Bibb, Mary and Henry National Historic Persons
Windsor, Ontario
Engraving of Henry Bibb, 1850
(© University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library | Bibliothèque Historique Bentley de l'Université du Michigan / P.H. Reason / HS5230)
Address :
Windsor, Ontario
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
2002-11-01
Life Date:
1820 to 1877
Other Name(s):
-
Mary and Henry Bibb
(Designation Name)
-
Mary Bibb
(Other Name)
-
Henry Bibb
(Other Name)
Research Report Number:
2002-22
Importance:
Influenced the development of the African Canadian community through their newspaper, "Voice of the Fugitive"
Plaque(s)
Approved Inscription: Ontario
Arriving as refugees from enslavement in the United States, Mary and Henry Bibb fought all their lives to improve the well-being of the African Canadian community. A year after they settled in Sandwich in 1850, they founded a militant abolitionist newspaper, Voice of the Fugitive. Facing discrimination in the public school system, they established their own schools to improve the education of Black children and adults. These achievements and their involvement in the organization of the North American Convention of Colored Freemen in 1851 made the Bibbs one of the colony’s most influential couples of African descent.