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MILFORD — For Jeanette Sherrod, Milford's first African American woman postmaster, Black History Month holds a special place in her heart.
When Sherrod was sworn in as postmaster in 2019, she talked about her childhood in Mississippi and her mother leaving them for a year to travel to Bridgeport to find a better life. When she returned to Mississippi, she moved the family to Bridgeport.
"I have to work harder because I am an African American," she said. "But I do have pride because I look from where we came from to where we are now.
"For me to achieve here," she added, "I want every person to understand you can achieve your dreams and do anything, it doesn't matter where you come from, but you have to work for it and strive for it. That's what I had to do. It took me 30 years to achieve this goal in my life."
Sherrod started her journey to becoming a postmaster in Bridgeport when she decided to apply to become a mail carrier.
"My brother, Ricky Sherrod, started as a carrier for the postal service, and, at the time, I was working for People's Bank," she said. "I wanted to try out that job, so I took the test, and they called me back for the job. I wanted to follow in my brother's footsteps because we were always close."
In her fourth year as postmaster, Sherrod said she's learned a lot, especially in delegating important tasks.
"You grow into this job like policies and issues, and there's a lot of responsibility," she said. "There were many things I had to learn as a postmaster and some things I had to adjust to."
Before she transitioned to Milford as postmaster, Sherrod had been a supervisor for years. That is when the postmaster in Bridgeport asked her if she had anybody she wanted to recommend to go to Milford.
"Then he asked me if I could go for two weeks to help out because they needed somebody quickly," said Sherrod. "This was in 2018, and at this time, I was a manager in Stratford. So when I got here, I was only supposed to be here for a month, and here we are five years later."
Black History Month is important, she said, because Black history is made daily.
"I do believe Black history is 365 days a year, but because we celebrate it this month, it means a lot to me and where I've come from," she said. "When they say to me we're going to celebrate Black History, I am Black history. So every day is a history day for us and everybody."
There have been many Black history icons who have inspired Sherrod, but her favorite is Maya Angelou.
"But my favorite stamp from our Black Heritage Stamp series is Gwen Ifill," she said of the African American journalist. "The reason is that my mother mails her bills, and she would call the post office here, and they would tell me my mom is on the line asking for stamps and said she wants the pretty lady.
"I had to think about that for a little bit, and I said, well, it must be me," Sherrod said jokingly. "I called her and asked which one she wanted, and she told me the one who would be on TV, and she was pretty. So that's when I knew it was Gwen Ifill."
The United States Postal Service has a vision and 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence called Delivering for America. Sherrod said she's delivering for America by putting the customers first.
"My employees also are important, and just as a whole, the postal service, we have to look at where we have come from," she said. "When I hear about the 10-year plan and how I Deliver for America by showing up every day, taking my customer's issues seriously along with my supervisors, and listening to my carriers. I also let them know the customers are the reason we are here, so if we continue to please our customers, we will continue to deliver for America."