Otis Library, Norwich CT – Human Resources Department

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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.

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