From slave to wealthy landowner
Despite Biddy Mason’s relative obscurity, there is a pocket park with descriptive plaques dedicated to her memory – for good reason. Mason was born into slavery on a Mississippi plantation in 1818. Her master decided to move west in 1847, stopping in Utah for a time before ultimately settling in Los Angeles in 1851. It’s said Mason was forced to walk almost 2,000 miles. Along the way, she prepared meals, acted as midwife, cared for her three young daughters, and herded animals.
Mason befriended members of the small African American community in LA, who probably informed her that California was a free state. But the law pertaining to slaves brought in by their master was unclear, and the specter of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 meant that an African-American could still be determined a slave at any time and ripped away to a slave state.
Info
Address 333 S Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013 | Public Transport Purple or Red Line to Pershing Square Station; memorial is two blocks away. | Getting there Paid lots and metered street parking | Hours Always viewable| Tip Take a peek next door into the iconic Bradbury Building (304 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013), the sunlight infused late-19th-century office building where many well-known movies have been shot, including Blade Runner and Chinatown.
To avoid the possibility of losing his slaves, Mason’s master decided to return to the South. En route, his ploy was foiled. It’s likely a friend of Mason’s alerted the sheriff, who showed up in the middle of the night, taking Mason and her fellow slaves to jail – thinking that was the safest place for them. This led to a court trial during which Mason sought and won her freedom as well as the freedom of 13 fellow slaves.
Working as a nurse and midwife, Mason went on to bring babies into the world for all ethnicities and economic classes. She prudently saved her earnings and for $250 bought land on the quiet outskirts of a rough Los Angeles, where the Biddy Mason Memorial is today. The area evolved into a booming business district. A few more keen real-estate moves made Mason a wealthy woman. She shared her prosperity and gave generously. After a devastating flood in 1884, she told the neighborhood grocer she would pay for the food of those who had lost their homes in the storm. Her financial worth when she died was the equivalent of $6 million today.
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