Biddy Bridget Mason 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 to the cattle behind her master’s 300-wagon caravan.

Biddy Mason and a picture of the FAME Church she helped found in Los Angeles

She “walked” from Mississippi to Utah. That’s 1, 618.9 miles!

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 masters had a plan to move them all to Texas to avoid freeing them.

With the help of some freed 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 them from leaving.

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 to protect them from an angry and violent pro-slavery mob until the Judge heard the case and granted them their freedom.

Now free, Mason and her three daughters moved to Los Angeles where she was also known as “Aunt Biddy”, delivered hundreds of babies in Los Angeles, at that time a city of only around 2,000 inhabitants.

It was from this job Mason, over 10 years of frugal living, managed to save up enough money to buy the spring Street property for $250 (valued at about $4,000 today) in 1866.

She was one of the first Black women to own land in the city of Los Angeles.

Biddy had the intelligence and boldness 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.

That particular area was 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 which in today’s money would be $6M.

In her tireless work, she was known for saying “If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand gives in abundance; even as it receives.”

She was both very devout and generous with charity.

She co-founded and financed a church that is still very active in the community, the First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church.

Because of her experience with oppression, hardship, and poverty, she opened her home to the poor.

She established a daycare centre with her own money, as she knew the difficulties faced by working parents in her community.

She also generously donated money for food and supplies via a local store to help families that lost their homes due to flooding.

Mason also contributed donations to build schools and hospitals.

Biddy Bridget Mason died on January 15, 1891, at the age of 76.

On March 27, 1988, ninety-one years after her death, a special occasion event was given in her honour by members of the church she helped found.

Mayor Tom Bradley was among the dignitaries in attendance.

Black women are legendary.

Culled from Black History and Politics on Quora

Maxwell Oyekunle

pub-5160901092443552

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *