Ep. 50 Mary Richards: How a Black Female Spy Helped Bring Down the Confederacy

In this episode of History Fix, I bring you the story of Mary Richards and Elizabeth Van Lew, two women who worked together to feed Confederate secrets to Union forces during the American Civil War. These daring women put it all on the line, demonstrating  exceptional bravery and above average intellect to do what they thought was right. At a time when women were seen as docile, ignorant, and non-threatening, Mary and Elizabeth fooled them all, helping to bring down the Confederacy from the inside with very little to show for it. 

Sources: 

• Encyclopedia Virginia "Mary Richards Bowser"
• American Battlefield Trust "Mary Jane Richards"
• History.com "How a Black Spy Infiltrated the Confederate White House" 
• Time Magazine "We're Missing the Point of the Mary Bowser Story"
• Journal of the Civil War Era "Jousting With History On a Stick"
• Smithsonian Magazine "Elizabeth Van Lew: An Unlikely Union Spy"
• US Office of the Historian "Founding of Liberia, 1847"
• National Park Service "The Civil War"

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