Hidden Figures: Mary Elizabeth Bowser #WomensHERstoryMonth 28/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Mary Elizabeth Bowser #WomensHERstoryMonth 28/28

Mary Elizabeth Bowser (originally Mary Jane Richards, 1846 – 1867) was a Union spy during the Civil War. She was an American former slave and worked in connection with Elizabeth Van Lew. Mary Elizabeth Bowser was born a slave somewhere around 1839 on a plantation owned by John Van Lew of Richmond. Upon his death, his wife and daughter, Elizabeth, freed their slaves and arranged for Mary to be educated in Philadelphia. During the war, on a recommendation from Elizabeth Van Lew, Mary was placed on Jefferson Davis’ household staff in the Confederate capital of Richmond. Assuming she was a slave, Davis’ cabinet members and military leaders spoke openly in front of her about troop strategy and movement. She was able to read war dispatches and other important information Davis left laying around which she later passed to Union informers. The first record of Richards is her baptism, as "Mary Jane" at St. John's Church in Richmond, on May 17, 1846. There isn’t much known about her life before her marrying Wilson Bowser on April 16, 1861, becoming known as Mary Bowser. The ceremony took place just four days after Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter, the first battle of the Civil War. Shortly after the start of the Civil War, the Van Lew family sold Richards as a servant to Jefferson Davis's family in the Confederate White House, where she served an important role in the spy ring organized by Elizabeth Van Lew. Union military leaders such as Alfred Terry, Edward Ord, and Colonel S H Roberts benefited from Bowser's work. The value of Van Lew's ring was noted by Generals Benjamin Butler, Ulysses S. Grant, and George H. Sharpe. After the Civil War ended, Bowser worked as teacher to former slaves in the city, and gave lectures in the North about her education and wartime exploits. She protected her identity by using pseudonyms at lectures, often calling herself Richmonia Richards or Richmonia R. St. Pierre. Using the name Mary J. Richards, she founded a freedmen's school in Saint Marys, Georgia, in early 1867. Her school served day students, adult night students, and Sunday school students, all taught by herself. In a June 1867 letter to the superintendent of education for the Georgia Freedmen's Bureau, she requested that he now refer to her as Mary J. R. Garvin. After that date, there is no further record of Garvin. ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: 'How a Black Spy Infiltrated the Confederate White House:' https://www.history.com/news/female-spies-civil-war-mary-bowser-elizabeth-van-lew 'BROOKLYN NETS PRESENT THE UNTOLD: MARY ELIZABETH BOWSER:' https://www.nba.com/nets/news/bhm/2019/02/13/mary-elizabeth-bowser 'Mary Elizabeth Bowser, cunning and dedicated:' https://aaregistry.org/story/mary-elizabeth-bowser-cunning-and-dedicated/ Mary Elizabeth Bowser: https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/mary-elizabeth-bowser Mary Elizabeth Bowser – Union Spy: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mary-bowser/ Mary Bowser (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bowser