She 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. 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 master’s 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 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 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. In today’s money, that would be $6M. Her most noted accomplishment is the founding of the First AME Church in California. 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.”
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 honor by members of the church she helped founded. Mayor Tom Bradley was among the dignitaries in attendance. Black women are legendary.
Elizabeth Freeman (c.1744 – December 28, 1829), also known as Bet, Mum Bett, or MumBet, was the first enslaved African American to file and win a freedom suit in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, in Freeman’s favor, found slavery to be inconsistent with the 1780 Massachusetts State Constitution. Her suit, Brom and Bett v. Ashley (1781), was cited in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appellate review of Quock Walker’s freedom suit. When the court upheld Walker’s freedom under the state’s constitution, the ruling was considered to have implicitly ended slavery in Massachusetts.
Btw… Andra, Viola, and Chadwick was snubbed! But a heavy congrats to H.E.R, Daniel, Terrence J, and the Make Up Crew for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom!!! ✊☺️
Jackie Robinson in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform, 1950. NARA ID 6802718.
JACKIE ROBINSON BROKE COLORBARRIER#OTD 1947
Athlete and Civil Rights Advocate
“Life is not a spectator sport… . If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re escaping your life.” – Jackie Robinson, 1964
Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the MLB color barrier 74 years ago today. As the first Black to play in the major leagues, he became the target of vicious racial abuse. He established a “reputation as a black man who never tolerated affronts to his dignity,” but found it increasingly challenging not to respond. In the ballpark, he answered the people he called “haters” with the perfect eloquence of a base hit. In 1949, his best year, Robinson was named the MLB’s MVP, and in 1962 was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He continued to champion the cause of civil rights after he retired from baseball. He believed that racial integration in every facet of American society would enrich the nation, just as surely as it had enriched baseball. Every American President who held office between 1956 and 1972 received letters from Jackie Robinson expressing varying levels of rebuke for not going far enough to advance the cause of civil rights.
Letterto Eisenhower about ittle Rock, 5/13/1958. NARA ID 186627.
Telegramto LBJ about the horrific events in Selma, 3/9/1965.
Letter from Jackie Robinson to Nixon Deputy Special Assistant Roland Elliott, 4/20/1972.
Jackie Robinson—Freedom Fighter Featured Document display, East Rotunda Gallery, National Archives Museum, DC, through April 20, 2022.
Jackie Robinson refused to move to the back of the bus Drafted into the Army during World War II, 2nd Lt. Jack R. Robinson was stationed at Camp Hood, Texas, in 1944. Riding a military shuttle, Lieutenant Robinson was ordered to move to the rear by the civilian driver. Robinson explained that the War Department had recently desegregated military buses. But this was the Jim Crow South. The driver called the military police. A crowd gathered. Things escalated. Robinson was charged with insubordination and conduct disrespectful to his superior officer.
See Letter from Lt. Jack Robinson to Truman K. Gibson, NARA ID 159703346.
