MARY ANN SHADD-CARY AND THE PROVINCIAL FREEMAN

Murphy Browne © March 22-2018


MARY ANN SHADD-CARY AND THE PROVINCIAL FREEMAN


On March 24, 1853 “The Provincial Freeman” a weekly newspaper published by African Canadian Mary Ann Shadd Cary was first printed. Shadd Cary became the first African Canadian female newspaper publisher in Canada when she founded and edited “The Provincial Freeman” in 1853. Her name did not appear as the editor of the newspaper because of the accepted sexism of the time in which she lived. The motto of “The Provincial Freeman” was “Self-Reliance Is the True Road to Independence.” The newspaper was co-edited by formerly enslaved African Samuel Ringgold Ward. Ward (October 17, 1817 – c. 1866) had escaped enslavement as a three year old in 1820 when his family fled from Maryland and lived in Greenwich, New Jersey until 1826 before moving to New York. Ward was apparently an activist from an early age as it is noted that “in 1834 when he was 17 Ward was attacked by a pro-slavery mob in New York and was temporarily jailed.”


In his “Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro: his anti-slavery labours in the United States, Canada and England” published in 1855 Ward noted that on July 7, 1834 “For the crime of being publicly assaulted by several white persons, I was locked up in the watchhouse throughout the night.” On April 5, 1850 Ward gave a speech at Faneuil Hall in Boston “attacking” the “Fugitive Slave Bill.” Ward reportedly said during his speech: “This is the question, Whether a man has a right to himself and his children, his hopes and his happiness, for this world and the world to come. That is a question which, according to this bill, may be decided by any backwoods postmaster in this State or any other. Oh, this is a monstrous proposition; and I do thank God that if the Slave Power has such demands to make on us, that the proposition has come now—now, that the people know what is being done—now that the public mind is turned toward this subject—now that they are trying to find what is the truth on this subject.” Like Shadd Cary, Ward was unapologetically outspoken against the enslavement of Africans. Ward left Canada to travel to the UK in April 1853 seeking to raise funds to help enslaved Africans fleeing from the US who were “then pouring into Canada West.” Ward remained in Britain until 1855 when he was offered 50 acres of land in Jamaica. He travelled to Kingston, Jamaica late in 1855 with his family to take up the generous land offer. Ward transitioned to the ancestral realm in 1866 in Jamaica.



“The Provincial Freeman” survived until 1857 published from various locations in Ontario. It was first published in Windsor (1853–1854,) Toronto (1854–1855) and Chatham (1855–1857.) The newspaper was closed with issue number 49, published on August 22, 1857. During the life of the “The Provincial Freeman” Shadd Cary encouraged emigration to Canada by publicizing the success of African Canadians living in freedom in Canada. Slavery in Canada had been abolished 16 years (August 1, 1834) before the US passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 which put even the freedom of African Americans living in Free states at risk. “The Provincial Freeman” was noted for “its militant editorial policy.” One description was that the: “paper's tone -- toward Uncle Tom's Cabin and white America generally -- was a lot more aggressively critical than most African Americans living in the North at this time, including Frederick Douglass, allowed themselves to be.”



Following the closing of “The Provincial Freeman” Shadd Cary returned to the USA during the Civil War. She was hired by Martin Robison Delany to recruit African American men as soldiers during the Civil War. Martin Robison Delany was the only African American who received the rank of Major during the Civil War. Shadd Cary eventually attended Howard University School of Law and graduated as a lawyer in 1883.



Mary Ann Shadd Cary transitioned to the ancestral realm on June 5, 1893 in Washington, DC. She is remembered as a pioneering newspaper editor, abolitionist, educator, lawyer, feminist and suffragist. The Mary Ann Shadd Cary House (where she lived from 1881 to 1885) located at 1421 W Street, NW in Washington, DC. was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 8, 1976 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987 Mary Ann Shadd was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project, an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. She was honoured by Canada, as a Person of National Historic Significance on November 24, 1994. The Mary Shadd Public School at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) located at 135 Hupfield Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada opened in 1985. The Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8 public school named in honour of Shadd Cary has as its student population “18 nationalities where 76% of the students speak another language as well as English” but does not have an African Heritage class as part of its International Languages Program.


I found it interesting that of the four schools (451 elementary schools) where the African Heritage Program at the TDSB languishes, neither of the two schools named in honour of Africans (Mary Ann Shadd PS and Nelson Mandela Park PS) has an African Heritage Program. We are still within the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) with the theme “Recognition, Justice and Development” and where Member States (including Canada) are encouraged: “to strengthen actions and measures to ensure the full realization of the economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights of people of African descent, and their full and equal participation in society.” One hundred and sixty five years ago on March 24, 1853 Mary Ann Shadd Cary first published “The Provincial Freeman” and in March 2018 we still have need for our own newspapers.


Murphy Browne © March 22-2018