MILWAUKEE — Nearly one month since her mom passed away from cancer, Ny-Keisha Easley found comfort in looking back at the photos that tell the incredible story of her mother, Valerie Woodard.
"I really had an awesome mom," said Easley.
Easley says when she was young, Woodard moved from Indiana to Milwaukee with her and her older brother after she lost her job. She started working at Target but was barely getting by.
"She was trying to make ends meet," said Easley.
It wasn't until one of Woodard's sisters told her that the Milwaukee Fire Department was looking for recruits, that she decided to try and join in order to create a better life for her kids.
"She was like hey, the sky is the limit, let me try it."
After physically preparing herself at the YMCA, Woodard applied and joined the fire academy where Easley says her mom endured racism and discrimination throughout her training.
"It was like a two-headed sword because not only was she black, she was a woman. They would just say racist words or call her different names," said Easley. "She talked about how they would do extra challenges for her. They were trying to make it hard for her to quit."
But she was resilient. And on May 30 1986 at 27 years old, Woodard graduated from the academy and became the first black female firefighter in the city of Milwaukee.
"She made a difference and she paved the way for other minority firefighters," said Easley.
After the academy, Woodard was assigned to Milwaukee Fire Station 32 Ladder 9. Easley says her mom loved her job despite still facing some discrimination from the community.
"She told me about a story where she went inside somebody's house and all of her teammates went in and the lady said no she can't come in. The captain at the time was like well if she doesn't come in we all don't come in."
After 16 years of service, Woodard retired from the department in 2002. She moved to Texas where she continued to live until she was diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer in 2020.
"Even towards the end, she was a fighter," said Easley.
On Jan. 4, 2023, just days after her 65th birthday, Woodard died. Now, Easley has taken it upon herself to continue to share her mother's story and educate the world about the trailblazer of a woman that Woodard was.
"She was a very humble lady, that's why you didn't hear much about her. But now, I want everybody to know that she was the first black female firefighter in Milwaukee Wisconsin and I want to tell her story."
