Abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd Cary became the first female African American newspaper editor in North America when she started the Black newspaper The Provincial Freemen. Later in life, she became the second African American woman in the United States to earn a law degree.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born Mary Ann Shadd on October 9, 1823, in Wilmington, Delaware. The eldest of 13 children, Shadd Cary was born into a free African American family. Her father, a cobbler by day and an abolitionist by night, worked for the abolitionist newspaper called the Liberator run by famed abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison who provided help to escaped enslaved people as a member of the Underground Railroad. Shadd Cary would grow up to follow in her father’s footsteps. Along with her abolitionist activities, she became the first female African American newspaper editor in North America. The post office located at 500 Delaware Avenue, in Wilmington is named after Mary Shadd Cary.