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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PROVINCIAL FREEMAN OFFICE WHERE JOHN BROWN STAYED IN CHATHAM, CANADA; MARY ANNE SHADD CARY HOUSE IN WASHINGTON D.C.; THE SITE OF THE JOHN BROWN CHATHAM CONVENTION WHERE THE ABOLITIONIST FIRST REPORTED HIS PLAN TO START A SLAVE INSURRECTION IN THE U.S. SOUTH.
THE PROMISED LAND At the convention in Toronto, Mary Ann met Henry Bibb, probably the most famous fugitive slave in Canada. T e year before, his slave narrative had met with perhaps the greatest success since Frederick Douglass’s narrative, and it led him to move to Windsor, Canada, just over the border from Detroit and the fi rst stop for many fugitive slaves. Earlier that year, he had started his newspaper, T e Voice of the Fugitive, and an ambitious project, the Refugee Home Society, that off ered plots of land to fugitive slaves. He persuaded Mary Ann to come to Windsor to help them.8 Mary Ann decided to open a
school. Her optimism and enthusiasm did not prepare her for the struggles she was about to face, and from this point onward, her life would be a never-ending battle against prejudice, injustice, and deceit. Fortunately, many of her family members had moved to Canada along with her father and mother, who purchased a
homestead in Buxton. In 1850 West Canada, which
became Ontario in 1867, passed the Common Schools Act. T is law forbid black students from attending white schools unless no other school was provided. Mary Ann was unaware of the racism that had been growing with the infl ux of blacks into Canada. Despite support from Bibb when she opened her school, she faced fi nancial diffi culty. Black families could not aff ord the tuition. Consequently, she made an appeal for funding to the American Missionary Association (AMA). Connections that she had made through her father assisted her in obtaining a grant of $125.9 However, disenchantment with
Mary Ann grew in Windsor. T ough the historical record is vague, it appears that her association with white missionary Alexander McArthur was a factor. T e source of the discord may have been Bibb’s Refugee Home Society (RHS), which shepherded
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
the transition of fugitive slaves into Canadian life and depended primar- ily on contributions from benefac- tors. Mary Ann and Rev. McArthur believed that once fugitive slaves had received their initial assistance, they needed to rely on their own initiative to make a new life. T is confl icted with the dependency that was fostered by the RHS. Mary Ann also wrote letters to the AMA and T e Liberator claiming that Bibb had used funding for his own benefi t. Meanwhile, she continued to have fi nancial diffi culties and closed her school. Bibb, she felt, was behind this.10 Mary Ann’s resentment toward
Bibb continued with her publication of “Notes of Canada West,” a 44-page
MCCA.COM
Image courtesy of the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum.
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