What the World thought of Mary Ann Shadd

When I was doing my original EOTO research on Mary Ann Shadd, I was immediately impressed and inspired. This woman did so much for the time period she was in. She was a black woman who had everything stacked against her, yet she persevered and became the first African American woman to publish and edit a weekly newspaper. 

So why is there almost nothing written about her in that time period? When I was first searching the databases that were given to us in class, I could find no primary resources from the time Shadd was alive. The only primary sources I could find were ones from the last fifty years. 

This indicated to me the true importance of Shadd's life work. She knew the true values and morals that should have been instilled in everyone. She lived her life according to what she knew was right and never stopped her work according to what anyone else thought. 

The general public did not like that Shadd was outspoken. That is probably why her voice was silenced from the other papers. They did not like that she was trying to free black people and get them to move to a less oppressed place. Shadd also wrote under a pen name that would have made her unrecognizable by the general public. 

Through all of my searching, I was able to find one primary source from the time Mary Ann Shadd was alive. I found this source on Gale Primary Sources.  It was from the Liberator magazine that was based out of Boston, Massachusetts. The Liberator was William Loyd Garrison's daily newspaper and much like Shadd's paper, it wanted to end slavery. The article I found was published on Friday April 28th, 1854. 

The Liberator Magazine from April 28th, 1854

The article published about Shadd was about her newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. The short three paragraphs act as an informational blurb about the paper. It wishes the paper good luck because of its work to help Canada's colored people. 

It mentions a lot of names, before it briefly mentions Shadd at the end stating that "in the absence of Mr. Ward, who has not yet returned from his European mission, Miss Mary Ann Shadd acts as his pro tem." 

Basically, the article gives every major credit it can to everyone but Shadd, which is very disappointing. Now, we look back on The Provincial Freeman and the only name that pops up is Shadd. Nobody liked that she was an African American woman doing something that was not standard back in the day. 

Even though there are no primary sources that document it, I am sure that Shadd's involvement in the paper was controversial. Her paper was even shut down shortly after it opened, because it was so unpopular. The best way to punish someone for being controversial, is to just leave them out of history altogether. 

Shadd statue in Chatham, Canada

Another reason why I assume it is hard to find Mary Ann Shadd in primary sources, is because her paper only laster a little under ten years. She wrote in a time where it was easy to get hated, but hard to get true exposure for good work. She would have had to rely on other Black newspapers, who unfortunately were probably also sexist. 

I am surprised that I can't find any primary sources from the days that she spoke at the national black convention or from any other good work that she did. I have to assume that the world just wasn't ready for her. I also hope that I am just searching the wrong databases. I don't like that fact that Shadd did so much good in her life and yet there is almost nothing written about her during the time she lived. 

There are, however, a lot of primary sources from Shadd herself. From those, we can see just how special she was and her true vision for African American's across the globe. She was a helper, abolitionist, and a truly good person wanting to enact change. 

I am glad that history finally caught up and now a lot of people talk about how influential Shadd was and the good work she did helping people from all sectors of life.