Public Backlash
Citizens of Canterbury at first protested the school and then held town meetings "to devise and adopt such measures as would effectually avert the nuisance, or speedily abate it..." Unable to shake Ms. Crandall's spirit, the town response escalated into warnings, threats, and acts of violence against the school. Crandall was faced with great local opposition, and her detractors had no plans to back down.
On May 24, 1833, the Connecticut legislature passed the "Black Law", which prohibited a school with African American students from outside the state without the town's permission. In July, Crandall was arrested and placed in the county jail for one night and then released under bond to await her trials.
Under the Black Law, the townspeople refused any amenities to the students or Crandall, closing their shops and meeting houses to them. Stage drivers also refused to provide them with transportation, and even the town doctors would not attend to their needs. To make matters worse, the townspeople also poisoned the school's well—its only water source—with animal feces and then prevented Crandall from obtaining any water from other sources. It was difficult for Crandall to run her school, but she continued to teach the young women, angering the community even further.
Crandall's students also suffered. One 17-year-old student, Anna Eliza Hammond, was even arrested; however, with the help of New York abolitionist Samuel J. May, she was able to post bail bond through collections and donations of $10,000.
In response to May's support of Crandall, Connecticut politician Andrew T. Judson stated,
Mr. May, we are not merely opposed to the establishment of that school in Canterbury; we mean there shall not be such a school set up anywhere in our State. The colored people can never rise from their menial condition in our country; they ought not to be permitted to rise here. They are an inferior race of beings, and never call or ought to be recognized as the equals of the whites.
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