Mary Ann Shadd Cary Statue in Windsor

A 300-pound, 5-foot, and 7-inch bronze statue of the abolitionist, journalist, publisher, teacher, suffragist, and lawyer, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, stands in the University of Windsor, away from Detroit.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) was born free to abolitionist parents who were activists in the underground railroad in the United States. At 16, after graduating from a Quaker Boarding School, she established a school for black children in East Chester and taught in several cities in New York. As a result of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the family emigrated to Canada and settled in Windsor.

She established an integrated school and wrote a pamphlet, “A Plea for Emigration; or Notes of Canada West,” reviewing the benefits and opportunities for Black immigrants in the area.

On March 24th, 1853, in Windsor, she started publishing an anti-slavery newspaper: the Provincial Freeman, becoming the first Black woman to edit and publish a newspaper in North America. It had a significant impact on the abolitionist movement and the black community.

After 11 years in Canada, she returned to the United States as a widow with her two children. During the Civil War, she helped recruit soldiers for the Union Army. After the war, she settled in Washington, DC, worked as a teacher, and took evening classes at Howard University Law School. In 1883, she became the second black woman in the US to earn a law degree. Till her death, she wrote and published articles and was active in the women’s suffrage movement.

The journey to create the statue started when the Windsor artist Donna Mayne worked on the ‘Reaching Out’ mural that recognizes Windsor’s black community. When she learned the inspiring story of Shadd, she looked for more ways to honor her legacy and started to design her statue. When the University of Windsor looked for ways to commemorate the Underground Railroad, they accepted Mayne’s proposal to commission and install a statue of Shadd. On May 12th, 2022, it was finally dedicated.

Mayne sculptured Shadd based on a photo of hers and measurements she took from Shadd’s descendants.

In her statue, Shadd has a determined look on her face; she steps forward while her skirt is pushed backward by the wind, which symbolizes the forces of discrimination she fought. Close to her heart, she holds a copy of the newspaper she established in Canada in 1853, the Provincial Freeman.

Another statue of Shadd, sculpted by her great-great niece, the Canadian artist Artis Lane, has been standing in Chatham since 2009.

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