Molly Williams

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First known female and Black firefighter in the U.S.

title: "Molly Williams" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["year-of-birth-missing", "year-of-death-missing", "19th-century-american-firefighters", "american-women-firefighters", "history-of-firefighting", "history-of-women-in-the-united-states", "19th-century-american-slaves", "history-of-new-york-city", "african-american-firefighting-organizations", "19th-century-african-american-women", "19th-century-african-american-people"] description: "First known female and Black firefighter in the U.S." topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Williams" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary First known female and Black firefighter in the U.S. ::

Molly Williams (fl. 1818) was the first known female, and first known black, firefighter in the United States.

An African American, she was a slave of the New York City merchant Benjamin Aymar. She was affiliated with the Oceanus Engine Company #11 in lower Manhattan. During her time in the company, she was called Volunteer No. 11. Williams made a distinguished presence in her sturdy work clothes of calico dress and checked apron. Her service was noted particularly during the blizzard of 1818. Male firefighters were scarce due to a cholera outbreak, but Williams took her place with the men on the dragropes and pulled the pumper to the fire through the deep snow.

When asked, Williams always replied: "‘I belongs to ole ‘Leven; I allers runs wid dat ole bull-gine.’"

Notes

References

  1. "IFD Black History".
  2. "History of Women in Firefighting".
  3. "History – The History of Volunteer Firefighting".
  4. (December 2018). "1818, 1918, 2018: Two Centuries of Pandemics". Health Security.
  5. (26 April 2015). "Molly Williams, a black woman and a slave, fought fires years before the FDNY was formed was a pioneer for fellow female smoke-eaters".
  6. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111008014230/http://www.marinwoodfire.org/content/Firefighting_History/100096 The History of Volunteer Firefighting] Marinwood Fire Department

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year-of-birth-missingyear-of-death-missing19th-century-american-firefightersamerican-women-firefightershistory-of-firefightinghistory-of-women-in-the-united-states19th-century-american-slaveshistory-of-new-york-cityafrican-american-firefighting-organizations19th-century-african-american-women19th-century-african-american-people