Black History Month: Pioneering Black publisher a role model today

This Black History Month I found myself thinking about the experiences of pioneering journalist Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the first Black female newspaper publisher in North America.

In 1853, American-born Shadd (Shadd Cary after she married) along with a Black abolitionist and white clergyman, founded a weekly paper called the Provincial Freeman, a bold, abolitionist publication that excoriated slavery in the U.S. and sought to improve the lives of Blacks living in pre-Confederation Canada, many of whom had escaped from bondage south of the border.

To me, Shadd Cary and the Freeman embody the activist spirit that is the hallmark of any great newspaper. The idea that a publication shouldn’t just be about dutifully reporting the news of the day — but rather must stand for something, push for changes that improve society.

Shadd Cary understood this concept well. She wrote articles for the paper, printed letters to the editor from the public, took care of subscriptions, fundraised for the Freeman and more.

And her story has a wonderful Toronto connection.

Born in Wilmington, Del., in 1823, she and her family moved to Windsor (they also lived for a time in North Buxton, Ont.,) reportedly after the passing of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. The U.S. law in essence allowed the capture and return to bondage of freed Blacks and escaped slaves living in free northern states. It outlawed, with stiff punishment, the providing of assistance to escaped slaves, which Shadd’s family engaged in.

Early Canada (New France) had seen slavery as far back as the 1600s. The ghastly practice was done away with in the British Empire beginning in 1834 through 1840. Meanwhile, the U.S. wouldn’t officially abolish slavery until 1865.

So, slaves rapidly fled to Canada, many through the Underground Railroad. That’s the context in which Shadd Cary’s Provincial Freeman newspaper operated.

I decided a week ago to dig into the paper to get a sense of the stories the Freeman published. I booked an appointment and travelled up to the Archives of Ontario at the York University campus. (The newspaper is on microfilm, reel no. 40).

The first issue was published in Windsor, in March, 1853. Shadd Cary and the Freeman actively promoted Canada as a destination for escaped slaves.

“Canada, therefore, from her connection with the British Crown is legally and constitutionally in an attitude of antagonism to American slavery,” one article thundered.

“She offers and secures to the American slave, the moment he arrives here, freedom. British freedom. Impartial freedom,” the article went on to say.

But Canada (the British Parliament created the “Province of Canada” in 1840) wasn’t exactly a paradise for Blacks either. The paper harshly cautioned there were fierce proponents of slavery living here too.

It’s a disgrace, but “friendliness to slavery is to be found in this province in more forms than one. There are some parties here who practiced slave-driving in the South,” the Freeman reported.

The guilty parties included hotel keepers and steamboat owners, individuals who are defying the law that upheld the rights of Blacks in the area, the paper said.

“They love slavery as they love the gain they derived in wielding the whip over its victims,” the paper said, adding these individuals “most industriously spread and promulgate their sentiments and seek to make them prevalent.”

The Freeman proudly proclaimed that as long as racism exists, “we shall want anti-slavery labours, organization, agitation and newspapers in Canada.”

The Freeman, which also circulated in the U.S., featured updates about new arrivals and how they were fitting into the local community. One story from 1853 noted that two men, two women and six children from Kentucky had recently arrived here safely over two days.

“They express real satisfaction at the result of their first successful effort to flee from bondage. Measures are being taken by relatives and friends to get steady employment for the females,” the story stated, adding the men were going to seek work in Chatham.

Others worked with Shadd throughout her time with the Freeman and she even used her initials at one point on the masthead, likely concerned about how the public would view a woman in a senior role at a newspaper.

For a time, the Provincial Freeman also published out of Toronto on King Street E. Although a powerful voice in its day, the paper only operated for four years. Shadd resigned in 1855.

She would later leave Canada and return to the U.S., where among other things she helped recruit Black men to fight in the Union army during the Civil War, gave anti-slavery speeches, worked as a school teacher and later graduated from law school in Washington D.C. — one of the first black female U.S. law school graduates.

She died in 1893. But her name lives on. In Toronto, Mary Ann Shadd Public School in Scarborough bears her name. There’s a plaque in her honour on King St. E., near her former newspaper office.

I reached out to Toronto consultant and author Adrienne Shadd, a descendant of Shadd Cary, to ask her to describe the legacy Shadd Cary and the Provincial Freeman left.

She told me the newspaper established the fact that Black people were part of the “body politic” in this country. The Freeman was also an important champion of women’s rights, she added.

The publication showcased Black women and what they were doing at the time, their involvement in self-help groups, literary organizations. The paper said ‘hey, we Black women are doing things. We are achievers too,’ Adrienne Shadd told me.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was a fighter, a champion, she added. “She was an unusual person. Intrepid, fearless.

“I’m in awe of her because I’m the opposite. She expressed her opinions, even if they were not popular at the time. Someone has to do that to move society forward.”

As the Star’s public editor, Mary Ann Shadd Cary is certainly a role model for me.

Correction — March 2, 2023:A previous version of this column erroneously stated slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1837. In fact, the law came into force in 1834, but only for slaves below age 6. Slaves above age 6 were classified as apprentices and their servitude was slowly done away with in two stages — in 1838 and 1840.

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