Mary Ann Shadd Cary

Mary Shadd Cary was born in Wilmington, Delaware on October 9, 1823 where her father was a shoemaker and property owner. The Fugitive Slave Act made life precarious for all black people so the family fled to Ontario, Canada in 1950. There she taught school and soon became embroiled in the land selling activities of the Refugee Home Society whose members were selling poor land to the black refugees who could have bought better land for less from the Canadian government. She began a newspaper "Provincial Freeman," aimed at informing the black population. It ran from 1854 to 1858, making Cary the first black woman newspaper editor. Like Maria Stewart, she was severely criticized for "unladylike conduct." and causing friction between fugitives and white missionaries. She married in 1856, and during the Civil War she helped assemble a regiment of black soldiers for the Indiana governor. Widowed in 1869, she moved with her daughter to Washington where she taught school and became principal. She, like Belva Lockwood, decided to study law. Cary and 3 white women were graduated from Howard University in 1883. It is unknown whether she practiced law. Her home on W Street, NW in Washington is a National Historic Landmark. She died on June 5, 1893.