Major Leaders in Women's Education

Sarah Grimké

She ran a school for women with her sister Angelina, and she complained about the belief that a woman who knew "chemistry enough to keep the pot boiling, and geography enough to know the location of the different rooms in her house" was considered learned enough.

Emma Willard

She opened one of the nation's first academically rigorous schools for girls in Troy, New York called The Troy Female Seminary. Her school prospered, despite much mockery.

Mary Lyon

She founded an important institution of higher learning for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts called Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.

Prudence Crandall

She was a white Quaker who in 1831 opened a school for girls in Canterbury, Connecticut. In 1833 she admitted an African-American girl, but the townspeople protested against desegregated education, so she decided to only admit African-American women. In 1834 she was forced to close the school and leave town.