Library: Daniel Wadsworth Coit, 1787-1876. https://www.flickr.com/photos/otis_library_collections/39626926770/in/album-72157689840114480/ (accessed February 8, 2020).

St. John’s University. 2015. “Our Mission.” Last Modified October 2015. https://www.stjohns.edu/about/our-mission.

Walk Norwich Trails. 2015. “Freedom Trial – Stop 9.” Last Modified 2015. http://www.walknorwich.org/freedom-trail/stop-9/.

Wormley, G. Smith. 1923. “Prudence Crandall.” The Journal of Negro History 8 (1): 72-80, March 5, 2020.  doi:10.2307/2713460.