International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is held on 23 August every year to recognise the anniversary of the day enslaved people on the island of Saint Domingue revolted against French colonial rule. Dr Kevin Waite, from our department of History, has carried out much research into slavery and explains the incredible story of Biddy Mason, an American who overcame enslavement to help found Los Angeles.
I came across Biddy Mason as I was doing research for my first book, a history of slavery in the American West. She made a cameo in that book, but I realised that her incredible life story required a much broader canvass, so I set about learning everything I could about her life in order to write a proper biography.
She won her freedom in a Los Angeles courtroom in January 1856 in what amounted to the largest single judicial emancipation in the history of the American West. Fourteen people in total – Biddy, her three daughters, and ten other enslaved women and children – won their freedom that day. One of the remarkable things about their case is that it took place in a free state, where slavery had technically been outlawed since 1850. But California authorities typically looked the other way when enslaved people were brought into the state. In other words, California was a free state in name only. Which explains why Biddy laboured in bondage for five years in San Bernardino (about 60 miles east of Los Angeles) before she finally won her freedom.
After winning her freedom, Biddy Mason went on to become a successful nurse, philanthropist, and real estate entrepreneur. Her rise certainly didn’t happen overnight, as Los Angeles was deeply divided over race, and most Black women could only find work as domestic servants. But eventually she would accrue a fortune in real estate that made her among the wealthiest Black women in the American West. Mason used much of her wealth and influence to assist other African Americans in Los Angeles. She co-founded the first Black church in the city (which numbers about 20,000 members today), and aided others financially in times of crisis. She was fond of saying, “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.”
Her story was an inspiration to African Americans who began fleeing from the Jim Crow South in the 1890s. Hundreds and eventually thousands of them relocated to Los Angeles in the early 20th century. Mason had demonstrated that success as a Black person in Los Angeles was possible – even though she faced constant discrimination because of her sex and race. Today, she’s remembered in a memorial wall in downtown Los Angeles. Currently, some activists are also attempting to rename one of L.A.'s central parks (Pershing Square) in her honour. It would be a fitting tribute for someone who did so much for the city.
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