Carleton University’s journalism faculty launched its first-ever lecture series named after a woman this week.
The Annual Mary Ann Shadd Cary Lecture Series: Voices of Change in Canadian Journalism will feature women and non-binary journalists from historically underrepresented and misrepresented communities.
The inaugural lecture, held at Richcraft Hall Monday, featured keynote speaker Camille Dundas, a Carleton journalism alumna and co-founder and editor-in-chief of ByBlacks.com, a digital magazine dedicated to amplifying Black Canadian voices.
For Dundas, journalism isn’t just storytelling — it’s community building.
“We are in a time of resistance,” Dundas said during her lecture. “We must resist, and if you cannot resist, at least don’t get in the way of those who will.”
Mary Ann Shadd Cary made history as the first Black female publisher in North America and the first female publisher in Canada. She founded The Provincial Freeman newspaper in 1853, advocating for equality at a time when Black women were often excluded from public life.
“She was a leader. She was a forward thinker who believed in a cause and wanted to make a change, and she provided a platform for those marginalized voices,” said Shannon Prince, the curator of the Buxton National Historic Site and a direct descendant of Shadd Cary.
“It’s about the spirit, the courage and the dedication to getting stories out when there are many barriers between you and publication,” she said.
For Adrienne Shadd, a historian, author, and also a direct descendant of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the lecture was empowering.
“As a Black person, I don’t want to be erased by our society. I want to proclaim our accomplishments, that we have been here for hundreds of years, and that we have contributed to this society.”
“Your legacy is like your personal brand — it’s the things that people say about you when you are not in the room. I cannot control what my legacy would be, but I can control what I’m doing today.”
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Featured image by Lazourd Alnashed/the Charlatan.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated. A previous version of this story misstated Camille Dundas’s role with ByBlacks.com. Incorrect information was supplied to the Charlatan.
