Celebrating Black History Month in and Near Ledyard

This month we take the opportunity to observe Black History Month. In town, the gallery at i5 Teaching Network located in the Gales Ferry Community Center will host an exhibition of artists who celebrate the history and culture of African Americans in their own artwork.

The exhibit opens Saturday and includes artwork on fabric and of fabric. There will be hand-sewn quilts, hand-sewn fabrics and hand made dolls by local artists Casandra L. Allen and Marie Collins.

Later this month there will be an artist reception where people are invited to meet the artists and hear about their inspiration and how they work. The artist will present their work, after which there will be a hip hop dance class, “which is a big hit with the kids,” Anderson said.

Anderson also expects a small exhibit to arrive on loan from the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury. Crandall was named an official State Heroine in 1995 for daring to educate black girls in the 1830s.

The exhibit opens Saturday but the reception, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9 has been postponed due to the blizzard. A new date will be announced soon.

And if you're up for going further afield, the New London Public Library has a slew of events including a scheduled throughout the month.

Here is a partial history of how February came to be known as Black History Month and also the local hero of long ago who is honored with her own museum in Canterbury.

For those of you unfamiliar with Prudence Crandall, she was a schoolteacher who opened a private school in Canterbury in 1831. In 1833, Crandall accepted a 17-year-old African American girl to the school, which created an uproar in the town and in the state of Connecticut.

“She was an ordinary woman doing an extraordinary thing,” said Gales Ferry resident and museum volunteer Janice Ball.

After people withdrew their white daughters from the school, Crandall asked her network of supporters to help attract black girls from out of state to attend the school. The state reacted with the Black Law, “which made it illegal for Crandall to operate her school. Miss Crandall was arrested, spent a night in jail, and faced three court trials,” according to the museum’s website.

Crandall’s case eventually prevailed and the state repealed the so-called Black Law but soon afterward, her school was destroyed by a mob. Crandall, who was concerned for the safety of herself and her students, closed the school and left the state. She was named an official State Heroine in 1995.

Ball said the museum is “only 30 minutes from my door” and that the trip is well worth it. Crandall’s story has an anti-slavery and anti-bullying message.

According to the website, the Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark and includes period rooms, changing exhibits, a small research library (available by appointment for in-house study) and a gift shop. The museum's first floor is fully accessible.
 
Now, back to Black History Month.

As told by Wikipedia, Black History Month began first as “Negro History Week” back in 1926 and was only supposed to be a temporary “holiday” until the subject was incorporated into American History classrooms and textbooks. Over the years the week (and subject matter) became so popular that the federal government supported the expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month in 1976.

President Gerald Ford is credited as saying, “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”