population peaked at 2,000. Today, just 100
people—both black and white—live in Buxton.
Prince has lived there her entire life.
Memories of her ancestors are
everywhere, including at the Buxton
Historical Site and Museum where she has
worked since 1999. For example, the printing
press on display in the museum was owned
by her great-great aunt Mary Ann Shadd
Cary. Cary was North America’s first black
female newspaper editor. She was also
one of the first black women to earn a law
degree.
Through her job at the museum, Prince
is able to share the history of Buxton and
Canada’s other black settlements. She is
also able to share the history of her own
ancestors. “I am very proud and honored to
keep their voice alive through me,” she says.
FAST FACTS- Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born a free black in
Delaware. She is one of the many free blacks who
fled to Canada. - Congress enacted the first Fugitive Slave Act in
- The 1850 law made it easier for slaves to be
captured and returned to the South.
- The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was very
unpopular in the north, and many abolitionists
helped blacks escape to Canada. - Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery
in 1777. By 1804, slavery had been abolished in all
northern states. - Seventy black men who were living in Buxton
returned to the United States to fight for the
Union in the Civil War. - The award-winning book Elijah of Buxton by
Christopher Paul Curtis tells the fictional account
of the life of a boy in Buxton. Many children want
to visit Buxton’s museum after reading the book.
Buxton schoolchildren in 1910