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Mary Ann Shadd
(1823-1893)
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Mary Ann Shadd was the editor of the first abolition paper in Canada and the first woman publisher in North America. By establishing the Provincial Freeman with Rev. Ringgold Ward, she passed on information about the anti-slavery movement to those free Africans living in Canada and those in the United States considering escape.
Known as a rebel from an early age, she was born a free person. When the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850 allowing the capture of both free and escaped Africans for re-enslavement in the U.S. south, Mary Ann moved to Windsor, Ont. An experienced teacher she opened an integrated school in an old abandoned army building known as
"The Old Barracks." Students had to pay $.37 per month to attend. Her goal was to educate both free persons and escaped former captives who had come to Canada.
Mary Ann Shadd’s interest in the abolition movement was established from a young age.
Her family home was a station on the Underground Railroad and her parents risked everything to help in any way they could to end slavery.
With the start of the American Civil War, the Union Army recognized her popularity and asked her to help in recruiting Africans. She became the only paid Black woman recruitment agent in the United States.
At the end of the war, Mary Ann Shadd went to Law School. Her status as a woman did not allow her to graduate until nine years after she had completed her courses.
