Fearless Mary: Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver

2021-2022 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Master List

Black history meets the American West in this inspiring story of a woman who became a legend.

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.

Author: Tami Charles
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 02/01/2024
Pages: 32
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 10.20h x 8.00w x 0.10d
ISBN: 9780807523094

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 510838 / Fearless Mary: Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver

About the Author
Charles, Tami: -

Tami Charles is a former teacher who now writes picture books, middle grade and young adult novels, and nonfiction for kids. She is the author of the novel Like Vanessa. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Almon, Claire: - Claire Almon is an illustrator who also works in character design in animation. She lives in Georgia, where she loves dancing, napping, and being an aunt to her six nieces.