Mary Ann Shadd

As you have probably noticed by the title of this entry I will be talking about the life of an amazing African-Canadian named Mary Ann Shadd. Mary Ann Shadd was born on October 9, 1893. She was born a free woman and was known as a rebel from a very early age. In 1850 her determination to make Canada an integrated country really showed. It during this year that Mary Ann Shadd moved to Canada and opened the first integrated school. The school was in an old abandoned army building called "The Old Barracks". It cost students $0.37 to go to this school.

Another first that Mary Ann accomplished was being the first female publisher in North America. She was the publisher of Provincial Freeman. It was an abolitionist news paper.

Mary Ann Shadd did one more amazing thing before she died on June 5, 1893. She was the first woman to enroll in Howard University. The only problem was that ,since she was a woman the university wouldn't let her graduate until 9 years after she had completed all of her courses! Today this would probably never happen! It really shows how much our world has changed.

There were many remarkable African-Canadians during and before Mary Ann Shadd's time and there are still many today. In my eyes though Mary Ann Shadd was one of the most remarkable. She did things that many people in that time thought were impossible. She is truly an inspiration.

If you want to know where I got my information you can check out these websites.

BCCNS- Mary Ann Shadd, Wikipedia and Breaking the Ice-The Mary Ann Shadd Story