Canada Post announced this week a new stamp to celebrate Black History Month.
The stamp features Mary Ann Shadd, an abolitionist, educator, newspaper publisher and lawyer who fought for the rights of Black people and women.
Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Shadd helped open a racially integrated school in Windsor, Ontario in 1851 that supported families fleeing enslavement in the United States.
She was not only the first Black woman, but the first woman, to publish and edit a newspaper in Canada. The newspaper, The Provincial Freeman, advocated for the advancement and equality of Black people while promoting Canada as a place for Black people to settle and raise families.
When she moved back to the U.S. in 1863 she became the second Black American woman to obtain a law degree.
Shadd’s father, Abraham Doras Shadd, was featured on Canada Post’s first Black History Month stamp in 2009 for his involvement in the Underground Railroad. Outside of the Royal Family, it is believed this is the first time in Canadian postal history that a father and daughter have each appeared on a stamp, according to the Canada Post.
You can purchase the stamp online at canadapost.com or at a Canada Post location.
Photo credit: Carlos Osorio, CNW Group/Canada Post
