Barbara Ann Steward

Barbara Ann Steward (sometimes spelled "Stewart") (1836 – 1861) was a teacher, lecturer, abolitionist and advocate for industrial education African-Americans. She was the daughter of abolitionist Austin Steward. Growing up, she was well-educated, as her father "spared no pains nor money to educate and qualify [her] for teaching". Her father, an ex-slave and well-known abolitionist in his own right, served as president of the convention. That same year, Steward was chosen to represent Ontario's black citizen population at the black national convention in Rochester. She also specified that she did not believe in education for education's sake, but rather that which has a practical application. Drawing from personal experience, she said: "But a mere knowledge of books, without a trade of some kind, is useless.... I have spent all my life in educating my head, and the brightest prospect I have today for the future, and the most advantageous offer I have ever had, is to sail for Monrovia on the coast of Africa, in October next". Afterwards, she was highly praised by Frederick Douglass' paper for her "zeal, devotedness, high character, and ability" in speaking out in the name of enslaved women who could not advocate for themselves. She went on to complete a lecture circuit in upstate New York and continued to tour New England around this time.

Death Steward died of typhoid fever in 1861.