My editor at Middleweb, John, saw some of my tweets about #Western106, so he sent me a collection of Western magazines (how cool is that?) and an interesting book by Stephanie Bearce entitled Top Secret Files: The Wild West. It’s a non-fiction book for middle school readers that has some cool information in it and some fine myth debunking, too. Bearce also gives over quite a few pages to the forgotten Women of the West. As I read these profiles, I got inspired to write some poems about these woman. I used Canva to create these as digital static poems.
I intend to share one every day or two this week. The first poem is about Stagecoach Mary (Fields), a black woman who worked hard to gain respect and used her physical strength to silence those who would question her.
I gathered the images online, and given the time period we are talking about and muddy history of these women (a mix of those who followed the law and those who broke the law), I can’t vouch for the accuracy. I did my best to use the pictures of these woman from Top Secret Files with the images I found online.
Peace (in the rememberin’),
Kevbin
I love your work!
And baffled at when you might sleep? All this creation stuff, writing, etc. and teaching grade 6? Wow!
Good use of Canava, it is a tool I have come to like a lot for some quick and quality design pieces.
This was a great way to bring recognition to the female cowgirls. Thanks for creating and sharing.
Kevin – Terrific what you’ve done with some of this ‘content.’ I’m drawn to the lost history as well. As the years pass by, and the magazine editors get younger, more and more of that emerges. More Barbara Stanwick than Gene Autry.
Given your interest in the women’s history, I’ve put a couple of other goodies in the mail!
Thanks, John!