Document Record

Creator

Cary, Mary Ann Shadd, 1823-1893, publisher, editor
Shadd, Isaac D., 1829-1896, publisher, editor
Douglass, H. Ford, editor

Title

Provincial freeman and weekly advertiser

Published

Toronto, Canada West : M.A. Shadd, Publishing Agent, [1855-1860?]

Identifier

oocihm.N_00601
N_00601

Subject

Freed persons -- Ontario -- Newspapers
Black people -- Ontario -- Newspapers
Personnes affranchies -- Ontario -- Journaux
Personnes noires -- Ontario -- Journaux
Toronto (Ont.) -- Newspapers
Chatham (Ont.) -- Newspapers
Toronto (Ont.) -- Journaux
Chatham (Ont.) -- Journaux

Document source

Electronic resource:

Notes

Caption title.
"Devoted to anti-slavery, temperance, and general literature."
"Self-Reliance is the True Road to Independence."
"... To promote emigration to Canada, [Mary Ann] Shadd publicized the successes of Black persons living in freedom in Canada through The Provincial Freeman, a weekly newspaper first printed on 24 March 1853. This made Shadd the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper, and one of the first female journalists in Canada ... Co-edited by Samuel Ringgold Ward, a well-known public speaker and escaped enslaved person living in Toronto, the paper was published from Windsor (1853-1854), Toronto (1854-1855) and Chatham (1855-1857). While Ward was listed as editor on the paper's masthead, Shadd did not list her own name, or take any credit for articles written by her, thus concealing the paper's female editorship. By 1860, the paper had succumbed to financial pressure and folded." Cf. Online, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Mary Ann Shadd article, viewed October 21, 2025.
Imprint varies: August 22, 1855- , the publication moved to Chatham, Ontario and published by Isaac Shadd, Mary Shadd's brother, due to opposition to a female being the publisher of a newspaper.
Issues reproduced: March 10, 1855-March 24, 1855; April 7, 1855-May 26, 1855; June 9, 1855-April 26, 1856; May 10, 1856-August 22, 1857; September 6, 1857-Sept. 19, 1857.
1 online resource
Began publication with Volume II, Number 1 (March 3, 1855)?
Ceased publication with Volume IV, Number 1 (S[ept. 19, 1857]) Wikipedia, Provincial Freeman (newspaper), viewed October 23, 2025. [this article states that the newspaper ceased on September 20, 1857, but it was published on Saturday's, which in 1857 was September 19]
Not published, July-August 15, October 27, December 15, 1855; January 12, August 3-November 18, December 20, 1856; January 17, May 23, 1857?
Issue for April 5, 1856 (Volume II, Number 47) incorrectly numbered Volume II, Number 74.
Issue for July 25, 1857 (Volume III, Number 46) incorrectly numbered Volume III, Number 4.
Issue for September 5, 1857 (Volume III, Number 51 incorrectly dated Sept. 6, 1857.

Collection

Newspapers
Serials: Periodicals, Annuals and Newspapers

Language

English

Persistent URL

https://n2t.net/ark:/69429/s0251fj2b98p