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Nathan Hale, proto-feminist?

By Mark Alden Branch ’86 | 10:16am June 06 2016

Today is the 261st anniversary of the birth of Nathan Hale, Class of 1773. The Yale University Library has an online exhibit about Hale’s life. Among the lesser-known facts about the patriot/schoolteacher/spy:

At graduation exercises in Center Church on September 3, 1773, Hale took part in a debate on “Whether the Education of Daughters Be Not, Without Any Just Reason, More Neglected Than That of Sons.” Hale argued for the affirmative—that the education of girls was virtually ignored. (Only boys went to school.) According to his classmate James Hillhouse, Hale won it for the girls. Hale then did something about it as schoolmaster in New London, holding summer classes for “young ladies” at 5:30 in the morning.

Filed under Nathan Hale, Old Campus
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