
Biddy Mason: From Slave to California Entrepreneur - sroussey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biddy_Mason
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sroussey
Biddy Bridget Mason (1815-1891) was born into slavery and given as a wedding
gift to a Mormon couple in Mississippi named Robert and Rebecca Smith. In 1847
at age 32, Biddy Mason was forced to walk from Mississippi to Utah tending
cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan.

After four years in Salt Lake City, Smith took the group to a new Mormon
settlement in San Bernardino, California in search of gold. Biddy Mason soon
discovered that the California State Constitution made slavery illegal, and
that her master planned to move them all to Texas to avoid freeing them. With
the help of some free blacks she had befriended, she and the other slaves
attempted to run away to Los Angeles, but they were intercepted by Smith and
brought back. However, when he tried to leave the state with his family and
slaves, a local posse prevented his flight. Biddy had Robert Smith brought
into court on a writ of habeas corpus. She, her daughters, and the ten other
slaves were held in jail for their own safety until the judge heard the case
and granted their freedom.

Now free, Mason and her three daughters moved to Los Angeles where they worked
and saved enough money to buy a house at 331 Spring Street in downtown Los
Angeles. Biddy was employed as a nurse, midwife, and domestic servant. She was
one of the first black women to own land in the city of Los Angeles. She had
the gumption to use part of her land as a temporary resting place for horses
and carriages, and people visiting town paid money in exchange for the space.
This can be considered the first "parking lot" in Los Angeles!

Knowing what it meant to be oppressed and friendless, Biddy Mason immediately
began a philanthropic career by opening her home to the poor, hungry, and
homeless. Through hard work, saving, and investing carefully, she was able to
purchase large amounts of real estate including a commercial building, which
provided her with enough income to help build schools, hospitals, and
churches. Her financial fortunes continued to increase until she accumulated a
fortune of almost $300,000. In today's money, that would be $6M. Her most
noted accomplishment is the founding of the First AME Church in California.

