Henry and Mary Bibb

Henry Bibb was born May 10, 1815 in Kentucky, USA. As his mother was an enslaved woman, Bibb was born into slavery. He freed himself, and after being separated from his wife (who was sold by the time he was back in Detroit after fleeing from Cherokee slaveholders), Bibb dedicated his time towards being an abolitionist.

He published writings about his experiences, travelled and lectured, and was a member of an abolitionist political party in the United States called the Liberty Party.

Mary Bibb (was an editor of this newspaper) was born in 1820 to free Black parents. She was one of the first Black women to teach in North America and was a member of the Anti-Slavery Society in Boston. Both Henry and Mary Bibb were were active in helping in the Underground Railroad in Detroit.

After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted however, their aid to those escaping became illegal and would put them in danger. They both moved to Upper Canada and published the Voice of the Fugitive the next year.

Henry Bibb endorsed Upper Canda as a good place for Black refugees to comee to and establish themselves in this newspaper. He shares information that would help them in establishing exlcusively Black communities there as many others fleed to Upper Canada from the northern parts of the US like the Bibbs did.