Mary Ann Shadd

Mary Ann Camberton 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. She was also the second black woman to attend law school in the United States. Mary Shadd established the newspaper Provincial Freeman in 1853, which was published weekly in southern Ontario. It advocated equality, integration, and self-education for black people in Canada and the United States.

Mary's family was involved in the Underground Railroad, assisting those fleeing slavery in the United States. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, her family relocated to what is today southern Ontario, Canada (then the western part of the United Canadas). She returned to the United States during the American Civil War, where she recruited soldiers for the Union. Self-taught, Mary went to Howard University Law School, and continued advocacy for civil rights for African Americans and women for the rest of her life.