Mary Fields: America’s First Black Woman Mail Carrier

It is of great priority to keep history alive throughout the year amid questions about reports of the removal of artifacts from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Courageous women such as Mary Fields (“Stagecoach Mary Fields”), the first African American woman star route mail carrier in the United States, should be recognized as a trailblazer in American history. Fields was equally known for her hot temper, bickering, toting and shooting guns, smoking and wearing men’s clothing.

Born enslaved around 1832 in Tennessee, she later traveled North after the Civil War, acting as a servant and laundress for families along the way. Fields settled in Ohio, living in a convent, according to History.com. At that time, she worked as a groundskeeper at the Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart.

National Parks Service (https://www.nps.gov/people/mary-fields.htm) disclosed that “according to Sister Kathleen Padden, archivist for Toledo’s Ursuline Convent, Mary arrived in Toledo by train in 1870 and worked for the nuns at the convent, washing laundry, managing the kitchen, and maintaining the convent garden and grounds.”

She found her way to another convent in Montana, but Fields’ style and personality became problematic.

“Kicked out of the convent, Fields was on her own—and she set about living a life that was shocking by 19th-century standards. She took in laundry and did odd jobs, started businesses and became known for liking hard liquor and gunfights,” History.com reported (https://www.history.com/articles/meet-stagecoach-mary-the-daring-black-pioneer-who-protected-wild-west-stagecoaches).

 “In 1895, she got a contract from the postal service to become a star route carrier—an independent contractor who carried mail using a stagecoach donated by Mother Amadeus. It suited Fields to a tee. As a star carrier, her job was to protect the mail on her route from thieves and bandits and to deliver mail. She was only the second woman in the United States (and the first African American woman) to serve in that role.”

The Smithsonian National Postal Museum further explained that a “Star Route Carrier was an independent contractor who used a stagecoach to deliver the mail in the harsh weather of northern Montana. Mary was the first African American woman and the second woman to receive a Star Route contract from the United States Post Office Department.”

Ursuline nuns helped six-foot tall, 200-pound Fields to secure the contract. Fields serviced the route between St. Peter’s Mission and the town of Cascade, Montana. Fields reportedly delivered the mail for eight years without missing a day of work, and she traveled 34 miles round trip to deliver it. She endured harsh weather, bandits, and wolves of northern Montana.

“When the snow was too deep to drive the stagecoach, Mary trekked the route with snowshoes, delivering the mail on foot. Even though she was well into her 60s, Mary never let the hardships of the job prevent her from completing her route,” according to the National Park Service.

“Mary spent eight years delivering the mail as a Star Route Carrier,” when the West was a predominantly white society. “During this time, Mary became beloved by the locals of Cascade, Montana for her fearlessness and generosity, as well as for her kindness to children. Mary retired from service as a Star Route Carrier in the early 20th century. After her retirement, she settled into life in Cascade, Montana,” the Smithsonian National Postal Museum (https://postalmuseum.si.edu/stagecoach-mary-fields) reported.

It was further stated that Fields started a laundry business in town, opened an eatery and babysat the local children.

Montana Women’s History (https://montanawomenshistory.org/the-life-and-legend-of-mary-fields/) mentioned that although “people of Cascade accepted Fields while she was alive and celebrated her after death, but historian Dee Garceau-Hagen points to nicknames like “Black Mary,” “Colored Mary,” and “Nigger Mary” and argues that Cascade residents “affirmed a caste system based on race, even as they celebrated Fields’ notoriety.”

Fields died on December 5, 1914. After her death, the townspeople raised money to have her buried in a cemetery on a road where she frequently drove. Field’s funeral was said to be one of the largest in the town’s history.