<script async data-uid="defcacd1dd" src="https://fierce-maker-9650.kit.com/defcacd1dd/index.js" data-jetpack-boost="ignore" data-no-defer="1" data-no-optimize="1" nowprocket></script>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.3 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad5667 " id="quads-ad5667" style="float:none;text-align:center;padding:0px 0 0px 0;" data-lazydelay="0">
<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> 
<!-- HH3 --> 
<ins class="adsbygoogle" 
 style="display:block" 
 data-ad-client="ca-pub-9266290638607128" 
 data-ad-slot="2439182190" 
 data-ad-format="auto"></ins> 
<script> 
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 
</script>
</div>
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<h1>Theodore Roosevelt and Minnie Cox</h1>
<figure id="attachment_4027" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4027" style="width: 200px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-full wp-image-4027" src="https://www.historyhustle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Minnie-Cox-Teddy-Roosevely-History-Hustle.jpg" alt="Minnie Cox Teddy Roosevely History Hustle image" width="200" height="281" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-4027" class="wp-caption-text">Minnie Cox</figcaption></figure>
<p>No one could have said that Minnie Cox was anything but a great postmaster. She was efficient and dedicated in her job.</p>
<p>She was known to <strong>cover rent</strong> on post office boxes out of her own pocket, when residents were late paying.</p>
<p>She even <strong>put in a telephone at her own expense</strong>, so people could call in to see if they had mail.</p>
<p>But it was 1902 and she was an African American woman. And the racists in Indianola, Mississippi didn&#8217;t want a black woman serving as postmaster in their town. So they pressured her to leave.</p>
<p>At first, Cox was determined to stay, and held her ground.</p>
<figure id="attachment_4026" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4026" style="width: 1920px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-full wp-image-4026" src="https://www.historyhustle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Minnie-Cox-POst-Office-Hostory-Hustle.jpg" alt="Minnie Cox POst Office Hostory Hustle image" width="1920" height="993" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-4026" class="wp-caption-text">The post office in Indianola</figcaption></figure>
<p>But the threats became worse and she began to fear for her safety. When she asked for help from the mayor and sheriff, <strong>they refused.</strong></p>
<p>Feeling that she had no choice, Cox offered her letter of resignation.</p>
<h2>President Theodore Roosevelt Finds Out</h2>
<p>When President Theodore Roosevelt heard about what was happening, he was <strong>outraged.</strong></p>
<p>Roosevelt refused to accept her letter of resignation. And he took it a step further.</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.3 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad5670 " id="quads-ad5670" style="float:none;text-align:center;padding:0px 0 0px 0;" data-lazydelay="0">
<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> 
<ins class="adsbygoogle" 
 style="display:block; text-align:center;" 
 data-ad-layout="in-article" 
 data-ad-format="fluid" 
 data-ad-client="ca-pub-9266290638607128" 
 data-ad-slot="8337030220"></ins> 
<script> 
 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 
</script>
</div>

<p>He offered to pay for Cox&#8217;s salary while she wasn&#8217;t working, and he shut down Indianola&#8217;s post office, and <strong>had their mail rerouted to a town 30 miles away!</strong></p>
<p>He promised it would continue until she was given her job back.</p>
<p>Roosevelt also ordered the Attorney General to <strong>prosecute those who had threatened her with violence.</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4033" src="https://www.historyhustle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Teddy-Roosevelt-History-Hustle.jpg" alt="Teddy Roosevelt History Hustle image" width="627" height="633" /></p>
<p>When her appointment ended in 1904, the post office reopened, but she would not return to her position. She did return to Indianola, however, and opened up one of the earliest black-owned banks in the state with her husband. The two of them also founded an insurance company that was one of the first African American-owned insurance firms in the U.S.to offer whole life insurance.</p>
<p>In 2008 the Indianola post office was renamed in her honor.</p>
<p>Sources:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.congress.gov/crec/2008/07/14/CREC-2008-07-14-pt1-PgH6418.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Congress.gov</a><br />
<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/racial-bias-roosevelt-shuts-down-mississippi-post-office-jan-3-1903-1077401" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Politico</a><br />
<a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/theodore-roosevelt-mississippi-postmaster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Snopes</a><br />
<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.2307/2716390" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Journal of African American History</a></p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.3 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad5673 " id="quads-ad5673" style="float:none;margin:0px 3px 3px 3px;padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;" data-lazydelay="0">

</div>


<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 3.0.3 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad5669 " id="quads-ad5669" style="float:none;text-align:center;padding:0px 0 0px 0;" data-lazydelay="0">

</div>
</p>