Biddy Mason Park, Los Angeles - 20 AUG 2015

There is a wall in the center of the block surrounded by Broadway, Spring, 3rd and 4th Streets (in downtown Los Angeles). It tells the story of Biddy Mason.

The story on the wall says she was born into slavery in 1818, in Georgia. When her owner moved to California (a free state), she petitioned the court for her freedom (in 1856).

She was one of the first African Americans to purchase land in Los Angeles. She worked as a nurse and midwife.

She held a meeting in her home to organize the Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church (in 1872). She nursed the sick, comforts prisoners, and feeds the homeless.

From other resources, I learned she was quite the entrepreneur, amassing a fortune of nearly $300,000. Her grandson became the riches African-American in Los Angeles at the start of the twentieth century.