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SPEAKER_03: This Women's History Month Encyclopedia Wamanica is brought to you by Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz celebrates all women driving change and is indebted to those trailblazing women who punctuate the brand's history, like Bertha Benz and Evie Ruskvist. These women defied the odds to change the auto industry forever, and Mercedes-Benz applauds the tenacity and courage it takes to pave the road ahead. Listen along this month as we share the stories of inspiring women in charge and at the top of their fields, powered by Mercedes-Benz. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. Today's episode is about a woman who was born and lived much of her life as an enslaved person before using her brilliance, resourcefulness, and business acumen to free herself and become the wealthiest woman in Los Angeles. She was known throughout the city for her incredible generosity. We're talking about Bridget Biddy Mason. Biddy Mason was born on August 15th, 1818, somewhere near Hancock County, Georgia. Because Biddy was born into slavery, the circumstances of her childhood are mostly unknown, but we know she was sold to a family of enslavers in Mississippi by young adulthood. These new enslavers were Robert and Rebecca Smith. Farmers who made Biddy look after their children tend to their livestock, work the fields, and act as a nurse and midwife for the family. During this time, Biddy gave birth to three daughters of her own, Ellen, Anne, and Harriet. When Robert Smith converted to the new Mormon faith, he decided to pack up his family and move to Salt Lake City with a group of other Mormons. Of course, Biddy and the rest of the people Robert enslaved were forced to come too. In 1847, the group traveled over 1,500 miles in a 300-wagon caravan across multiple states to get to Utah. Biddy set up camp for the Smiths, cooked all the food, herded the cattle, and acted as a midwife, all while taking care of her own three daughters. Though Utah was still part of Mexico at the time, the Smith family settled into what would later become Salt Lake City. But soon Robert Smith decided he wanted to seek greener pastures again, this time in San Bernardino, California. Biddy, the Smith family, and the rest of their enslaved workers settled down near the Santa Ana River and set up a prosperous cattle business. There was just one problem for Robert Smith. Slavery was illegal in California. Robert tried to conceal this fact from the people he had enslaved, but the American Civil War was brewing back East and slavery was the major topic of the day. It was looking more and more likely that Biddy would end up free if the Smiths stayed in San Bernardino. So instead of allowing that to happen, Robert plotted to move the whole family to Texas and to trick Biddy into coming along too. California law stated that if someone voluntarily returned to slave country, they would be legally enslaved again. But Biddy had befriended a group of formerly enslaved people in California who were bent on keeping that from happening. A woman named Elizabeth Rowan called the sheriff, who rode up with a posse to bring Robert to court right before he was planning to flee the state. Though Robert claimed that Biddy and the 14 other people he enslaved were just family who volunteered to come with him to Texas, the judge pulled Biddy into his office, explained the law, and asked her for the truth. Biddy chose to stay in California and the judge ruled in her favor. She and over a dozen other enslaved people were now freed. Biddy chose the surname Mason to honor Amasa Mason Lyman, the mayor of San Bernardino and a Mormon apostle and later apostate. Biddy and her daughters moved in with a family of formerly enslaved people in Los Angeles, which at the time had a population of just 2,000 people. She became a nurse and midwife by trade and eventually delivered hundreds of babies in the town. Across LA, she came to be known as Aunt Biddy. Biddy soon fixed her eyes on the real estate market. She saved up $250, enough to buy her first plot of land on Spring Street, where she set up a homestead for her family. But the property quickly became much more than that. Biddy made her home a refuge for the lost and weary. She also ran a community daycare and town meetings. Soon, new businesses started popping up on Spring Street and Biddy saw an opportunity for profit. She sold half of her property for $1,500 and built a new brick building on the remaining half so she could rent out to businesses. She sold off other properties she'd previously purchased for more than five times what she originally paid. Biddy's real estate work in Los Angeles was instrumental in shaping and developing the city in its early years. Using her business savvy, Biddy earned a fortune estimated to be worth $3 million today, all without ever learning to read or write. She was also famously philanthropic. She organized the first African American church in Los Angeles, founded a traveler's aid center, and funded an elementary school for black children. Biddy also helped her family buy property, too. In 1885, she sold part of the Spring Street property to her grandsons for the sum of love and affection and $10. Biddy was quoted saying, "'If you hold your hand closed, "'nothing good can come of it. "'The open hand is blessed, "'for it gives abundance even as it receives.'" By the time Biddy passed away on January 15th, 1891, she was the wealthiest woman in Los Angeles and one of the most beloved, too. But for reasons unknown, she was initially buried in an unmarked grave in Evergreen Cemetery. In 1981, the mayor of Los Angeles and members of the church Biddy founded rediscovered her grave and held a ceremony where they marked it with a tombstone to honor all the good she did for the city. All month, we're talking about women in the driver's seat. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our newsletter, Womanica Weekly. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopedia Womanica. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow.
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