The Legend Of Stagecoach Mary Fields

stagecoach mary photo
Via cowgirlmagazine
Tremain Prioleau II
November 13, 2024

You wouldn't expect a foul-mouthed and trigger-happy Black woman to live in a convent but you never met Mary Fields. Born into slavery around 1832, probably in Tennessee, but freed after the Civil War, Fields made her way north to the Ursuline Convent in Toledo, Ohio, where she worked for the nuns.

Fields’ quick temper and reputation for hard drinking alarmed the nuns but they let her be – until an argument with a man ended in gunfire. Fields lost her job and got kicked out of the convent.

Ever resourceful, Mary Fields took up gunfighting and odd jobs to get by. She was tough as nails; legend even has it that she fought off a pack of wolves alone. Stories like this gave her a larger-than-life persona.

Field's formidable reputation landed her a contract with the Postal Service in 1895 as a Star Route carrier. As the deadly "Black Mary," for eight years she delivered and protected the mail from thieves and bandits, and earned the love of her Montana community.

Black Mary lived on her terms. She didn't let white supremacy restrict or control her, and she was ready to fight back at a moment's notice. How can we use her toughness to help combat whiteness today?

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