Department of the Treasury: Difference between revisions

In 1861, Sophia Holmes became the first Black woman to be employed by the Treasury Department and by the [[Federal government of the United States]] when [[Henry Wilson|Senator Henry Wilson]], [[James G. Blaine]] and others advocated for her hiring as a janitor under Secretary of the Treasury [[Francis E. Spinner|Francis Spinner]]. She was paid fifteen dollars per month. In 1862, she prevented a major theft from the department of more than $200,000 when she came across a box filled with U.S. currency, including a number of thousand-dollar bills, and reported it to Secretary Spinner. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln subsequently honored her with a commendation for her actions, and the federal government rewarded her with an appointment for life as a messenger with its Department of Issues.<ref>Logan, Mrs. John A. ''Thirty Years in Washington or Life and Scenes in Our National Capital''. Hartford, Connecticut: A. D. Worthington & Co., 1901.</ref><ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DkJIAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Sophia+Holmes%22 The United States Treasury Register Containing a List of Persons Employed in the Treasury Department]'', p. 36. Washington, D.C.:U.S. Government Printing Office, 1874.</ref><ref>Ziparo, Jessica. ''This Grand Experiment: When Women Entered the Federal Workforce in Civil War–Era Washington, D.C.'' Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2017.</ref><ref>Bailey, M. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=nJTNAAAAMAAJ&dq=Sophia+Holmes+treasury&pg=PA628 The Chautauquan: Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle]''. Meadville, Pennsylvania: The T. L. Flood publishing House, 1892.</ref>