History: Celebrate Black History Month with the Rural Diary Project

Celebrate Black History Month and try your hand at transcribing. We suggest the Shadd Diary.

A journey into the Shadd Diary covers the years 1881-1889 and introduces the reader to a variety of fascinating individuals. Garrison is the son of Abraham Doras Shadd, the famed abolitionist and “conductor” of the Underground Railway, and brother of Mary Ann Shadd, the first black woman in North America to publish a newspaper. Garrison oversees his sons taking extended turns writing the diary, first William, then Charles, then others. You'll notice the change in hand-writing. They are fully engaged in farming and the community life of North Buxton.

The diary can be found here: https://ruraldiaries.lib.uoguelph.ca/garrison-william-shadd

We hope you'll join us!
- Erin Elizabeth Schuurs, PhD Candidate on behalf of Rural History at Guelph