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Mary Fields

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Mary Fields was born a slave and freed when American slavery was outlawed in 1865. She was usually seen smoking a cigar, wearing a pistol and a jug of whiskey. After taking on various jobs including domestic worker, forewoman and owner of a restaurant that would serve food to anyone even if they couldn’t pay, at age 60 she became a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. She was the second woman and first African American woman to work for the U.S. Postal Service. She never missed a day. She drove a team of horses and a mule named Moses. If the snow was too deep for her horses, she delivered mail on snowshoes. Her reliability earned her the nickname “Stagecoach Mary”. She became so respected in the town of Cascade that they closed its schools to celebrate her birthday each year. When Montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted her an exemption.
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kinginthenorthwest's avatar

When I was a kid, there was this series of books about different historical figures (can't remember how it was called, sadly) and Mary Field's one was by far my favourite. A great drawing for a great person.