Mary Fields

How this work helped shape America

Born enslaved in Tennessee, Mary Fields built an independent working life after emancipation that eventually took her to Montana. In 1895, she secured a Star Route contract from the United States Post Office Department, becoming the first Black American woman and the second woman overall to receive such a contract. As an independent postal contractor, Fields transported mail on a 34-mile round-trip route between Cascade and St. Peter's Mission for eight years, maintaining service through the difficult weather and terrain of northern Montana. After leaving postal transportation, she established her own laundry business in Cascade, extending her economic independence through entrepreneurship.