Laura Haviland | History of American Women

Laura Haviland | History of American Women: Founded First School for Children of All Races Laura Haviland (1808-1898) was an American abolitionist, suffragist and pioneer social reformer who operated a station on the Underground Railroad in southeastern Michigan. Haviland also established Michigan’s first school for children of all races. This post includes direct quotes from her autobiography, A Woman’s Life-Work. Early Years Laura Smith was born on December 20, 1808, in Kitley Township in what is now eastern Ontario, Canada to American parents, Daniel and Sene Blancher Smith, farmers of modest means. The Smiths, were devout members of the Society of Friends, better known as Quakers – her father was a Quaker minister and her mother was an elder in that church, which favored gender equality. Though...Read Article