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Scott Olson / Staff / Getty Images By Rayna Reid Rayford ·Updated March 1, 2024
In honor of Beyoncé releasing her next country album, ESSENCE is shining a light on the lesser-known history of the Black women of the wild, wild west.
In modern media, cowboys have stereotypically been depicted “as White men defending their ranch from Indigenous groups. [But i]n reality, Black and Native Americans comprised a notable percentage of these cowboy groups.”
During the 1890s in Montana, formerly enslaved Mary Fields, more widely known by her nickname Stagecoach Mary, was the first Black woman to carry mail. And “she stood out on the trail—and became a Wild West legend. Rumor had it that she’d fended off an angry pack of wolves with her rifle, had ‘the temperament of a grizzly bear.’”
“She met trains with mail, then drove her stagecoach over rocky, rough roads and through snow and inclement weather.” More importantly, “would-be mail thieves didn’t stand a chance against Stagecoach Mary.”
Another notable woman from that time was Henrietta Williams Foster, affectionately referred to as Aunt Rittie. Foster, a cowhand who resided in Refugio County in South Texas, “was considered a tenacious, tough-as-nails woman who would ride her horse sidesaddle in long skirts and could perform the same work as the men.”
A member of the Black Seminole community, Johanna “Chona” Phillips July Wilkes Lasley was an extremely skilled horse tamer during the late 1800s. As an interviewee of the Federal Writers’ Project, in an atypical move for women of the time, Lasley “became an expert horse breaker” and after her father’s death, she “continued his work.” Her method “She put on her clothes that needed washing and led the horse to the Rio Grande…pulled the horse into the deep water forcing it to swim. She stayed in the water until the horse tired and then she hopped on its back and rode out of the river. Her method of gentling the horse took advantage of the terrain and lessened her chore of cleaning her garments.”
Before Mulan, there was Cathay Williams, who is credited with being “the first African-American woman to enlist in the army and did so by disguising herself as a man. Though she was hospitalized five times, no one ever discovered her secret. She called herself William Cathay and was deemed fit for duty.” Following her time in combat, she moved out to Colorado and was married. But after her husband tried to steal her money and her horses, she had him arrested.
These were among just some of the women who lived and thrived in that era. According to Cowgirl Magazine, “African American women made enormous contributions to the advancement and culture of the West. They built towns, established charities, created schools, developed churches, and did dangerous jobs such as delivering the mail. They were real estate magnates, writers, celebrated chefs, investors, and trailblazers.”
TOPICS: beyoncé country music cowgirl
The post It’s Not Our First Rodeo: Black Women In The Wild, Wild West appeared first on Essence.
Scott Olson / Staff / Getty Images By Rayna Reid Rayford ·Updated March 1, 2024
In honor of Beyoncé releasing her next country album, ESSENCE is shining a light on the lesser-known history of the Black women of the wild, wild west.
In modern media, cowboys have stereotypically been depicted “as White men defending their ranch from Indigenous groups. [But i]n reality, Black and Native Americans comprised a notable percentage of these cowboy groups.”
During the 1890s in Montana, formerly enslaved Mary Fields, more widely known by her nickname Stagecoach Mary, was the first Black woman to carry mail. And “she stood out on the trail—and became a Wild West legend. Rumor had it that she’d fended off an angry pack of wolves with her rifle, had ‘the temperament of a grizzly bear.’”
“She met trains with mail, then drove her stagecoach over rocky, rough roads and through snow and inclement weather.” More importantly, “would-be mail thieves didn’t stand a chance against Stagecoach Mary.”
Another notable woman from that time was Henrietta Williams Foster, affectionately referred to as Aunt Rittie. Foster, a cowhand who resided in Refugio County in South Texas, “was considered a tenacious, tough-as-nails woman who would ride her horse sidesaddle in long skirts and could perform the same work as the men.”
A member of the Black Seminole community, Johanna “Chona” Phillips July Wilkes Lasley was an extremely skilled horse tamer during the late 1800s. As an interviewee of the Federal Writers’ Project, in an atypical move for women of the time, Lasley “became an expert horse breaker” and after her father’s death, she “continued his work.” Her method “She put on her clothes that needed washing and led the horse to the Rio Grande…pulled the horse into the deep water forcing it to swim. She stayed in the water until the horse tired and then she hopped on its back and rode out of the river. Her method of gentling the horse took advantage of the terrain and lessened her chore of cleaning her garments.”
Before Mulan, there was Cathay Williams, who is credited with being “the first African-American woman to enlist in the army and did so by disguising herself as a man. Though she was hospitalized five times, no one ever discovered her secret. She called herself William Cathay and was deemed fit for duty.” Following her time in combat, she moved out to Colorado and was married. But after her husband tried to steal her money and her horses, she had him arrested.
These were among just some of the women who lived and thrived in that era. According to Cowgirl Magazine, “African American women made enormous contributions to the advancement and culture of the West. They built towns, established charities, created schools, developed churches, and did dangerous jobs such as delivering the mail. They were real estate magnates, writers, celebrated chefs, investors, and trailblazers.”
TOPICS: beyoncé country music cowgirlThe post It’s Not Our First Rodeo: Black Women In The Wild, Wild West appeared first on Essence.
Family with one child viewing potential new home withsenior estate agent, father talking to agent while mother and son look out of window of spacious empty room, real estate, new life, beginnings By Jasmine Browley ·Updated February 28, 2024
The American Dream may be a bit more equitable than we thought, according to a new report from Zillow.
Homeownership, one of the most touted bastions of wealth-building, has notoriously been more challenging for Black Americans than white Americans. But new data from Zillow suggests the gap between the share of Black and white renting families that could comfortably afford a mortgage payment shrunk significantly during the pandemic.
The report points out that in 2022, nearly 40% of 138 million U.S. families didn’t own homes—of those, more than 6.3 million families were considered “income-ready” for a mortgage, or in other words ready to make a purchase if they chose to do.
Just 7.8% of Black families were income-ready for a mortgage, compared to 12.5% of white families — a gap of 4.7 percentage points. This gap has closed by significantly since it stood at 7.9 percentage points since 2012.
“Despite the significant decline in mortgage affordability in the past two years, millions of families who do not own their home have the means to afford the largest share of a homeowner’s cost — the mortgage,” said Zillow Senior Economist Orphe Divounguy in a news release. “While some families may choose to rent, many are simply constrained. It’s crucial to recognize the existence of additional barriers beyond monthly cost, including access to funds for a down payment and closing costs — as well as other barriers that significantly contribute to mortgage denials, like insufficient credit scores and lack of access to credit. These barriers especially impact people of color.”
While there has been improvement in closing the racial homeownership gap, it is still marginal. Across the U.S., homeownership among white families sits at 73% as compared to Black households (44%). This is also compounded by the pervasive racial wealth gap. As the Brookings Institute reports, between 2019 and 2022, for every $100 in wealth held by white households, Black households held only $15.
The post Zillow Says The Racial Homeownership Gap Narrowed Significantly In The Last Few Years—But It’s Now What You Think appeared first on Essence.