African American History Recognized at Genealogy Society Meeting.

Each month, the Bradley County Genealogy Society meets the last Sunday afternoon of the month in the Veterans Museum.  During the February meeting, Kim Forrest, in honor of African American History month, presented a program about two African American women who have earned their place in history:  Stagecoach Mary and Grandma Moses.


Left:  Kim Forrest

Mary Fields

Mary Fields, also known as "Stagecoach Mary" and "Black Mary" (c. 1832–1914), was the first African-American woman star route mail carrier in the United States. She was not an employee of the United States Post Office. The Post Office Department did not hire or employ mail carriers for star routes; it awarded star route contracts to persons who proposed the lowest qualified bids, and who in accordance with the Department’s application process posted bonds and sureties to substantiate their ability to finance the route. Once a contract was obtained, 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.

Mary Fields obtained the star route contract for the delivery of U. S. mail from Cascade, Montana to Saint Peter's Mission in 1885. She drove the route with horse and wagon, not a stagecoach, for two four-year contracts: from 1885 to 1889 and from 1889 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 USPS to establish Mary Fields' contribution as the first African American woman star route mail in the United States.

Clementine hunter

Clementine Hunter (pronounced Clementeen) (late December 1886 or early January 1887 – January 1, 1988) was a self-taught black folk artist from the Cane River region of Louisiana, who lived and worked on Melrose Plantation. She is the first African-American artist to have a solo exhibition at the present-day New Orleans Museum of Art.

Hunter was born into a Louisiana Creole family at Hidden Hill Plantation, near Cloutierville, in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana; she started working as a farm laborer when young, never learning to read or write. In her fifties, she began painting, using brushes and paints left by an artist who visited Melrose Plantation, where she then lived and worked. Hunter's artwork depicted plantation life in the early 20th century, documenting a bygone era. She sold her first paintings for as little as 25 cents. By the end of her life, Hunter's work was being exhibited in museums and sold by dealers for thousands of dollars. Hunter was granted an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1986. In 2013 director Robert Wilson presented a new opera about her: Zinnias: the Life of Clementine Hunter, at Montclair State University in New Jersey

Following Mrs. Forrest's program, she thanked Ms. Edith Strong for her help with the program and asked her to speak to the group.  Ms. Strong relayed her connection to the Bradley family, some of the early founding members of this county.

Work of art by Clementine Hunter

African House at Melrose Plantation where some of Ms. Hunter's work can be seen.