Abram W. Shadd
(1844-1878)

Abram (Abraham) W. Shadd was born in Pennsylvania or Ohio in 1844, of a free Black family known as active abolitionists. Shadd was admitted to practice in the state supreme court on March 25, 1872. His residence was listed as Chicot County, Arkansas, although he also practiced in Mississippi where he was the first Black attorney and became a well-known politician. His name does not appear as attorney of record in official Arkansas court records, so it is probable that he practiced very little law in Arkansas.

Shadd's parents moved to Buxton, Ontario in his youth and he received his early education there.  A.W. Shadd taught school prior to the Civil War. In the war, he served with the 55th Massachusetts Regiment, beginning as a private and ending with the rank of sergeant major. Shadd returned to Buxton after the war, where he was the teacher on record for SS#4 in 1867.  He moved to Detroit, had a photography business and studied law. Eventually, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he obtained an LL.B. degree from Howard University in 1871. After moving to Mississippi, Shadd practiced law in Washington County, owned a saloon, and was elected clerk of the circuit court. Shadd died in Mississippi in 1878.

His father, Abraham D. Shadd, attended and was active in conventions at which free Blacks militated for expanded rights. He was among the first Black men elected to serve in public office in Raleigh Township, Ontario. Abram Shadd’s sister, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, was the first woman publisher in North America.  She also attended Howard University’s law school as its first woman student and graduated in 1883. In addition to fighting for the rights of Black people, Mary Ann Shadd Cary was a champion of women’s suffrage.

For more information see: “(EXTRA)Ordinary Men: African-American Lawyers and Civil Rights in Arkansas Before 1950", by Judith Kilpatrick.