BLAX Museum (www.writermichellersmith.com/...) is a talent showcase created by Cleveland writer and cultural facilitator Michelle R. Smith that is open to all forms and dedicated to honoring notable Black figures in American history and culture. It is an annual event featuring Black artists from Northeast Ohio that pay homage through original art and honorary performances and presentations.
For BLAX Museum 2022, poet Raja Belle Freeman is paying tribute to "Stagecoach" Mary Fields.
"Stagecoach" Mary Fields stood six-feet tall and was the first African American woman to carry mail on a Star Route for the United State Post Office Department. Born into slavery in either 1832 or 1833, her birthday is unknown. She was working for the Warner family in West Virginia when she was emancipated some time between 1863-1865, after which she went up the Mississippi River, working on steamboats. Fields ended up in Toledo, Ohio, where she began working at Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart, washing laundry, buying supplies, managing the kitchen, and maintaining the garden and convent grounds. Eventually, Fields migrated out west to Cascade, Montana, where she worked for St. Peter's Mission, also run by Ursuline nuns. She was relieved from her duties at the mission when her legendary hot temper caused her to get into a confrontation with another of the janitors on the staff, and he and Mary drew guns on each other. Fields attempted to open several small businesses in Cascade after leaving the mission, but her generosity made her an unsuccessful entrepreneur. Her reputation with the townspeople, for wearing men's clothes, drinking, gun toting, smoking, and fighting, might also have undermined her efforts. With the help of her friends, the nuns at the mission, Fields obtained a contract by the United States Post Office Department in 1895, when she was in her 60s, to be a Star Route Carrier. A Star Route Carrier was an independent contractor that delivered mail on the harsh northern Montana frontier and was charged with warding off bandits, thieves, and even wolves. As a carrier, Fields was known for being fearless and gained her nickname "Stagecoach Mary" because she used a stagecoach to make her deliveries. She also used a rifle and revolver to make sure that the packages and she remained safe during her travels. Fields delivered mail for eight years before retiring in 1903, when she was finally able to start a successful laundry business and open a restaurant in Cascade. She died on December 5, 1914, and after her death, the residents of Cascade raised the funds to have her buried in a cemetery on the road she frequently traveled from Cascade to St. Peter's Mission.
Raja Belle Freeman is a teaching artist, performance poet, visual artist, and flautist. She has worked with Twelve Literary Arts and was a member of the Six of Twelve Youth Performance Poetry Ensemble and One Mic Open Youth Poetry Slam Team. She graduated from Cleveland State University with a major in English, concentration in Creative Writing, and a minor in Black Studies. She is also a board member with South Euclid's community development corporation One South Euclid.
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