Dr. David Childs, D.D., Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University
Introduction
A phrase I have been using with my students in nearly every class is that “African American history is American history.” It seems I have to constantly remind students of this fact. The reason for this is that the way most of us (Including my students) have been taught US history is from a Eurocentric perspective. In this way, the many stories and events in history that involved groups outside of white males (Native Americans, those of Chinese descent, Japanese, African Americans and women) are often omitted from history books. In light of this fact, it is important that we highlight American stories, figures and even heroes that are outside of the mainstream historical narrative. A remarkable figure in US history that challenges the white washed historical narrative is Mary Fields.
An undated photo of Mary Fields (19th Century).
Mary Field’s Early Life
Mary Fields (1832 –1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary, was an American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to work for the US Postal Service (She did contract work as a star route mail carrier). Born in the antebellum south, Fields was enslaved on a plantation in Hickman County, Tennessee until the age of 33. In 1865 she was emancipated upon the end of the American Civil War. After being free she began working on a Mississippi steamboat called the Robert E. Lee as a chambermaid. While working on the steam boat she met Judge Edmund Dunne and his wife who eventually hired her as a domestic servant. When Mrs. Dunne passed away, the Judge sent Mary and his five children to Toledo, Ohio to live with his Sister Mary Amadeus. Sister Amadeus was the Mother Superior of an Ursuline convent. Amadeus worked in Ohio until 1884 when she was sent by her church to work in the Montana Territory to establish a school for Native American girls of the Blackfeet Nation at St. Peter’s Mission. When she became stricken with pneumonia Mary Fields rushed to the Montana territory and nursed her back to health.
Fields in the Western Frontier
Rather than return back to Ohio, Fields stayed out West at St. Peters. Fields learned many skills as an enslaved woman. Now able to apply those skills to make a living she worked a variety of manual tasks, with her roles at times being deemed “men’s work.” Some of those tasks included hauling freight, tending chickens, doing laundry, general construction, building repair and farming.
Fields’ rough demeanor, short temper, gun toting, heavy drinking and excessive use of profanity caused her to have frequent clashes with the religious commuity within the convent. She even got into a quarrel with a male employee at St. Peter’s Mission that involved firearms. As a result, In 1894, after several complaints from the nuns, the bishop asked her to leave the convent. Fields left St. Peter’s and opened a tavern in Cascade, Montana. However, the business struggled financially and closed in less than a year.
(Mary Fields on Stage Coach, Early Twentieth Century)
Fields as Postal Worker
Fields indeed had a very eventful life, but is most known for her contract work with the US Postal Service. In 1895, at sixty years old, she began working as a Star Route mail Carrier. Fields earned the name “StageCoach Mary” because she used a stagecoach (Donated to her by Sister Mary Amadeus) to deliver mail in the very roughest terrain and most inclement weather in Montana and never missed a route during her tenure. Along her mail route she lived up to her tough reputation, carrying a .38 Smith and Wesson under her apron, along with a rifle. She carried firearms to protect herself from bandits, murders, thieves, and wild animals such as wolves, bears and mountain lions. When snow was too deep for her horses, she was said to have delivered mail on foot using snowshoes, carrying the mail sacks on her shoulders.
Fields Was Well-liked
Because of her hardwork, consistency and dedication, Fields became a respected public figure in Cascade. Each year the town celebrated her birthday by closing its schools. The respect for her was so great that when her home caught fire in 1912 the townspeople rebuilt it. And when she retired from postal work at the age of 71 she continued to babysit many Cascade children and owned and operated a laundry service from her home until her death in 1914.
REFERENCES, LESSON PLANS AND RESOURCES
Mary Fields References
How Mary Fields Became “Stagecoach Mary”
Mary Fields Biography
The Legend of “Stagecoach” Mary: The First Black Woman to Carry U.S. Direct Mail
Meet Stagecoach Mary, the Daring Black Pioneer Who Protected Wild West Stagecoaches- History Channel
Mary Fields American pioneer- Encyclopedia Britannica
Stagecoach Mary Fields- National Postal Musuem (Smithsonian)
Mary Fields- American Battlefield Trust
Lesson Plans and Resources
Lesson Plan – Reading Fearless Mary (Grades 3-5)
Stagecoach Mary Fields Biography: A Reading Warm-Up
10 Fascinating Facts about Stagecoach Mary, Motherly Wild West Pioneer
Fields, Mary – aka Stagecoach Mary Resources
Mary Field Prezi
Black History Stories: Stagecoach Mary | Educational Videos for Students
Don’t mess with “Stagecoach Mary” Fields
True First: Stagecoach Mary Teaser Video
Black Cowboys- Lesson Plan and Teaching Masterial
Social Studies Standards
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)- Standard 1
Culture: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity.
Ohio Grade Eight Social Studies Standards
Theme: U.S. Studies from 1492 to 1877: Exploration through Reconstruction
EXPANSION:
Content Statements:
Historical Thinking Skills:
1. Primary and secondary sources are used to examine events from multiple perspectives and to present and defend a position.
11. Westward expansion contributed to economic and industrial development, debates over sectional issues, war with Mexico and the displacement of American Indians.
Civil War and Reconstruction:
12. The Reconstruction period resulted in changes to the U.S. Constitution, an affirmation of federal authority and lingering social and political differences.
Sample Lessons
Black Cowboys Lesson Plan and Activity- Language Arts and Social Studies
https://www.ocde.us/CharacterEd/Documents/black-cowboy-wild-horses.pdf
Black Cowboys and Wild Horses Lesson Plan – Language Arts and Social Studies
http://educationalimpact.com/resources/TEPC/pdf/Tuttle_observation_lesson_plan.pdf
Black Cowboy- Bill Pickett Lesson Plan
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-famous/pickett.html#Objectives
Various Lesson Plans- Spanish and Mexican Roots of Cowboy Culture
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/vaquero/index.html
Unit Plan- Debunking the Myth of the American West
http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/2001/4/01.04.10.x.html#a
Lesson Plan: The Cowboy Life
https://www.educationworld.com/a_tsl/archives/04-1/lesson033.shtml
Lesson Plan: The Cowboys
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/cowboys.cfm
Elementary Unit Plan and Resources: The American Cowboy Life
https://33rec33v8ymt4ag0pi2c0nlt-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Traveling-Trunks-2017-Lesson-Plan-Printer-friendly.pdf
Elementary Lesson Plan- Nat Love Graphic Novel and Lesson
https://classroom.popcultureclassroom.org/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2018/02/NAT-LOVE.pdf
REFERENCES
Books and Articles on African American Cowboys and the American West
Books
Black Cowboys of the Old West: True, Sensational, and Little-Known Stories from History
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Cowboys-Old-West-Little-Known-ebook/dp/B004E8M0Q6
The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as ‘Deadwood Dick,’ by Himself
https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/natlove/natlove.html
Black Cowboys of Texas
https://www.amazon.com/Cowboys-Centennial-Association-Students-University/dp/158544443X
Black Cowboys in the American West: On the Range, on the Stage, behind the Badge
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Cowboys-American-West-behind/dp/0806154063
Bill Pickett: Bulldogger (Biography of a Black Cowboy)
https://www.amazon.com/Bill-Pickett-Bulldogger-Biography-Cowboy/dp/080612203X
The Black West: A Documentary and Pictoral History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States
https://www.amazon.com/Black-West-Documentary-Pictoral-Expansion/dp/0767912314
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses
https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=35327
Articles
Black Cowboys in Oregon
https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/black_cowboys_in_oregon/#.XAF3rOhKhPY
The Lesser-Known History of African-American Cowboys
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesser-known-history-african-american-cowboys-180962144/
Willie Kennard: Yankee Hill’s Black Marshal
http://www.historynet.com/willie-kennard-yankee-hills-black-marshal.htm
Love on the Range: The Story of a Cowboy
http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2012/08/nat-love-pronounced-nate-lived-the-kind-of-life-that-adventure-novels-and-blockbuster-movies-are-built-on-freed-fro.html
Nat Love, aka: Deadwood Dick – Greatest Black Cowboy in the Old West
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-natlove/
Bill Pickett (ca 1870-1932), African American Cowboy
https://americacomesalive.com/2012/02/24/bill-pickett-ca-1870-1932-african-american-cowboy/
Stahl, Jesse (c. 1879–1935)
https://blackpast.org/aaw/jesse-stahl-c-1879-1935
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
https://www.amazon.com/Bury-My-Heart-Wounded-Knee/dp/0805086846
American Indian culture of the West
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/before-contact/a/west-indian-culture
Calamity Jane – Rowdy Woman of the West
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-calamityjane/
Video and Audio Resources
The Black Cowboy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ014Yaehic
Roping as a Way of Life: The Proud History of Texas’ Black Cowboys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=XLSwRx_9HbQ
Federation of Black Cowboys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-m_EWT3QGk
Black Cowboys of Texas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-vNBFdXxUM
The Cowboys of Color Rodeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYVZ4511oGw
African-American Cowboy: The Forgotten Man of the West” Documentary about Black Cowboys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jwlMtg4ts8
Recordings of Black Cowboy Songs
https://folkways.si.edu/dom-flemons/black-cowboys
Please share what resources you find useful for your teaching.
We are open to feedback and discussion. If you see any typos or grammatical errors please feel free to email the author and editor at the address below:
childsd1@nku.edu
I think that it is sop important to teach about important black figures in the western frontier, because many assume that we were not there. Mary Fields story that you highlighted showed how important and respected some black people were in their communities. It is amazing what she did in her life and her dedication to her community and the love that they showed back.
Once again, Dr Childs has introduced me to a historical figure I have never heard of. Mary seems like an amazing women and someone who never took no for an answer. Her hard work ethic is very inspiring. There truly is no excuse is Mary can deliver her mail route in any condition, while also defending herself from thieves and animals. Truly an amazing African American women who has been forgotten.
I thought the story of Stagecoach Mary was very interesting, how she went from being a slave to working “man jobs” until she was 60 years old when she started her mail route. This shows that she was a particularly strong woman because, when the snow was too high for the horses, she’d get out and deliver the rest of the mail on foot using snow shoes. As a 60 year old, that is pretty remarkable.