Waging War with Words: Mary Ann Shadd
“Self-Reliance is the Fine Road to Independence.”1 For so many marginalized groups within society, this sentiment has been the inequitable truth. Embodying her own newspaper’s motto, Mary Ann Shadd took it upon herself to shatter the limits that society placed upon her as a black woman. Today, all too easy is it to fight as a keyboard warrior, to destroy than to create, and the first spark of creation is an idea. It is these ideas that remould the preconceived, notion-engraved foundation of society— its minds. Ideas incite change. Shadd understood that spreading knowledge was pivotal to bettering the lives of her people. Canada prides herself on her cultural diversity and Shadd’s work contributed greatly to tolerance, acceptance, and embracement of race and gender formerly deemed inferior. In a war against discrimination, her weapon bled ink rather than blood, but the marks of her contributions on the canvas of Canadian history is testament to their permanence.
Born free and raised in a safe house ran by her parents2, Shadd witnessed firsthand the potential that ideas held to overturn mindsets. Her father worked for the Liberator— an abolitionist newspaper that called for emancipation of slaves and promoted women’s rights by unearthing suppressed human conscience3. Though only 3000 copies circulated weekly, she knew that the newspaper tilled the soil for seeds of liberation for black peoples4.
Following her conviction to radically elevate her people’s lives by “[doing] more and [talking] less”5, Shadd moved to Windsor, Ontario and was the only woman present at the First Convention of Coloured Freemen held outside of the United States in 18516. As a teacher by trade, she toiled to crush racial barriers through united education and founded a racially integrated school the same year7. While simultaneously instilling into her students ideas of integration and tolerance that would become foundational to the Canadian identity, Shadd fought through her written works. Her pen-launched attack, “A Plea for Emigration; or Notes of Canada West” in 1852, called for black slaves to move to and seize opportunities in Canada. She bombarded societal mindsets with educational booklets that neither idealized nor romanticized, but concretely asserted the advantages settlers would find, contributing to the diversity in our modern society9.
Shadd unleashed one of her most powerful onslaughts in 1853. She founded, wrote, and edited The Provincial Freeman, earning her enduring recognition as Canada’s first black female journalist and North America’s first black woman to publish a newspaper10. Devoted to antislavery, temperance and general literature, the paper condemned slavery more than white abolitionist newspapers ever dared11. While they were against slavery, most gave no voice to African-Americans. Shadd’s newspaper represented the 40,000 people of colour who found a better life in Canada; her writings captured an emerging demographic’s perspective that would have been caged in silence had she not fought to share it12. By altering preconceived notions of black incivility and aiming towards progress, they played a major role in developing Canada into a society that celebrates racial differences.
Though the paper folded in 1860 from financial pressures, its message had permeated throughout Canada and parts of America as the Civil War erupted soon after13. Shadd spent the first few years as a schoolteacher and eventually returned to the United States as a recruitment agent for the Union Army, but her contributions to the black community did not stop there14. “It is better to wear out than to rust out”15, she would say, her fighting spirit ever tenacious even as years passed. At 60, she became North America’s second black woman to complete a law degree in the United States and the first to do so at Harvard16. She also joined the National Woman Suffrage Association, becoming one of the first black women to vote in a national election17.
Shadd passed in 189318 but not without marking her place in the fabric of Canadian history for centuries to come. Now recognized as a Person of National Significance in Canada19, she paved the way for harmonious cohabitation within society for her people and other marginalized groups. She proved that with an adamant poise, stereotypes and long-held preconceived notions could be overturned through the humble, yet powerful influence of the written word. With a simple pen and the fortitude to overcome barriers of gender, class, and race, Shadd rewove the Canadian tapestry, designing a community where all colours intermingle to form a magnificent mosaic, more vibrant than any other.
1 Mary Ann Shadd Cary. (2013, January 16). Retrieved November 27, 2018, from http://www.womeninhistoryohio.com/mary-ann-shadd-cary.htmlblack-enslavement
2 Mary Ann Shadd Cary. (2017, May 12). Retrieved November 28, from https://www.biography.com/people/mary-ann-shadd-cary-214141
3 Ibid.
4 Britannica, T. E. (2017, June 26). The Liberator. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Liberator-American-newspaper
5 Specia, M. (2018, June 07). Overlooked No More: How Mary Ann Shadd Cary Shook Up the Abolitionist Movement. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/obituaries/mary-ann-shadd-cary-abolitionist-overlooked.html
6 Mary Ann Shadd. (2011, September 24). Retrieved November 28, 2018, from http://blackhistorycanada.ca/profiles.php?themeid=20&id=5
7 Ibid.
8 Mary Ann Shadd. (2015, July 14). Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-ann-shadd
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 The Provincial Freeman. (2013, February 01). Retrieved November 30, 2018, from http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/ProvincialFreeman.html
12 Ibid.
13 Mary Ann Shadd. (2015, July 14). Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-ann-shadd
14 Ibid.
15 Lewis, J. J. (2016, February 01). About Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Canadian & American Abolitionist. Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/mary-ann-shadd-cary-biography-3528271
16 Mary Ann Shadd. (2011, September 24). Retrieved December 02, 2018, from http://blackhistorycanada.ca/profiles.php?themeid=20&id=5
17 Ibid.
18 Mary Ann Shadd Cary. (2013, January 16). Retrieved November 27, 2018, from http://www.womeninhistoryohio.com/mary-ann-shadd-cary.html
19 Mary Ann Shadd. (2015, July 14). Retrieved November 30, 2018, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-ann-shadd
Bibliography
Britannica, T. E. (2017, June 26). The Liberator. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Liberator-American-newspaper
Lewis, J. J. (2016, February 01). About Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Canadian & American Abolitionist. Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/mary-ann-shadd-cary-biography-3528271
Mary Ann Shadd. (2011, September 24). Retrieved November 28, 2018, from http://blackhistorycanada.ca/profiles.php?themeid=20&id=5
Mary Ann Shadd Cary. (2013, January 16). Retrieved November 27, 2018, from http://www.womeninhistoryohio.com/mary-ann-shadd-cary.html
Mary Ann Shadd. (2015, July 14). Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mary-ann-shadd
Mary Ann Shadd Cary. (2017, May 12). Retrieved November 28, from https://www.biography.com/people/mary-ann-shadd-cary-214141
Specia, M. (2018, June 07). Overlooked No More: How Mary Ann Shadd Cary Shook Up the Abolitionist Movement. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/obituaries/mary-ann-shadd-cary-abolitionist-overlooked.html
The Provincial Freeman. (2013, February 01). Retrieved November 30, 2018, from http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/ProvincialFreeman.html