Eugénie Luce (1804-1882) was a French educator, who founded the first French/Arab school for Muslim girls, the Luce Ben Aben School in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

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, in 1845.

Departure from France

Eugénie Luce moved to

in the 1830s, where she became a governess. She left behind her husband in France.

Luce Ben Aben School

Eugénie Luce started the Luce Ben Aben School, in 1845. It was the first Franco-Arab school for

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

girls, offering a European-style education. Girls learned French, Arabic, arithmetic, embroidery, geography, and sewing. The school was funded by the

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

government until 1861, after which it became a

trade school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

. Instructors taught

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on c ...

and other subjects in order to educate the girls in traditional Algerian crafts, at a time when these crafts were being replaced by machine-made imports. These goods were exported throughout Algeria, as well as Europe and the United States. The school was forced to close on 1 January 1846 because of a lack of financial support from the local French government. To seek funding, Luce sold her possessions and traveled to Paris to ask for help from the central government. After she managed to get support for the school, it was reopened in June 1846 and in January 1847 the French government formally agreed to support the school. In 1858 Luce had over 120 pupils ranging in age from four to 17. This school produced skilled embroideresses, who appeared in the London Exhibition of 1862 and in the Algerian Pavilion of the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition at Chicago.

School Leadership

Luce would eventually return to

Montrichard Montrichard () is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher. During the French Revolution, the commune was known as ''M ...

, in France, where she died in 1882. After Luce's departure, her daughter, and then her granddaughter Madame Ben-Aben, continued to run the school until the granddaughter died in 1915.

References

;Further reading * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luce, Eugenie 1804 births 1882 deaths Education in Algeria Women educators People from Loir-et-Cher People from Algiers