Mary Ann Shadd Cary, American-Canadian abolitionist, honored in Google Doodle

Google is paying tribute Friday to the first Black female newspaper editor and publisher in North America.

The company’s search logo honors Mary Ann Shadd Cary, an abolitionist, teacher, and the second Black woman to earn a law degree in the United States.

The logo depicts Shadd Cary standing in front of a table writing in a book with stacks of newspapers behind her. The ties binding bundles of newspapers form the Google logo.

According to a biography published by Google, Shadd Cary was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on Oct. 9, 1823. Her parents were abolitionists whose home served as a station for the Underground Railroad to help escaped slaves.

In 1850, her family moved to Canada after the U.S. passed the Fugitive Slave Act. Three years later, Shadd Cary launched her newspaper The Provincial Freemen, a weekly Black publication.

She married and moved back to the U.S. In 1883, she earned her law degree from Howard University.

“I hope people will look at this illustration of a remarkable Black woman from the 1800s and feel inspired by what she was able to accomplish against all odds as an editor, educator, and activist,” said Michelle Theodore, a Canadian artist who drew Friday’s doodle honoring Shadd Cary, in a statement.

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