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mary fields wikipedia jump to content main menu main menu move to sidebar hide navigation main page contents current events random article about wikipedia contact us contribute help learn to edit community portal recent changes upload file special pages search search appearance donate create account log in personal tools donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 biography toggle biography subsection 1 1 early life and career 1 2 postal service 1 3 children 1 4 later life 1 5 death 2 personal life 3 legacy and representations in popular culture toggle legacy and representations in popular culture subsection 3 1 films 3 2 print 3 3 music 3 4 television 3 5 museums 3 6 places 4 references toggle the table of contents mary fields 11 languages العربية català čeština deutsch ελληνικά español euskara français עברית polski русский edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia american mail carrier c 1832 1914 mary fields fields c 1895 born c 1832 hickman county tennessee us died december 5 1914 1914 12 05 aged 81 82 great falls montana us occupations freighter cook domestic worker star route mail carrier known for first african american woman star route mail carrier in the u s mary fields c 1832 december 5 1914 also known as stagecoach mary and black mary was an american mail carrier who was the first black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the united states 1 2 3 4 fields had the star route contract for the delivery of u s mail from cascade montana to saint peter s mission she drove the route for two four year contracts from 1895 to 1899 and from 1899 to 1903 author miantae metcalf mcconnell provided documentation discovered during her research about mary fields to the united states postal service archives historian in 2006 this enabled the usps to establish mary fields contribution as the first african american female star route mail carrier in the united states 4 biography edit early life and career edit fields was born into slavery in hickman county tennessee c 1832 after the american civil war ended in 1865 she was emancipated and found work as a chambermaid on board the robert e lee a mississippi river steamboat there she encountered judge edmund dunne and ultimately worked in his household as a servant after dunne s wife died 5 he sent fields and his late wife s five children to live with his sister mother mary amadeus in toledo ohio where she was mother superior of an ursuline convent in 1884 mother amadeus was sent to montana territory to establish a school for native american girls at st peter s mission west of cascade learning that amadeus was stricken with pneumonia fields hurried to montana to nurse her back to health amadeus recovered and fields stayed at st peter s fields took on multiple roles regarded as men s work at the time such as maintenance repairs fetching supplies laundry gardening hauling freight growing vegetables tending chickens and repairing buildings and eventually became the forewoman 6 native americans called fields white crow because she acts like a white person but has black skin life in a convent was placid but fields hearty temperament and habitual profanity made the religious community uncomfortable in 1894 after several complaints and an incident with a disgruntled male subordinate that involved gunplay 2 the bishop barred her from the convent fields moved to cascade where she opened a tavern but profits waned due to allowing the cash poor to dine free it closed due to bankruptcy about 10 months later 7 postal service edit by 1895 at sixty years old fields secured a job as a star route carrier which used a stagecoach to deliver mail in the unforgiving weather and rocky terrain of montana with the help of nearby ursuline nuns who relied on mary for help at their mission 8 this made her the first african american woman to work for the u s postal service she carried multiple firearms most notably a 38 smith wesson under her apron to protect herself and the mail from wolves thieves and bandits driving the route with horses and a mule named moses she never missed a day and her reliability earned her the nickname stagecoach mary due to her preferred mode of transportation 6 9 if the snow was too deep for her horses fields delivered the mail on snowshoes carrying the sacks on her shoulders 6 in one instance she stayed up all night to fight off a pack of wolves who had knocked over her vehicle and another time she was forced to walk back and forth until morning to avoid dying of frostbite as she had gotten stuck in a blizzard mary fields was resilient and dedicated to her work as a mail carrier 10 she was not an employee of the united states post office department which did not hire or employ mail carriers for star routes but rather awarded star route contracts to persons who proposed the lowest qualified bids these people in accordance with the department s application process posted bonds and sureties to substantiate their ability to finance the route once a contract was awarded the contractor could then drive the route themselves sublet the route or hire an experienced driver some individuals obtained multiple star route contracts and conducted the operations as a business 3 children edit in contrast with her outwardly rough appearance and her drinking smoking and gun wielding habits fields loved children though she never had her own children adored her and parents in her area often hired her to babysit from her life as an enslaved woman in tennessee to her later years in montana when she offered her babysitting services for 1 50 a day mary fields spent much of her life with kids though at times her rough and tumble reputation got in the way of this passion as parents knew her as a rowdy saloon goer and did not want their children under her care 10 later life edit she was a respected public figure in cascade and the town closed its schools to celebrate her birthday each year 6 when montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons the mayor of cascade granted her an exemption in 1903 at the age of 71 fields retired from star route mail carrier service the townspeople s adoration for fields was evident when her home was rebuilt by volunteers after it caught fire in 1912 she continued to babysit many cascade children and owned and operated a laundry service from her home 3 4 death edit fields died in 1914 at columbus hospital in great falls she was buried outside of cascade 11 personal life edit fields was catholic though she preferred the company and activities of local men to the sisters and their religious trappings 12 legacy and representations in popular culture edit films edit in the documentary south by northwest homesteaders 1976 fields is played by esther rolle 13 in the tv movie the cherokee kid 1996 fields is played by dawnn lewis in the tv movie hannah s law 2012 she is played by kimberly elise in the short western film they die by dawn 2013 fields is played by erykah badu in the film the harder they fall 2021 she is played by zazie beetz in the film outlaw posse 2024 she is played by whoopi goldberg in the tv series hell on wheels 2011 she was played by amber chardee robinson print edit in 1959 actor and montana native gary cooper wrote an article for ebony in which he stated born a slave somewhere in tennessee mary lived to become one of the freest souls ever to draw a breath or a 38 14 stagecoach mary fields a screenplay by georgianne landy kordis 15 a biography for children fearless mary the true adventures of mary fields american stagecoach driver by tami charles 16 stagecoach mary a collection of supernatural tales in pulp fiction style by jess nevins 17 the life and legend of mary fields source sunny nash mother amadeus and stagecoach mary true west magazine 1996 true west publications cave creek az a biographical book mary fields the story of black mary by james a franks isbn 0 9657173 4 8 african american women of the old west by tricia martineau wagner twodot helena montana music edit fields is the subject of michael hearst s song stagecoach mary as part of his 2015 extraordinary people project 18 television edit in the tv amc series hell on wheels 2011 2016 fields is played by amber chardae robinson featured in five episodes during 2015 2016 season five museums edit mary fields horse heritage museum hartford ct the mary fields horse heritage museum opened to the public in october 2025 19 the museum which is located in hartford connecticut on the campus of the ebony horsewomen inc equestrian and therapeutic center honors the legacy of black cowboys and indigenous horsemen and women 20 places edit asteroid 7091 maryfields discovered by kenneth lawrence and eleanor helin at palomar in 1992 was named in her honor 21 the official naming citation was published by the minor planet center on 8 november 2019 m p c 118218 22 references edit shirley gayle c 2011 more than petticoats remarkable montana women 2nd ed guilford connecticut globe pequot press isbn 978 0 7627 6692 5 1 2 cooper gary crawford marc october 1959 stagecoach mary ebony reprinted oct 1977 ed johnson publishing company p 98 1 2 3 metcalf mcconnell miantae 2016 mary fields s road to freedom black cowboys in the american west on the range on the stage behind the badge university of oklahoma press p 156 archived from the original on 2019 09 02 retrieved 2017 04 26 1 2 3 metcalf mcconnell miantae 2016 deliverance mary fields first african american woman star route mail carrier in the united states a montana history huzzah publishing isbn 978 0 9978770 0 7 archived from the original on 2019 09 02 retrieved 2017 04 26 history of san antonio florida sanantoniofla com archived from the original on 2016 04 02 retrieved 2013 08 13 1 2 3 4 drewry jennifer m march april 1999 mary fields a pioneer in cascade s past cascade montana community website retrieved january 25 2013 cite web cs1 maint deprecated archival service link stagecoach mary fields national postal museum postalmuseum si edu retrieved 2020 11 13 stagecoach mary fields national postal museum postalmuseum si edu retrieved 2020 12 04 mary fields legends of america retrieved 25 january 2013 1 2 porath jason 2016 rejected princesses tales of history s boldest heroines hellions heretics new york ny harpercollins franks james a 2000 mary fields black mary 1st ed santa cruz calif wild goose press isbn 0965717348 everett george 1996 02 01 mary fields a rough and tough black female pioneer historynet retrieved 2021 01 19 south by northwest washington state university 1976 retrieved january 27 2014 cooper gary as told to marc crawford october 1977 stagecoach mary a gun toting black woman delivered the mail in montana ebony cite book cs1 maint multiple names authors list link landy kordis georgianne 2016 stagecoach mary fields a screenplay oklahoma createspace independent publishing platform isbn 9781530807734 oclc 1011509713 charles tami 2019 fearless mary mary fields american stagecoach driver almon claire chicago illinois albert whitman company isbn 9780807523056 oclc 1038041171 nevins jess 2017 stagecoach mary houston isbn 978 1 5393 5231 0 oclc 986498043 cite book cs1 maint location missing publisher link hearst michael 19 october 2017 stagecoach mary extraordinary people archived from the original on 2021 12 21 grand opening mary fields horse heritage museum hartford business journal new england business media retrieved 3 october 2025 dunne susan jul 17 2023 museum to honor black cowboys coming to hartford hartford courant online tribune publishing company llc retrieved 3 october 2025 7091 1992 ja minor planet center retrieved 20 november 2019 mpc mpo mps archive minor planet center retrieved 20 november 2019 authority control databases international viaf fast worldcat national united states retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title mary_fields oldid 1342832008 categories 1830s births 1914 deaths 19th century african american people 19th century african american women 19th century american slaves 19th century roman catholics 19th century united states government officials 20th century african american people 20th century african american women 20th century american people 20th century roman catholics african american catholics african american equestrians african american people in the american old west american mail carriers american roman catholics american women slaves deaths from liver disease montana pioneers people enslaved in tennessee people from cascade montana people from hickman county tennessee united states postal service people hidden categories articles with short description short description is different from wikidata articles with hcards cs1 maint deprecated archival service cs1 maint multiple names authors list cs1 maint location missing publisher year of birth uncertain this page was last edited on 10 march 2026 at 22 37 utc page was rendered with parsoid text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike 4 0 license additional terms may apply by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc a non profit organization privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia legal safety contacts code of conduct developers statistics cookie statement mobile view search search toggle the table of contents mary fields 11 languages add topic