Toronto District School Board
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Mary Shadd Public School

School History

Mary Ann Shadd (1823 – 1893) was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Her parents helped Black slaves escape, and Mary's home was a station on the Underground Railroad. Mary taught in schools for Black youth in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. During this time, she also wrote articles for the North Star, an Anti-Slavery newspaper. She founded the newspaper Provincial Freeman, making her the first Black woman editor and publisher of a newspaper in North America.