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PRINTER'S NO. 1322
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 186
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY SCOTT, SANCHEZ, FREEMAN, GUENST, VENKAT, MALAGARI,
K.HARRIS, HOHENSTEIN AND RABB, APRIL 9, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, APRIL 9, 2025
A RESOLUTION
Designating October 9, 2025, as "Mary Ann Shadd Cary Day" in
Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an abolitionist, educator
and lawyer who was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 9,
1823; and
WHEREAS, Shadd Cary helped establish schools for Black youths
in multiple cities and taught in New York City, as well as West
Chester and Norristown, Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, During her lifetime, Shadd Cary helped enslaved
people escape slavery through the Underground Railroad; and
WHEREAS, After the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law,
which made it illegal for anyone to help enslaved persons escape
slavery, Shadd Cary moved to Ontario, Canada, but she remained
an important activist for abolition in America; and
WHEREAS, In 1853, Mary Ann Shadd Cary became the first Black
female newspaper publisher in North America when she founded The
Provincial Freeman; and
WHEREAS, The Provincial Freeman was an antislavery newspaper
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with the motto "self-reliance is the true road to independence"
that publicized the successes of formerly enslaved persons and
encouraged Black Americans to insist on equal treatment and for
slaves to travel north for freedom; and
WHEREAS, Shadd Cary personally smuggled copies of The
Provincial Freeman into the United States so that the paper's
message could be spread as far as possible; and
WHEREAS, Shadd Cary was an important advocate within the
anti-slavery movement who, in her fight for equality in society,
demanded action from her peers, such as Frederick Douglass; and
WHEREAS, Throughout the 1850s, Shadd Cary toured the United
States, speaking not only for the end of slavery but for full
legal, economic and social equality for all Black Americans; and
WHEREAS, In 1874, Shadd Cary advocated for women's suffrage
as she addressed the Congress of the United States on her
support for the right for women to vote; and
WHEREAS, Throughout her life, Shadd Cary was a strong female
leader who helped break down barriers in her world, and the
change she fought for continues to persist to this day;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate October
9, 2025, as "Mary Ann Shadd Cary Day" in Pennsylvania; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the life
and accomplishments of Mary Ann Shadd Cary.
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