BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Biddy Mason
Bridget "Biddy" Mason (August 15, 1818, in Hancock County, Georgia – January 15, 1891, in Los Angeles, California) was an African-American nurse and a Californian real-estate entrepreneur and philanthropist.
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| Born | Bridget Hancock County, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Died | Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Biddy Mason |
| Occupation | Mid-wife, California real Estate entrepreneur |
| Known for | Philanthropy, Founding the Los Angeles First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles, California real-estate entrepreneur |
Early life
Biddy Mason was born a slave on August 15, 1818 probably in Georgia but it may have been in a Mississippi platform,[1] and given the name of "Bridget" with no surname. She was given to Robert Smith and his bride as a wedding present. After the marriage, Smith took his new wife and slaves to Mississippi.
Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) proselytized in Mississippi. They taught Smith and his wealthy family and they converted. Slaves were not baptized in the church as a matter of policy. Members were encouraged to free their slaves[citation needed], but Smith chose not to do so.
Moving west
The Smith household joined a group of other church members from Mississippi to meet the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1847. The group traveled to Pueblo, Colorado, and joined up with the sick detachment from the Mormon Battalion.[2] They later joined the main body of Mormons crossing the plains and settled in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory.
Church leader Brigham Young sent a group of Mormons to Southern California in 1851. Robert Smith, family and slaves joined them in San Bernardino, California, sometime later. Young counseled Smith again to free Bridget and his other slaves before going to California[citation needed]. Bridget was among a small group of blacks, free and slave, in the San Bernardino settlement.
Freedom
In 1856, Robert Smith, Mason's owner, planned to move to the slave state of Texas. As part of the Compromise of 1850, California was a free state and any slave brought into the state was free. However, Smith had refused Church leaders' counsel to set his slaves free and maintained that Bridget and her children were his property. He planned to take them with him overland to Texas.
Bridget, helped by friends, attempted to escape from Smith. She and a group of Smith's other slaves traveled towards Los Angeles before Smith caught up with them. A local posse caught up with Smith before he could leave the state.
Bridget petitioned a Los Angeles court for her freedom. A California judge, Benjamin Ignatius Hayes, granted her freedom as a resident of a free state,[3] as well as the freedom of the other slaves held captive by Smith (Bridget's three daughters,Ellen,Ann,and Harriet and ten other African-American women and children). In 1860, Mason received a certified copy of the document that guaranteed her freedom.[4]
Bridget had no legal last name as a slave. After emancipation, she chose to be known as Bridget Biddy. Mason was the middle name of Amasa Lyman, Mormon Apostle and mayor of San Bernardino. Biddy had spent many years in the company of the Amasa Lyman household.
Los Angeles
After becoming free, Mason worked in Los Angeles as a nurse and midwife. One of her employers was the noted physician John Strother Griffin. Saving carefully, she was one of the first African Americans to purchase land in the city. As a businesswoman she amassed a relatively large fortune of nearly $300,000, which she shared generously with charities. Biddy also fed and sheltered the poor, and visited prisoners. She was instrumental in founding a traveler's aid center, and an elementary school for black children. Because of her kind and giving spirit, many called her "Auntie Mason" or "Grandma Mason".
In 1872 Mason was a founding member of First African Methodist Episcopal Church, the city's first black church. The organizing meetings were held in her home on Spring Street. She donated the land on which the church was built. This land is now the site of Biddy Mason Park, a Los Angeles city park and site of an art installation describing her life.[5][6]
She spoke fluent Spanish and was a well-known figure in the city. She dined on occasion at the home of Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California and a wealthy Los Angeles land owner.[7]
Death and posthumous honors
After her death on January 15, 1891, Mason was buried in an unmarked grave in Boyle Heights. On March 27, 1988, in a ceremony attended by the mayor of Los Angeles and members of the church she founded, the grave was marked with a tombstone.[8]
Mason is an honoree in the California Social Work Hall of Distinction. She was also celebrated on Biddy Mason Day, Thursday, November 16, 1989.[9]
One of artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville's best-known pieces is "Biddy Mason's Place: A Passage of Time,”[10] an 82-foot concrete wall with embedded objects in downtown Los Angeles (near where Mason lived) that tells the story of Mason's life.[11]
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