Who was the first woman publisher in Canada, who founded The Provincial Freeman in 1853?
- Agnes Macphail
- Emily Carr
- Laura Secord
- Mary Ann (Shadd) Carey
Answer: Mary Ann (Shadd) Carey
Mary Ann (Shadd) Carey was an outspoken activist against slavery in the United States. In 1853 she became the first woman publisher in Canada when she helped found and edit The Provincial Freeman. This weekly paper supported the end of slavery, black immigration to Canada, temperance and British rule.
Learn more: Ending slavery
- The first movement to abolish the transatlantic slave trade began in the British Parliament in the late 1700s.
- In 1793 Upper Canada, led by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, became the first province in the Empire to move toward abolishing slavery.
- Simcoe, a Loyalist military officer, was Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor and founded the City of York (now Toronto).
- In 1807 the British Parliament banned the buying and selling of slaves.
- In 1833 Britain abolished slavery throughout the Empire.
- Thousands of slaves escaped from the United States, followed “the North Star” and settled in Canada through the Underground Railroad, a Christian anti-slavery network.
- Mary Ann (Shadd) Carey, an anti-slavery activist, became the first woman publisher in Canada in 1853. She helped found and edit The Provincial Freeman, a weekly newspaper.