Biddy Mason

Bridget "Biddy" Mason (August 15, 1818 – January 15, 1891) was an American nurse, midwife, real estate entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Born into slavery, she successfully petitioned a California court for her freedom in 1856 and went on to become one of the first African American women to own land in Los Angeles. Mason was a central figure in the early Black community there and was a founding member of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church (First A.M.E.), the city's oldest African American church.

Born in the American South, Mason was enslaved by Robert Smith, a convert to Mormonism who forced her and her three daughters west during the exodus of the Mormon pioneers. After living in the Utah Territory, the household moved to San Bernardino, California, in 1851. Although California was admitted to the Union as a free state, Smith attempted to hold Mason and her family in captivity and later planned to traffic them to the slave state of Texas. With the aid of the local Black community and legal authorities, Mason petitioned for her liberty. In a landmark 1856 ruling, Judge Benjamin Ignatius Hayes granted freedom to Mason and her extended family, declaring that they could not be held in bondage in a free state.

Following her emancipation, Mason settled in Los Angeles, where she worked as a nurse and midwife, gaining renown for her herbal medical knowledge and service to the poor. Through frugal saving, she purchased property on Spring Street, becoming one of the first Black women in Los Angeles to own real estate. As the city grew, her property value ballooned, allowing her to amass sizable wealth. Mason used her fortune to establish a daycare center, a school for Black children, and the First A.M.E. Church, originally organized in her living room in 1872. Widely respected for her philanthropy, she earned the nickname "Auntie Mason." Today, she is honored with the Biddy Mason Park in downtown Los Angeles, and her legacy is recognized by the California Social Work Hall of Distinction.

Early life Biddy Mason was born into slavery reportedly on August 15, 1818, in Hancock County, Georgia, but her exact birthplace and birthdate are unknown. During her enslaved teenage years, she was obligated to learn domestic and agricultural skills. Additionally, she developed skills in herbal medicine and midwifery taught to her by other enslaved women. It is unknown whether Biddy was baptized. During the journey west, Biddy herded livestock, prepared meals, and midwifed while caring for her own children. Thirty-four enslaved people went with their owners to the Utah Territory. The enslaved people built log cabins, cleared fields, and planted in the town of Cottonwood in the Salt Lake Valley.

Church leader Brigham Young sent a group of Mormons to Southern California in 1851. Young instructed the group that California was a free state, and their slaves would be free when they arrived in California. As part of the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state. Nevertheless, some migrants from the South, including Robert Smith, continued to bring enslaved people into the state. California's courts routinely ruled against the freedom claims of enslaved African Americans in support of slave owners.

Freedom In 1856, Smith decided to move to the slave state of Texas and sell his slaves there. He told his slaves that they would be free in Texas. Smith claimed that Biddy wanted to go to Texas. He then bribed her lawyer to not show up.

Like every enslaved person, Biddy had no legal last name when she was enslaved. After she became free, she used the last name Biddy Mason. Authors occasionally speculate that she took the name in homage to Apostle Amasa Mason Lyman, but the name "Mason" was more likely her original family name from Hancock County, Georgia. Saving carefully, she was one of the first African American women to own land in Los Angeles. Because of her kind and giving spirit, many called her "Auntie Mason" or "Grandma Mason". The organizing meetings were held in her home on Spring Street. She donated the land on which the church was built. She also helped to establish the first elementary school for black children in Los Angeles.

Family Mason's daughter Ellen married Charles Owens and had two sons, Robert Curry Owens (1859-1932) and Henry Louis Owens (1861-1893). For many decades, Robert Curry Owens was noted as the wealthiest Black man in Los Angeles.

After Mason's death on January 15, 1891, she was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights. On March 27, 1988, in a ceremony attended by the mayor of Los Angeles and members of the church she founded, her burial place was marked with a gravestone.

Mason is an honoree in the California Social Work Hall of Distinction. She was also celebrated on Biddy Mason Day on November 16, 1989. A ceremony at the Broadway Spring Center unveiled a memorial to highlight her achievements. It is an concrete wall embedded with objects that tell the story of Mason's life.

Mason is featured in a mural by Bernard Zakheim originally installed in Toland Hall Auditorium at the University of California, San Francisco, during the 1930s. The painting, along with others in the series, was removed from the building before it was demolished as part of a campus upgrade.