HR 186 — A Resolution designating October 9, 2025, as "Mary Ann Shadd Cary Day" in Pennsylvania.

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
 1   Designating October 9, 2025, as "Mary Ann Shadd Cary Day" in
 2      Pennsylvania.
 3      WHEREAS, Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an abolitionist, educator
 4   and lawyer who was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 9,
 5   1823; and
 6      WHEREAS, Shadd Cary helped establish schools for Black youths
 7   in multiple cities and taught in New York City, as well as West
 8   Chester and Norristown, Pennsylvania; and
 9      WHEREAS, During her lifetime, Shadd Cary helped enslaved
10   people escape slavery through the Underground Railroad; and
11      WHEREAS, After the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law,
12   which made it illegal for anyone to help enslaved persons escape
13   slavery, Shadd Cary moved to Ontario, Canada, but she remained
14   an important activist for abolition in America; and
15      WHEREAS, In 1853, Mary Ann Shadd Cary became the first Black
16   female newspaper publisher in North America when she founded The
17   Provincial Freeman; and
18      WHEREAS, The Provincial Freeman was an antislavery newspaper
 1   with the motto "self-reliance is the true road to independence"
 2   that publicized the successes of formerly enslaved persons and
 3   encouraged Black Americans to insist on equal treatment and for
 4   slaves to travel north for freedom; and
 5      WHEREAS, Shadd Cary personally smuggled copies of The
 6   Provincial Freeman into the United States so that the paper's
 7   message could be spread as far as possible; and
 8      WHEREAS, Shadd Cary was an important advocate within the
 9   anti-slavery movement who, in her fight for equality in society,
10   demanded action from her peers, such as Frederick Douglass; and
11      WHEREAS, Throughout the 1850s, Shadd Cary toured the United
12   States, speaking not only for the end of slavery but for full
13   legal, economic and social equality for all Black Americans; and
14      WHEREAS, In 1874, Shadd Cary advocated for women's suffrage
15   as she addressed the Congress of the United States on her
16   support for the right for women to vote; and
17      WHEREAS, Throughout her life, Shadd Cary was a strong female
18   leader who helped break down barriers in her world, and the
19   change she fought for continues to persist to this day;
20   therefore be it
21      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate October
22   9, 2025, as "Mary Ann Shadd Cary Day" in Pennsylvania; and be it
23   further
24      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the life
25   and accomplishments of Mary Ann Shadd Cary.




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