The Mary Ann Shadd Cary House is a historic residence located at 1421 W Street, Northwest in Washington, D.C. From 1881 to 1885, it was the home of Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823–93), a writer and abolitionist who was one of the first African American female journalists in North America,[5] and who became one of the first black female lawyers after the American Civil War.

It is three stories in height and three bays wide, with a corbelled cornice, and projecting brick hoods around its windows.

[5] Mary Ann Shadd was born a free black in the slave state of Delaware, and was educated in Pennsylvania.

At first a school teacher for African American children, she and other family members left for Canada following passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Settling in Ontario, she began publishing works to inform American blacks about conditions in Canada, so that they could judge whether migration there was in their interests.