Mary Fields aka Stagecoach Mary was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses.
She was the first black woman employed as a mail carrier in the US and the second woman to work for the US Postal Service.
—Mary Fields was born enslaved around 1832 and freed following the American Civil War. In 1895, Fields was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. Fields was the first African American woman, and only the second woman, to work in the United States Postal Service. She got her nickname stagecoach because she never missed a day of work, even showing up during heavy snow by wearing snowshoes and carrying the mail packs on her back.
Fields stood six feet tall, and was a woman who commanded attention. Legend has it she wore a 38 Smith & Weston strapped under her apron and could hit anything within 50 paces.
After quitting the mail route in 1901, Fields opened her own laundry and restaurant with the help of Mother Amadeus, the mother superior of an Ursuline convent in Toledo, Ohio.
Michelle Obama once asked her mother why she was holding Barack's hand on election night. Her mother replied, "His father left when he was two. He lost his mother to cancer. He was moments away from becoming the leader of the free world with no parents, so I took his hand."
HEARTBREAKING: A close friend of legendary #49ers pass rusher Aldon Smith posted this emotional video from his funeral this week.
Aldon was only 36 years old.
An extremely heartbreaking and sad goodbye from his friends, family, and teammates.
RIP 🕊️🕊️🕊️
Michelle and I loved reading to this bright group of kids today!
We hope this new Chicago Public Library branch at the Obama Presidential Center will be a place where folks come to read, check out books, and connect with one another for years to come.
Larry Hoover – founder of Chicago Gangster Disciples (GDs) – calls J Prince from prison and issues message to Yns
“Real gangsters go to the polls. …I’m telling these young boys to put them guns down, and pick up that Ballot.”
Today we honor James Byrd Jr., who was brutally murdered on this day 28 years ago. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law by former President Barack Obama 17 years ago.