While I look for Kickass Women all over the world, I admit to being partial to stories from my home state of California. This month, I want to introduce you to Biddy Mason, a woman who fought successfully for her freedom and went on to purchase land all over Los Angeles, leaving a lasting legacy for her family and community.
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born in Mississippi in 1818. Born into slavery, she was forced to work in Georgia, South Carolina, and again in Mississippi before being sold to a Mormon who wanted to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah. She walked 1,700 miles to Utah, caring for her three children and being a midwife, cook, and cattle herder for the wagon train.
Biddy’s life changed when the slaver took her to California, where slavery was illegal. During the journey she met Charles H. and Elizabeth Flake Rowan, a free Black couple, who told her that slavery was illegal in California and to go to court.
It took five years, but Biddy was finally able to sue for release along with her family. Her slaver tried to force her to move with him to Texas, but Biddy’s free Black friends told the court and she was taken into protective custody. Under California Law, Black people were not allowed to testify against White people in a court of law, so the judge held a hearing in his home, where she was allowed to testify on her own behalf.
According to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center:
On January 21, 1856, in the case of Mason v. Smith, Los Angeles District Judge approved Mason’s petition. The ruling freed Mason and thirteen members of her extended family. This was the first ruling of its kind in California and set a precedent for future cases that came before California courts.
Biddy was a healer and midwife who was fluent in Spanish. She moved to Los Angeles where she started her own business and used her earnings to invest in land, making her the equivalent of a multimillionaire today. This video talks about how she changed the landscape of Los Angeles through a combination of savvy business sense and generosity:
Biddy was a philanthropist known as “The Grandmother of Los Angeles.” The National Park Service says:
She continued working as a midwife and nurse, saving her money and using it to purchase land in what is now the heart of downtown L.A. There she organized First A.M.E. Church, the oldest African American Church in the city. Mason used her wealth, estimated to be about $3 million, to become a philanthropist to the entire L.A. community. She donated to numerous charities, fed and sheltered the poor, and visited prisoners. Mason was instrumental in founding a traveler’s aid center and an elementary school for black children.
Biddy Mason died in 1891 at the age of 75. Today the Biddy Mason Memorial Park stands on the first land that she purchased. The park’s main feature is an 80-foot-concrete wall designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville that describes Biddy Mason’s life.
Biddy leaves us with these words:
“If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance, even as it receives.”
Additional resources:
