Mary Ann Shadd Cary has been commemorated with federal, provincial, and municipal plaques located in Chatham, Windsor, and Toronto as well as Washington, DC, murals in Windsor and Philadelphia, and sculptures in Chatham and Windsor. A street and a school in Toronto have been named after her. A post office in Wilmington, Delaware bears her name. She is a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada and an inductee in the U.S. Women’s Hall of Fame. Her final home in Washington, DC is a national historic landmark.

Despite the significance of her contributions, the only image of Mary Ann Shadd Cary is a grainy, over-exposed photograph held by Library and Archives Canada. Artists across North America such as Donna Mayne, Artis Lane, Adeyemi Adegbesan, Michelle Theodore, Jermaine Baylis, Ernel Martinez, and Christy Litster have been responsible for memorable interpretations based on that single photograph, in murals, sculptures, and a Google doodle. Her character has been brought to life by numerous actresses including Windsor’s own Leslie McCurdy. But Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s vision and voice, her words and work, continue to echo through the generations, still accessible to us through her powerful writing.

Multimedia Installation: Auntie Mary Ann's Liberatory Reading Room by The Faculty of Wonderment (Irene Moore Davis, Peter J. Billing, and Blair Gagne Vaz), March 22–25.

Inspired by Her Words: A Creative Writing Workshop Based on the Words and Work of Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Saturday, March 25, 3–4:30pm with poet and educator Amina Abdulle. Please pre-register for this pay-what-you-can workshop on Eventbrite (follow Linktree in bio).

Community Connector: Poetry, Storytelling, and Music. Saturday, March 25, 5–7pm with City of Windsor Multicultural Community Storyteller Teajai Travis and featuring DJ Lamar Nelson.