Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Jermain has plucked an almost forgotten incident from history and has shaped a compelling, highly readable book around it." —Booklist, starred
Review
"Fascinating photographs and images from period newspapers accompany many of the pages, and endnotes provide insight into the later lives of the students, Crandall, and her supporters." —Horn Book
Review
"Fascinating photographs and images...and endnotes provide insight into the lives of the students, Crandall, and her supporters." —Horn Book
Review
"This book offers a fresh look at the climate of education for African Americans and women in the early 1800s."––School Library Journal
Review
"A captivating read." --Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Jermain has plucked an almost forgotten incident from history and has shaped a compelling, highly readable book around it." Booklist, starred Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
"Fascinating photographs and images...and endnotes provide insight into the lives of the students, Crandall, and her supporters." Horn Book Horn Book
"This book offers a fresh look at the climate of education for African Americans and women in the early 1800s."School Library Journal School Library Journal
"A captivating read." --Kirkus Reviews Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
They threw rocks and rotten eggs at the school windows. Villagers refused to sell Miss Crandall groceries or let her students attend the town church. Mysteriously, her schoolhouse was set on fireby whom and how remains a mystery. The town authorities dragged her to jail and put her on trial for breaking the law.
Her crime? Trying to teach African American girls geography, history, reading, philosophy, and chemistry. Trying to open and maintain one of the first African American schools in America.
Exciting and eye-opening, this account of the heroine of Canterbury, Connecticut, and her elegant white schoolhouse at the center of town will give readers a glimpse of what it is like to try to change the world when few agree with you.
About the Author
To research this book, Suzanne Jurmain used primary sources of memoirs, medical log books and documents from the doctors who were actually involved in the conquest of yellow fever. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles and has two adult children - and one large golden retriever.