Abolitionists of Noyes Academy

Click here for Zoom link.

Abolitionists of Noyes Academy

With historian and reporter Dan Billin.

{This program is made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities "Humanities to Go" program.}

American slavery divided not just the North from the South, but also northerners from each other. In the mid-1830s, the emergence of an aggressive abolitionist movement provoked fierce blowback-including widespread mob violence in the North. Canaan, N.H., became one of many New England flashpoints after abolitionists there opened a school for all students, regardless of race or gender. Young Black men and women flocked to Noyes Academy but were soon driven away by a voter-sanctioned mob that dragged their school building a half-mile down the main street and threatened them with death. Students who passed through that fire-Julia Williams, Henry Highland Garnet and Alexander Crummell-went on to extraordinary careers in the fight against slavery and for Black civil rights. Historian Dan Billin presents an illustrated lecture that plumbs the depths of anti-abolitionist sentiment in antebellum New Hampshire and the courage of Black students who were destined for greatness.

Dan Billin  worked as a newspaper reporter in the Granite State for seventeen years. His nose for a story and years of relentless research have brought to light a wealth of detail about the shocking and long-forgotten tale of Noyes Academy and the Black students who dared to seek an education here.