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. 

EOTO: PRESENTATIONS

 As much as I love researching my own EOTO person, I have a special place in my heart for presentation week. I was in quarantine during presentation week, so I couldn't hear that well. However, I was able to digest some very interesting information about journalism heroes that I never knew before.                                                                                                     

                                                                Britannica
Jane Cunningham Croly 

 Emma Ralls presented on Jane Cunningham Croly, an influential woman that I have unfortunately never heard of. She lived during the 1800s and decided to move to New York to pursue a career in journalism at age 25. 

She was rejected many times and when she was finally hired she had to write under a pseudonym. Croly is credited with creating the first woman's page in a newspaper. She also founded the Women's Press Club of New York and became the first president of it.

I am so inspired by someone that lived hundreds of years ago, it is insane. She was a woman in a true man's world just trying to do something she loved and she kept at it after being rejected many times. 

Even when she was hired, she couldn't reveal her true identity because it was dangerous. Learning about an influential journalist who was a woman inspires me to do better at whatever    I decide to do later down the road.                                                             

 Riley Manion presented on Benjamin Franklin. I did not think that facts about Benjamin Franklin could surprise me much, but boy I was wrong. 

I did not know that he was one of 17 children and that his education ended at the mere age of 10! That is insane to me, considering how he is still thought of as one of the smartest Americans to live. One of the main takeaways from Riley's presentation was that Franklin did a lot of different things in his life. He was an advocate for freedom, a journalist, scientist, and so much more.

 I think that as the years have gone on, we as a people have lost our imagination. We tend to only focus on one career, yet forget that the greatest people in history had many. I needed that reminder in class and Riley's presentation gave it to me. 

                                                   Baylor
Benjamin Franklin

I loved EOTO presentation week and learned a lot. I can't wait to read other student's blog posts on EOTO week and learn even more about great journalism heroes. 

EOTO: Mary Ann Shadd

 I always love EOTO week in Professor Smith's class. It gives everyone an opportunity to learn about new people and delve deeper into the world of journalism. This week, we had to pick a journalism hero from history and research them. I love a real strong women and I was instantly drawn to Mary Ann Shadd.  Shadd is a true North American hero in all the senses- she was brave, unapologetic, and influential. 

                                        Wikipedia 
Mary Ann Shadd

 Mary Ann Shadd was born on October 9th, 1823 as the eldest of 13 children to free parents in Wilmington, Delaware. Her family was involved in the Underground Railroad and helped numerous people flee northward to achieve freedom. Ever since she was born, Shadd had always been passionate about helping people and being a strong advocate for basic human rights. 

 In 1853, Shadd became the first black woman to publish and edit a weekly newspaper in all of North America. The paper was called The Provincial Freeman and it was devoted to displaced Americans living in Canada. Shadd focused her articles on successful black men and women living in Canada in an effort to convince people to migrate there. The paper's motto was "self-reliance is the true road to independence". The paper was published in Windsor, Toronto, and Chatham. Shadd never took credit for her work in the paper and her name was never listed. She knew people would be outraged if they learned a woman was behind the work in the paper. However, this viewpoint was increasingly unpopular at the time. People did not want to read anti-slavery sentiments and the paper lasted less than ten years before it went bankrupt and shut down. 

Copy of Shadd's paper 

After the paper shut down, Shadd went back to the United States during the Civil War. She was an amazing advocate for racial equality and never backed down from the fight. She was the first woman to attend and speak at the Philadelphia Colored Convention. She was unpopular when she first walked in, but her speech on emigration was so well-received that the convention gave her more time to speak. During the Civil War, Shadd worked in Indiana recruiting black men in the Union Army. 

 After the war was over, Shadd decided to be a teacher for a little while. She established and taught in schools in the United States and Canada. Some of the places she taught in were Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and West Chester. Access to education for all people was very important to her. 

                                                                        Google Images
    Mary Ann Shadd pictured above

Shadd never gave up on advocating for the people that needed her. She became the first black woman to enroll at Howard University Law School. She graduated alongside three other women and she was the only black woman of her graduating class. She set a very important precedent not only for black women, but for all women. Everyone, no matter their gender or race deserves to have an amazing education. 

 Shadd went on to fight for women's suffrage alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She testified before Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives and tried to register to vote. Although she was unsuccessful, it was a testament to her fierce advocacy. Shadd died in 1893 of stomach cancer, but her shining legacy as a journalist, abolitionist and advocate to those in need lives on. 

   

    

My Political Meme

Creating my own political meme in class was so much fun. At first, I didn't know what I wanted to do, because there were so many options. I was thinking about doing an actual cartoon, but my creative juices were not flowing in that department today. 

I get nervous when displaying my political voice so overtly that it makes me shut down. However, I think that the trick is to purely look at political situations through a journalistic viewpoint. This ensures that the work is honest. 

As a class we started looking at memes and I got super inspired. I wanted mine to be straight and to the point. Instead of making a meme about a historical event of the past, I decided to make one about what we are facing right now as a country. 

I used a meme generator website to make my meme. It is an amazing website for anyone wanting to make memes, but don't know how to make them from scratch. This website has multiple base images to choose from and plenty of examples to consult. 

 In class the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about free speech and the implications of big companies censoring citizens. The biggest culprits in this censorship have been Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter so I decided to put them all in my meme. 

My meme is pretty self explanatory and the overall message is that these big companies only allow the facade of free speech as long as it is to their advantage. I think it is pretty funny and a hard truth that everyone has to realize going forwards. Just because you only see one viewpoint on social media, that doesn't mean others don't exist. These billionaires have the power to silence so many people and they can get away with it.           

Censorship in the Mainstream Media

These are scary times to live through as a journalist or even just as an American citizen. We pride ourselves on being the land of the free and the first amendment. However, is this nation going down a dark path where freedom of speech is no longer a valued right? 

Just recently, Twitter banned President Trump from using their app. They completely dismantled his account and he was silenced from talking to the people of the United States. When Trump moved on to Parler, Amazon and the App Store took the steps to shut the app down completely. One can make the argument that Twitter and Amazon are private companies so they can do what they want. However, silencing the most powerful person in the country is a dangerous precedent to set. Essentially these businessmen are telling the world that they single-handedly have the power to influence politics and public opinion on any issue. Nobody should have this much power and use it to influence politics in this nation. There is a reason checks and balances are a thing in the government. It seems like there was a checks and balances law conveniently left out for these oligarchic businesses. 

The sad fact is that a lot of people consume their daily news from Social Media sites. How can anyone trust what is being said when it is a known fact that they censor opinions and viewpoints that they don't like or disagree with? They may have the advantage of controlling the political dialogue but they might be doing the country a greater disservice. People are smart enough to be weary of the information being thrown at them. Twitter and other companies have blatantly silenced the voices of so many people, censoring half the country. Citizens living in a free country hate nothing more than being silenced and fill fight to have their voices heard. What will happen when eventually, nobody trusts the mainstream media at all?

Julian Assange: Hero or Traitor?

Is Julian Assange guilty of all of the charges against him? The Australian citizen is currently facing a plethora of charges against him. The 49 year old is currently dying in prison and it was widely believed that President Trump was his last hope. However, Trump did not pardon Assange before leaving office and his fate is now in the hands of corrupt law enforcement. Let's take a deep dive into the career of Julian Assange in order to properly come to the conclusion of whether or not he is a patriotic hero of the public or a traitor who deserves prosecution. 

Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 which is a company that leaks classified information to the public under anonymous sources. This company took off but Assange soon found himself in a lot of trouble. In April 2010, WikiLeaks released a video of a United States airstrike on innocent civilians in Baghdad. Later that year, thousands of documents were released that were secret U.S. military reports on the Afghanistan war and blunt analysis's of foreign leaders and security threats. This greatly angered the United States and set a target on his back. 

Julian Assange

In 2016, Assange angered the United States once again. At this point he has already been granted political asylum by Ecuador. Just months before a major election, he released thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. WikiLeaks also released emails from Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta, and the Democratic National Committee. This was a big deal because the whole world was watching and any incriminating information on a presidential candidate had great power. The Democrats blamed and still harbor resentment toward Assange because they believe that he caused Hillary Clinton to lose the 2016 election. Assange claims to have had no desire to influence the outcome of the election and says that if he had information on Donald Trump, he would've released it. 

Flash forward to today and Assange is still facing harsh repercussions for his actions. He is facing up to 175 years in jail for releasing information on the United States. It is challenging to determine whether to not Assange deserves everything happening to him. The matter is increasingly controversial. On one hand, Assange is leaking classified information that was deemed classified for a reason. Many believe that some of the information was incriminating and could've compromised United States citizens. On the other hand, the general public believes that they have the right to know what their elected officials are doing. They see his trial as a threat to all journalists and believe that he should be released. 

The United States is currently trying to have Assange expedited to U.S. soil from the United Kingdom. On January 4th, a British judge turned down the request to have him expedited. This is an ongoing war that will likely not be resolved soon because there are too many powerful players on each side. If Assange is convicted, many journalists are fearful of what that means for the future of the career. 

Regardless of the outcome, everyone should be following this case closely. The United States has always been regarded as the land of the free, however this case questions that ideal. It has always been the job of the people to keep their government in check. When there happens to be a brave citizen that takes on that challenge, it is controversial because of the labels the government has put on the information. The question is whether to not citizens have a right to know what their government is up to. Julian Assange is a hero in my eyes for having true loyalty to the people.