Steven Crandell

Steven Crandell: Laura Spelman Rockefeller Could Always ‘Paddle Her Own Canoe’

“Surely whatever others may think, it is our opinion that women, even as man, ‘can paddle her own canoe.’” Those were the words of Laura Spelman at her high school graduation in Cleveland in 1855. The daughter of an Underground Railroad operator, an outspoken opponent of slavery and eventually an independent-minded teacher, she went on…

by Steven Crandell May 25, 2015 | 3:00 pm