Shares the story of Mary Fields, aka "Stagecoach Mary," the first African American woman to drive a stagecoach and a legendary figure of the Wild West.
A picture book biography of Mary Fields, a little-known but fascinating and larger-than-life character who is one of the unsung, trailblazing African American women who helped settle the American West.
"The true story of Mary Fields, aka "Stagecoach Mary," a trailblazing African American woman who helped settle the American West."--Provided by the Publisher.
A little-known but fascinating and larger-than-life character, Mary Fields is one of the unsung, trailblazing African American women who helped settle the American West. A former slave, Fields became the first African American woman stagecoach driver in 1895, when, in her 60s, she beat out all the cowboys applying for the job by being the fastest to hitch a team of six horses. She won the dangerous and challenging job, and for many years traveled the badlands with her pet eagle, protecting the mail from outlaws and wild animals, never losing a single horse or package. Fields helped pave the way for other women and people of color to become stagecoach drivers and postal workers.