Mary Ann Shadd Cary

How this work helped shape America

Born free in Delaware in 1823 to a Black American abolitionist family, Mary Ann Shadd Cary became an educator, publisher and lawyer. In 1853 she founded the Provincial Freeman, becoming the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper and one of the first women publishers in Canada. She later earned a law degree and continued using education, print and legal advocacy to expand Black civic participation.