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blue plaque · Birmingham

Minnie May

Photograph at the Minnie May blue plaque

Minnie M. Cox dedicated her life to serving her community, becoming a significant figure in Mississippi's history. She is remembered as the first African American woman appointed as a postmaster in the state. Her appointment gained national attention when President Theodore Roosevelt upheld her position amidst threats of violence from white citizens.

Beyond her role as postmaster, Mrs. Cox was a passionate advocate for equal rights. Recognizing the financial challenges faced by black citizens in accessing banking and insurance services, she took proactive steps by establishing her own financial institutions to help safeguard their assets. Her commitment extended to her earlier career as a teacher, shaping the educational landscape.

Original summary by TributeLegacy, informed by public sources.

Source: Open Plaques. Geographic data via OpenStreetMap.

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Data sources

Location records are drawn from open, licence-clean datasets, kept here with attribution and gratitude to the people who maintain them.

  • Open Plaques, dedicated to the public domain (CC0). See openplaques.org.
  • Wikidata, available under the CC0 1.0 Universal dedication.
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence.
  • Historic England, National Heritage List for England, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. War memorial records are drawn from open community datasets (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, NHLE) - never from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which is excluded.

Editorial descriptions, photography and tribute links are original TributeLegacy work, layered on top of the open data.

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