MARY ANN SHADD CARY SHAKES UP THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Mary Ann Shadd Cary*, according to Megan Specia of the New York Times, "was the first black woman in North America to edit and publish a newspaper, one of the first black female lawyers in the United States and an advocate for granting women the right to vote."
In 1848, when she was 25 years old, Mary Ann responded to Frederick Douglass's call for readers of his "North Star" to send their recommendations on how to improve the lives of African Americans. She wrote and he published these words...
"We have been holding conventions for years--we have been assembling together and whining over our difficulties and afflictions, passing resolutions on resolutions to any extent. But it does really seem that we have made but little progress considering our resolves."
Just five years later, Cary was founder and publisher of "The Provincial Freeman**," a Canadian newspaper opposing slavery and intemperance. While supporting the anti-slavery movement, the paper was critical of those abolitionists who did not favor full equality.
The Freeman was one of the first abolitionist publications to advocate African-Americans migration to Canada.
*Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She married Thomas F. Cary of Toronto, Canada in 1856 & returned to the U.S. with her children after his death in 1860. During the Civil War, MASC was a recruiter for the US Army & was a teacher in Washington, D.C. She earned her law degree at the age of 60 from Howard University School of Law.
Mary Ann Shadd Cary
National Archives of Canada
C-029977
www.nps.gov/
Mary Ann Shadd Cary House^
1421 W. Street NW
Washington, D.C.
Photo by AgnositcPreachersKid (2008)
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Mary Ann Shadd Cary*, according to Megan Specia of the New York Times, "was the first black woman in North America to edit and publish a newspaper, one of the first black female lawyers in the United States and an advocate for granting women the right to vote."
In 1848, when she was 25 years old, Mary Ann responded to Frederick Douglass's call for readers of his "North Star" to send their recommendations on how to improve the lives of African Americans. She wrote and he published these words...
"We have been holding conventions for years--we have been assembling together and whining over our difficulties and afflictions, passing resolutions on resolutions to any extent. But it does really seem that we have made but little progress considering our resolves."
Just five years later, Cary was founder and publisher of "The Provincial Freeman**," a Canadian newspaper opposing slavery and intemperance. While supporting the anti-slavery movement, the paper was critical of those abolitionists who did not favor full equality.
The Freeman was one of the first abolitionist publications to advocate African-Americans migration to Canada.
*Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She married Thomas F. Cary of Toronto, Canada in 1856 & returned to the U.S. with her children after his death in 1860. During the Civil War, MASC was a recruiter for the US Army & was a teacher in Washington, D.C. She earned her law degree at the age of 60 from Howard University School of Law.
**The Provincial Freeman, published in Canada from 1853 to 1860, opposed slavery & supported the temperance movement. The paper was circulated in major cities of the north in the United States.
SOURCES
SOURCES
"Mary Ann Shadd Cary, How one woman shook up the abolitionist movement and helped define a new role for black women", by Megan Specia, The New York Times, July 2, 2018.
"Mary Ann Shadd Cary House, Aboard the Underground Railroad", National Park Service, www.nps.gov/
"Mary Ann Shadd Cary House, Aboard the Underground Railroad", National Park Service, www.nps.gov/
Mary Ann Shadd Cary
National Archives of Canada
C-029977
www.nps.gov/
Mary Ann Shadd Cary House^
1421 W. Street NW
Washington, D.C.
Photo by AgnositcPreachersKid (2008)
^The MASC House, located in Columbia Heights in the District of Columbia, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Mrs. Shadd-Cary lived in the 3 story brick row house from 1881 to 1885. The house is not open to the public.
