COMMENT IS NEEDLESS ! (From the Norwich Republican)
NEGRO SCHOOL IN CANTERBURY
Mr. Editor — Most of your readers are probably aware that considerable excitement is at present existing in a portion of our community, respecting the location of a school in Canterbury for colored females. And as much pains has been taken to prejudice the public mind, in relation to the opposition made by the citizens of that town to the establishment of such an institution, it has been deemed a duty to all concerned, to lay before the community the real facts of the case as well as the reasons why such opposition has been made.
You are aware , sir, that there are in Boston and Providence a few, at the head of whom stands the editor of the Liberator, who have been engaged for some time past, in bitter and ceaseless hostility to the American Colonization Society. Predicting their actions on the undenied truth that all men are born free and equal, they come out with the fallacious, the unfounded , the inflammable doctrine, that forthwith and at once slavery ought to be abolished — the negroes made free, and received into the bosom of our community on a footing of perfect and entire equality. ……………………………
The facts in relation to the case are simply these. Miss Crandall was the teacher of a female school in Canterbury. Somebody persuaded her to dismiss her very interesting company of young ladies, and substitute for them, ‘young ladies and little misses of color.’ Preparations were accordingly made — her house and school room were furnished in a new style – and the purpose avowed, of attempting to instruct a generation of negresses in all the accomplishments and sciences enjoyed by their more favored white sisters. When the astounding news of this change in the condition of Miss C’s school was made known to the public, great excitement was produced. In the immediate neighborhood of this proposed institution, such a change was deemed very reprehensible, and the collection together such a number of blacks in their midst, was thought utterly intolerable…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Such, Mr. Editor, is a statement of facts. The people of Canterbury regard as a nuisance, the proposed Negro school. They recognize no right which foreigners can have, to come into their town meetings and interfere in their affairs. And in the present instance, they conceive themselves grossly insulted, by the conduct of the individuals from abroad. To the threats of forcing the obnoxious school upon them, which they freely dealt out, they will oppose the justice of their cause, and a resolute determination that the proposed measures shall not take effect. — A Friend of the Colonization Cause
(Liberator, April 6, 1833,pg 2)
