"MARY ANN SHADD CARY 1823-1893" - Chatham ON (Canada)
Posted by: Bon Echo
N 42° 24.372 W 082° 10.517
17T E 403286 N 4695546
A plaque describing the contributions of an American-Canadian anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher and lawyer
Waymark Code: WMH3C2
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 05/15/2013
Views: 13
Mary Ann Shadd Cary (October 9, 1823 – June 5, 1893) was an American-Canadian anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher and lawyer. She was the first black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada. (Source: Wikipedia (
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Plaque Text:
African Americans came to Canada in increasing numbers after the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. Some settled in segregated communities; others, like Mary Ann Shadd, promoted full integration into society. A teacher and anti-slavery crusader, Shadd immigrated to Windsor in 1851. She started the "Provincial Freeman" in 1853 to encourage Blacks to seek equality through education and self-reliance. Two years later she moved the newspaper to Chatham, where it operated for the rest of the decade. Widowed in 1860, Shadd Cary returned to the U.S. in 1863 to work for racial equality in the aftermath of emancipation. She was the first Black woman known to have edited a North American newspaper.