[Music] in an era when the voices of African Americans were rarely heard Marianne shat Carrie spoke out to Champion the cause of freedom Marianne was born in Wilmington Delaware in 1823 to parents who helped enslaved people escape in the secret Network called the Underground Railroad from a young age she was a supporter of the anti-slavery movement but she was frustrated at the lack of progress made by its leaders in her 20s Marianne wrote a letter to American abolitionist Frederick Douglass sta
ting that to improve the lives of black Americans we should do more and talk less Douglas published the letter in his prominent anti-slavery newspaper the North Star in 1850 Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act making it illegal to help someone who had escaped from slavery the law also made it easier for slave catchers to capture free black Americans and sell them into slavery as free black Americans and supporters of the Underground Railroad Marianne and her family feared for their safety so
they moved to Ontario Canada but Marianne did not give up her activism in 1853 she founded Canada's first anti-slavery newspaper the provincial Freeman she advocated for full legal economic and social equality for black Americans and smuggled her paper into the United States to spread her message she also encouraged other black Americans to leave for their own safety this was a controversial position in the Abolitionist Movement and made Marianne an outlier among her peers with the outbreak of t
he Civil War Marianne moved back to the U.S and worked as a recruiting officer enlisting black soldiers and helping to secure a victory for the Union after the Civil War ended she advocated for the rights of African Americans and marginalized groups for the rest of her life Marianne Shad Carey exemplified the critical role black women played in the fight for freedom and equality what do you think we should do more and talk less about today [Music] [Music]
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