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| What this country needs is a free Black woman like Biddy or Harriet Tubman on the face of cash |
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| Pershing Square, DTLA, California |
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| I'm smiling because I'm finally free! |
- Bye-bye Pershing Square (LA)
- L.A. renames Pershing Square after Biddy Mason, founder of L.A.'s First AME Church (LAT)
- First A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church of LA
- The Metro board voted unanimously Thursday to honor Biddy Mason | LAist
LA's own Black race massacre?
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| Whites need to stick together and keep LA for us |
- Tulsa [white] race massacre [of rich Blacks in Oklahoma]
- USA's "Black Wall Street": Greenwood District, Tulsa
California was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free, non-slave state, which meant [human trafficker] Smith was holding Biddy Mason illegally. Mason fought for her freedom in court, with the trial ruling confirming her freedom in 1856.
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| Money is a good servant but a cruel master |
As a free woman, Biddy Mason settled in Los Angeles with her children and found work as a nurse and midwife.
In 1866, she purchased a nearly one-acre site between present-day Broadway (then Fort Street) and Spring Street, between 3rd and 4th Streets.
The Black female owner of Los Angeles
On this, the present location of the park, she built her homestead. Throughout the years, this pioneering Black woman purchased more property. And as the value of her [real estate] holdings escalated, she eventually became a relatively wealthy woman and a tireless philanthropist.
- List of parks in Los Angeles
- Alvarado Terrace Historic District
- VIDEO: How Biddy Mason changed LA forever: Biddy Mason’s story is one of the most powerful hidden chapters in American history. Born into slavery, she fought for her freedom and went on to become one of the first Black women to own land in Los Angeles. Through real estate, business, philanthropy, and founding First A.M.E. Church, she helped shape the city we know today. How did she build her legacy, inspire generations, and truly become "the woman who owned LA"?
Today's Pershing Square in DTLA
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| The lotus pond of Alvarado Park, LA |
The wall is a timeline of Biddy Mason’s life, illustrated by impressions of objects such as agave leaves, wagon wheels, and a midwife’s bag, as well as simple text and images such as an early survey map of Los Angeles and Biddy’s freedom papers.
The history begins at the right (northernmost) end of the wall with the text “Biddy Mason born a slave,” and progresses in time to the inscription: “Los Angeles mourns and reveres Grandma Mason.” More
Can Blacks ever be rich?
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