1833 – Birth of Mary Ann Shadd Cary

On June 3, 1833, Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She would go on to become the first Black woman publisher in North America and one of the first Black female lawyers in the United States. After the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850, Shadd Cary moved to Canada and founded The Provincial Freeman, an anti-slavery newspaper advocating for Black self-reliance and abolition. She later returned to the U.S., earning a law degree from Howard University at age 60 and becoming active in the women’s suffrage movement. Her life exemplifies cross-border Black activism and the intellectual leadership of Black women in the 19th century. June 3 commemorates her birth and reminds us of the importance of literacy, legal rights, and the pen as a weapon in the fight for freedom.