Mary Ann Shadd Cary
She was the first woman to become a publisher in Canada. Born in 1823 in Wilmington, Delaware, she escaped slavery to Canada and began teaching children of former slaves who joined her there. The newspaper she later started called The Provincial Freemen became a weekly publication for African Americans, especially escaped slaves. She also established a school that was open to children of all races but later returned to the U.S. when the Civil War broke out to assist in the war effort. In the 1870s, she became part of the suffrage movement that began fighting for women’s rights, including their right to vote. One of the first black female lawyers in the country, Cary was among a group of suffragists who testified before the House Judiciary Committee about the importance of the right to vote.
