Abolitionist, Educator, and Publisher
1823-1893
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born in Delaware to abolitionist parents. She moved to Pennsylvania at the age of 10, where she attended school and became a teacher. Active in the Underground Railroad, she and her family moved to Ontario in the 1850s after the passage of the Slave Fugitive Act. Shadd Cary became the first Black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada, founding and editing The Provincial Freeman in 1853. She also established a racially integrated school for Black refugees in Windsor, Canada.
Smith’s efforts laid the foundation for modern children’s library services, leaving a lasting impact on Toronto’s library system and the countless readers whose lives have been enriched by the libraries she helped shape.
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The 52: Stories of Women Who Transformed Toronto