She was the first woman in Canada to publish a newspaper, but many don’t know her story. A movement is underway to change that

by Reanna Julien Staff Reporter via https://www-thestar-com.cdn.ampproject.org/

It wasn’t until Nana aba Duncan was well into her journalism career that she first learned about Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Now, the former CBC host and current associate professor and Carty Chair in journalism, diversity and inclusion studies at Carleton University, makes it a point to include this historical figure in every course she teaches.

That’s because Shadd Cary was the first woman — not to mention Black woman — to publish a newspaper in North America. Born Oct. 9, 1823, in Wilmington, Delaware, she was also an American-Canadian teacher, lawyer, journalist and abolitionist.

Duncan teaches students about Shadd Cary to emphasize that there should be a space for racialized people in journalism. As a journalist of colour herself, she says that not learning about people like Shadd Cary contributes to the belief that…

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