African American women had many kinds of jobs during the time of the Old West such as farming, sewing, innkeepers,teachers, nurses, and cooks.
   
Mary Ellen Pleasant lived in California as a free woman. She helped slaves escape from slavery and provided a shelter for them.  She was later known as "The Mother of Civil Rights" because she took a stance against the courts of California.

Clara Brown was born in California and sold to a planter in Virginia.  She stayed there until adulthood.  At the age of 35 her husband had died and she bought her freedom.  She left the state because of the law. Clara heard of the gold in the Hills of Colorado.  She was then the first African American Woman to cross the plains into the Colorado gold fields.