Google honors newspaper publisher Mary Ann Shadd Cary with new Doodle


Google pays homage to newspaper publisher and abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd Cary with a new Doodle on Friday. Image courtesy of Google

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating American-Canadian newspaper editor and publisher, journalist, teacher, lawyer, abolitionist and suffragist Mary Ann Shadd Cary with a new Doodle on what would have been her 197th birthday.

Shadd Cary was the first Black female newspaper editor and publisher in North America and the second Black woman to earn a law degree in the United States. She is also a pioneer in the fight for abolition and women's suffrage.

Shadd Cary was born in 1823 to abolitionist parents who used their home for the Underground Railroad to assist escaped slaves. The Shadd family then moved to Canada following the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

She then launched in 1853 her newspaper titled The Provincial Freemen. The weekly Black publication was tailored to escaped slaves.

Canada named Shadd Cary a Person of National Historic Significance in 1994.

Google's homepage features artwork of Shadd Cary writing next to stacks of newspapers from Canada-based artist Michelle Theodore.