Meet Biddy Mason, a Black Woman Who Helped Build Los Angeles

When you think of the people who built Los Angeles, the names that most likely jump to mind — William Mulholland, the Chandlers — are often those of white men. It’s not surprising, and it’s not unusual among American cities. That’s why, when I heard Laura Atkins, a Berkeley-based children’s book author, mention Bridge Mason, known as Biddy, on an episode of the podcast East Bay Yesterday, I took note.

Mme. Mason, dit-elle, had been born enslaved, won her freedom in a California court in the mid-1850s and eventually became a prominent downtown L.A. landowner — not to mention the growing metropolis’s richest woman. She organized the city’s First A.M.E. church and was a philanthropist. It’s Black History Month, so I’ve been thinking about what it means to honor the legacies of people whom history has traditionally left out.

LIRE LA SUITE: New York Times