By Catalina Giraldo, 2025/2026 Power in Place Research Collaborator
Emigrating from Colombia to the United States at a young age was supposed to be my salvation. I, like many other immigrants from Latin America, was brought to the U.S. under the promise of improved conditions, including access to higher education, financial stability, and political freedom. Most importantly, I was promised that in the U.S. I would have “a future” – a prospect that was unparalleled in any other nation – so long as I stopped dreaming of returning home. Of those promises, some were delivered while others have been explicitly refused to me, and many other immigrants, since. Just in the last year, immigrants from Latin America have been placed under a political spotlight and deemed a threat to the safety and cultural integrity of the nation. This condemnation has justified imposing harm onto this community in the form of illegal apprehensions, physical violence, family separations, and deportations – leaving many immigrants afraid to leave their homes, report crimes, or receive medical attention. Seeing the widespread support for the enactment of violence against immigrants, I have found myself rethinking that promise of a future. Similarly, I have noticed other immigrants (both first and second generation) wonder if the United States holds a safe and prosperous future for them. Many other marginalized groups share similar concerns. Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the enactment of abortion bans across several states, women with reproductive capacities have less control over their bodies and face greater challenges to their health and well-being. Simultaneously, Black and Brown people who have experienced systemic violence at the hands of police officers have to wonder if the United States could one day bring an end to the police state in order to deliver justice and safety to their communities.
This, however, is not the first time when people have found themselves at a crossroads: pushed by systemic dehumanization and political turmoil to reimagine their future. While deciphering my vision for the future, I began researching the life and works of Mary Ann Shadd Cary: a writer, educator, and community organizer in the mid-to-late 19th century. Through her work as the chief editor of the Provincial Freeman and her role as an organizer for women’s suffrage, Mary Ann Shadd Cary challenged unjust systems to expand the possibilities for both people of color and women. Her vision of freedom would not only lead her to migrate across the U.S.-Canada border, but it would also bring her back to fight for women’s suffrage. Mary was born in 1823 to free parents Abraham Doras and Harriet Shadd, who lived in the (at the time) slave-owning state of Delaware. Abraham and Harriet were key players in the Underground Railroad, as their home was one of the stops in many people’s journey towards liberty. Beyond caring for and housing people escaping slavery, Mary’s parents were leaders in the advancement of rights and freedom for people of color: Abraham served as the President of the National Convention for the improvement of Free People of Color and helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833.iii In that same year, the family moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania, so that their children could receive an education. In West Chester, Mary fell in love with education, and she extended that devotion by returning to Delaware in her late teens to establish a public school for black children.iv She continued to expand this dream to children in the Northeast by teaching in New York City, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania throughout the 1840s.iii Being raised by parents who dedicated their lives to the advancement of people of color, Mary learned that walking towards safety, freedom, and justice began with expanding the boundaries of one’s imagination. Mary believed that communities of color should secure their own means to achieve advancement and self-sufficiency. The realization of this vision in the United States, however, was delayed by the political turmoil of the time. In particular, the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law (1850) threatened the safety of communities of color, since under the loose provisions of this code, almost any person of color (born free or into slavery) could be caught and enslaved; consequently, many families began looking further north in search of freedom from bondage. Seeing her liberty and well-being threatened by this policy, Mary migrated to West Canada in the Fall of 1851.iii In Canada, she found a newly arrived community of fugitives in shambles. Grounded in her vision for advancement, she helped establish institutions to promote settlement and self-sufficiency in this community, such as schools and a newspaper named the Provincial Freeman. Most notably, during her early years in Canada, she published a small booklet titled Notes on Canada West. This piece outlined all aspects of life in Canada to prospective migrants from the U.S. – from the price of land to the political rights of immigrants. Mary Ann’s pamphlet responded to the backsliding of the U.S. government and the threat this posed to her community by outlining an alternative path towards safety and Black liberation. Although Mary was criticized for abandoning the anti-slavery project in the U.S., she remained faithful to her vision of freedom for all people of color. Through organizing, she constructed a new homeland for those who did not feel safe in the U.S. while continuing to invest in the liberation of people in her motherland through her written work. Her vision for a better tomorrow for people of color is carried by immigrants and other marginalized groups today. We dream, as Mary Ann Shadd Cary envisioned over a century ago, of building a nation that upholds the rights and freedoms of marginalized people. We imagine a nation that treats its most vulnerable citizens justly, and we work to bring that vision into reality. It may not be brought on today, but we will continue to live with the hope that it could be tomorrow. In this way, the legacy of Mary’s courageous imagination lives on in many immigrant advocacy groups, women’s associations, and black radical women.
References
“Abortion Bans by State 2025.” World Population Review, January 5, 2026. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/abortion-bans-by-state. Systemic racism pervades US police and justice systems, UN mechanism on racial justice in law enforcement says in new report urging reform | OHCHR. Accessed January 7, 2026. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/systemic-racism-pervades-us-police-and-justice-systems-un-mechanism-racial. Bearden, Jim, and Linda Jean Butler. Shadd: The Life and Times of Mary Shadd Cary. NC Press, 1977. “Life Sketch of Mary Ann Shadd Cary.” Library and Archives Canada, January 5, 2026. https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=5793103&lang=eng&ecopy=e011536883-001. Cary, Mary Ann Shadd. A Plea for Emigration, Or, Notes of Canada West in its Moral, Social, and Political Aspect: With Suggestions Respecting Mexico, West Indies, and Vancouver's Island, for the Information of Colored Emigrants. Detroit, MI: G. W. Pattison. https://search-alexanderstreet-com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity|bibliographic_details|2613562. Ripley, C. P. The Black abolitionist papers. University of North Carolina Press, 1985.
Catalina is a Junior from Cali, Colombia pursuing a major in Public Policy and a certificate in Carceral Studies at Duke University. She is currently attempting to establish an environmental peacemaking project in rural Colombia that advances the well-being of rural communities. Beyond this, Catalina works to improve educational outcomes for young Latinx children by working with organizations in Durham, North Carolina. She is also interested in reproductive justice, immigration, and transformative justice – fields she has explored through academic research. During her free time, Catalina enjoys lifting at the gym, reading novels, and spending time with family and friends.