R•E•A•L history talk

Gwendolyn E. Brooks

Stagecoach Mary 🐎

Birth name: Mary Fields

“Stagecoach Mary” or “Black Mary,” as she was nicknamed, carried a rifle and a revolver. She met trains with mail, then drove her stagecoach over rocky, rough roads and through snow and inclement weather. And though she intimidated would-be thieves with her height and her tough demeanor, she became beloved by locals, who praised her generosity and her kindness to children.

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. 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.

She drove the route with horses and a mule named Moses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach". If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

She was a respected public figure in Cascade, and the town 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. In 1903, at age 71, Fields retired from star route mail carrier service. She continued to babysit many Cascade children and owned and operated a laundry service from her home.

When she died on December 5, 1914, her funeral was one of the largest the town had ever seen.

Jennie Serepta Dean 📚

Jennie S. Dean established the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth to teach skilled trades to African Americans.

Frederick Douglass spoke at the dedication, and the first students arrived in 1894.

Learn about Jennie S. Dean and more at BlackThen.com

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Cab Calloway 🎶🎙

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III...

A true star, leader, and innovator.

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Alice Marie Coachman 🌟

Thurgood Marshall ⚖

Thurgood Marshall — perhaps best known as the first African-American Supreme Court justice — played an instrumental role in promoting racial equality during the civil rights movement. As a practicing attorney, Marshall argued a record-breaking 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them. In fact, Marshall represented and won more cases before the high court than any other person.

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