Surrounded: America’s First School for Black Girls, 1832 - Wilfrid Lupano - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Wilfrid Lupano

ILLUSTRATOR: Stéphane Fert

GENRE: Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: February 11, 2025

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A graphic novel about the first Black girls’ school in the USA. Great historical insights, but too short to do justice to the storyline. Still, worth a pick for the light it shines on a relatively unknown part of history. Better suited to older teens and adults as it is quite dark and upsetting.

Plot Preview:

1832. Canterbury, Connecticut. When young Sarah has questions about the oddities she sees in nature, she goes to Prudence Crandall, a young white woman who runs a boarding school, for clarifications. Seeing Sarah’s curiosity sparks an idea in Prudence and she takes Sarah as her first Black student. She is motivated enough to advertise for more Black students to join them. Thus, thirty years before the abolition of slavery, in a place where Blacks were legally free but practically without civil rights, fifteen girls become a happy part of the Crandall school. But the rest of the population in the little town isn't happy.

This graphic novel was first published in French under the title "Blanc autour" in 2021. This English translation, under a new title, came out in Feb 2025. (There is another English edition that was released in 2021 titled "White All Around.")

The cover and the tagline: “America’s First School for Black Girls, 1832” made me get this graphic novel as soon as I saw it. The illustrative style made me assume that this would be a middle-grade graphic novel. But the content is quite dark, making this suitable only to older teens and above.

The book begins with a helpful foreword, which was quite beneficial to the likes of me who are not so aware of US history. There is also a parting note by the curator of the Prudence Crandall Museum, offering more details on the content not covered in the novel.

As a lover of historical fiction, I was fascinated by this depiction of what would have surely been a revolutionary and risky idea. Crandall was a brave woman, and her students were also courageous enough to stand by their white teacher when everyone else questioned their presence in town. I love that the book also included the supportive Mr. Crandall, Prudence’s father. He was the main source of joy in this book.

The content highlights how the prohibition of slavery meant nothing if the “slaves” were to have no basic rights under the law. It also includes the dread in the white Americans after the Nat Turner rebellion, and their discriminatory societal attitude. One of the Black characters in the book is also against the idea of the Black girls going to school; it was interesting to see this opposing voice from within the community and hear his point of view.

If all the above were the only points that mattered, the book would have been an easy five star. However, intent alone isn't enough. The content is hardhitting, but certain writing choices stop it from being memorable.

The book begins quite slowly, with there being a plethora of characters at the start and no introductions. It finally gets into the groove at about the 20% mark. However, while the story tries to be extensive, it ends up scratching only the surface level of the issues. There is not much depth to some of the events, and the overall effect seems quite shallow, going wide than deep. There are several questions left unanswered, as the story covers only “what happened” without going into much detail about the “why” and “how”. 

Further, certain plot inclusions (and even inclusions of nudity in the illustrations) weren’t warranted. I also wasn’t very convinced about the portrayal of the “noble savage”, nor did I like the “white witch” track that felt so disconnected from the rest of the story. Lastly, though I did like some of the humour in the plot, I think it took away from the seriousness of the issue. (I remember having the same complaint about the author's only other graphic novel I have read, 'The Library Mule of Cordoba'.)

The font isn't very reader-friendly, at least in the digital edition. I had to strain my eyes hard to make out what was written.

The illustrations are too cartoonish for such a serious topic. They are in the same style as the cover art, but given the actual content, the contradiction between the children’s-book-style graphics and the disturbing events is jarring. A few of the pages contain no text at all, but the sketches aren’t clear enough to easily figure out what was happening.

Overall, I did love learning about this possibly forgotten part of US history. I just wish the story development had been tackled better. Regardless, it is a good option for those who would like to learn more about this dark part of USA’s past. After all, we stand on the shoulders of those that came before us, and it is thanks to such historical braveheart women as Prudence Crandell and Sarah that we the women of today don’t even need to think twice about wanting to educate ourselves.

This was a library read.