Prince Saunders

Prince Saunders
Prince Saunders' portrait as it appears in the Haytian Papers
Born	Prince Saunders 1775 Lebanon, Connecticut,
Died	1839 Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Nationality	Haitian, American
Alma mater	Dartmouth College
Occupation	Educator, reformer

Prince Saunders (1775–1839) was an African American teacher, scholar, diplomat, and author who was born in either Lebanon, Connecticut or Thetford, Vermont according to various sources. During his life, Saunders helped set up schools for African Americans in Massachusetts and also in Haiti, for King Henri Christophe. During his time in Haiti, Saunders also penned the Haytian Papers, which were a translation of the Haitian laws with his commentary. He was a proponent of black emigration to Haiti, where he became a naturalized citizen. Because of his influence in establishing schools for African Americans, Saunders was one of the most significant black educators in the early 19th century in the United States and Haiti. He lived his last days in Port-au-Prince, where he died in 1839.

In 1784, Saunders was baptized as a Christian, which is the only glimpse we have into his childhood. Saunders grew up in the home of George Oramel Hinckley, a prominent white lawyer in New England. Being brought up under Hinckley, Saunders received an education that was equal to many highly educated whites at this time. Many of his studies were based on Bible and Christian teachings, which would be reflected later on in his life.

By the time Saunders was 21, he was already a teacher in Colchester, Connecticut, at the local school for African Americans. From 1807 until 1808, Saunders attended Moor's Charity School at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire under the sponsorship of Hinckley. While attending the school, Saunders gained the respect of Dartmouth President John Wheelock. Wheelock suggested that Saunders should become a school teacher at the free African American school in Boston.

With Wheelock’s recommendation, Saunders earned the position of educator at the school, which was run by William Ellery Channing, a Unitarian minister in Boston. Most of the students at the school came from “Nigger Hill”, a poor neighborhood in Boston, where the majority of the city’s African Americans lived.

Around the same time that he began teaching in Boston, Saunders also became involved in Masonic lodges. In 1809, Saunders was initiated into the African Masonic Lodge in Boston. Two years later, in 1811, Master George Middleton made Saunders the secretary of the lodge.