A Los Angeles Founding Black Real Estate Moguls Initial Occupation Was a Slave

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The name of this "Formally Under Educated Genius" was "Biddy Mason" and I have written many information briefs about her in the past. However, I'm going to highlight her visionary insight into the concept of the "Real Estate Industry" which enabled her to play an important role in the initial development of the Metropolitan of Los Angeles. 

This brilliant lady of color had built her assets up to $300,000 during the 1860's which would be the equal of ranges from $6,570,000.00 to $1,190,000,000.00 using the year 2014, based on (The Measuring Worth Chart).

Or six-million-five-hundred & seventy thousand to one-billion-one-hundred-ninety-thousand using the year 2014, based on (The Measuring Worth Chart).

Biddy moved to Los Angeles, after enduring a past history that would have broken the spirit of an average person, regardless of the social class they occupied. At this point in her life, she was invited to live with Robert Owens and his family. Her little girl Ellen soon wedded Owens' child Charles.

As time progressed, Biddy started to fill in as a medical attendant and birthing specialist for Dr. John Strother Griffin, a Los Angeles doctor who had turned out to be occupied with her court case. She was suing her former slave master for the independence of herself and her family, She rapidly turned out to be all around viewed as a medical attendant and maternity specialist, aiding several births to moms of all races and social classes. She likewise picked up a notoriety for her home grown cures.

Now as many of you are reading this article, the name Biddy Mason may not ring a bell because history books, classroom protocols, and printed news reports of her time period had a tendency to suppress news of this magnitude. However, if she was alive today and engaged in the real estate industry there just might be a string of Mason Towers that could rival Trump Towers.

Here is a little bit about her background which will help bring those unfamiliar with her up to date.

In 1818, Bridget "Biddy" Mason was conceived. She was a once illiterate Black slave woman who worked as a nurse/midwife and then walked from Mississippi to California to become a successful entrepreneur and a generous contributor to social causes. One might say that she literally started at the bottom and worked her way to the top.

She was born on a plantation in Mississippi claimed by Robert Marion Smith and Rebbecca (Crosby) Smith. In 1847, Smith experienced a Mormon transformation and chose to move to the Utah Territory with his family and slaves where Brigham Young was beginning a Mormon people group. 

In this strenuous two-thousand-mile cross-country trek, Mason was in charge of herding the steers. She likewise arranged dinners, went about as a birthing assistant and dealt with her youngsters. In 1851, Smith moved his family once more, this opportunity to San Bernardino, California. Smith most likely did not realize that California had been admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free state and that bondage was taboo there. 

Once there she had made companions in the Los Angeles black community and one of them (Charles Owens) helped Mason appeal to the court and in 1856 won flexibility for herself and for her little girls. She moved to Los Angeles and discovered work as a medical attendant and maternity specialist. Diligent work and her nursing ability enabled her to wind up noticeably financially autonomous.

She started to work for a local Dr. John S. Griffin who served the greater part of the Los Angeles territory. Biddy was likewise exceptionally thrifty and in just ten years in the wake of saving almost everything that she earned, she purchased a site on Spring Street for $250 getting to be noticeably one of the primary black individuals who started to rise in the Los Angeles community.

Her initial purchase site is currently in the focal point of the business area in the core of the city. In 1884, she sold a bundle of the land for $1500 and constructed a business working with spaces for rental on the rest of the land.

She kept settling on astute choices in her business and land exchanges and her money related fortunes kept on expanding until the point when she collected a fortune of practically $300,000. Her grandson, Robert Curry Owens, a land designer and government official, was the wealthiest African-American in Los Angeles at one time. 

Biddy was the founding individual to form the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872. She likewise offered liberally to different philanthropies and gave sustenance and safe house to the poor of all races and she always remembered the prison detainees whom she went to frequently. In 1872 she and her child in-law, Charles Owens, established and financed the Los Angeles branch of the First African Methodist Episcopal church, L. A's. first black church. 

Biddy Mason passed away on January 15, 1891, and was covered in an unmarked grave at Evergreen graveyard in the Boyle Heights zone of Los Angeles. Almost a century later, on March 27, 1988, a headstone was placed on her grave which elevated her grave without precedent for a function attended by Mayor Tom Bradley and around three thousand individuals from the First African Methodist Episcopal church. 

Thursday, November 16, 1989, was pronounced Biddy Mason Day and a dedication of her accomplishments was uncovered at the Broadway Spring Center situated between Spring Street and Broadway at Third Street in Los Angeles.

(((Below are some of Biddy Mason's civic accomplishments)))

* She was a founding member of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872.

* She gave generously to various charities, in various places.

* Biddy provided food and shelter for the poor of all races and nationalities.

* She would visit jailed inmates often when others would not.

(((In Closing))) 

* Biddy Mason's death came on January 15, 1891

* Biddy was buried in an unmarked grave at Evergreen cemetery in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles.

* In 1988 a tombstone was unveiled which marked her grave.

* Also, there was a ceremony attended by Mayor Tom Bradley.

* About three thousand members of the First African Methodist Episcopal church attended.

* Thursday, November 16, 1989, was declared Biddy Mason Day.

* A memorial of her achievements was unveiled at the Broadway Spring Center. There is a photo of it below!

CLICK HERE Were You Taught This in School? 

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