Biddy Mason 1815 – 1891 Slaves Walked & Worked Mormon Trail - 2,000 Miles California Trail
A Black Life Mattered Slave to Entrepreneur UCSF Toland Hall Frescos Map Hancock County, Georgia Bernard Zakheim Fresco - - UCSF Toland Hall Dr. John Strother Griffin Early Los Angelino Dr. John S. Griffin 1816 - 1898 Mexico After Defeat of Spain -- 1821 Map Mexican – American War 1848 - 1848 Dr. John S. Griffin Mexican-American War 1846-1848
Napa Ranch
Monterey - San Francisco Cattle Drive
Cattle Drive Monterey
San Diego Army Hospital Griffin Avenue Created Suburb of Lincoln Heights, Los Angles Tombstone Dr. John S Griffin Evergreen Cemetery, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Biddy ( Mason ) Mormon Roads to Utah Territory Biddy Mason 1815 – 1891 Slaves Walked & Worked Mormon Trail - 2,000 Miles California Trail. - 1,200 Miles Mormon Battalion Monument San Diego Marched From Utah 1846 (Mexican American War)
Mormons California:
❖ 1846 Battalion Utah
❖ 1847 Mexican War
❖ 1849 Gold Rush
❖ 1850 Settled LA Mormon Settlements San Bernardino/Arrowhead Springs Circa 1850 Map Drawing Los Angeles Circa 1849 Photographic Image Downtown Los Angeles Circa 1869 Map Spring Street Circa 1890 Map Downtown Los Angeles Circa 1869 Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church ”African Supplement” 1780, Philadelphia
Religious Corporations:
➢ Church Corp prior to Business
➢ Slave Wealth Communal/Real
➢ Methodist Anti-Slavery (England)
➢ Legal Freedom - Durable Rights Photographic Image Downtown Los Angeles Circa 1869 Robert Owens Freed Texas 1849 Los Angeles 1850
1851 Black Population Los Angeles = 12 1856 Married Ellen Mason 1856 1856 Purchased Land, Raised Beef/Horses, Wood, Livery 1860 Charles Born - Educated Robert Curry Owens Circa 1850 Robert Owens (<1840 – 1929) Father Charles Owens, Married Ellen Smith Mason, Established Livery Services in Los Angeles, Successful Entrepreneur
Wealthiest Black Man in West Coast
Educated Oakland School for Blacks, 1879
Inherited from father, Charles, and Biddy Mason
Philanthropist, Political Republican
Entrepreneur Map Plan Los Angeles Circa 1889 Biddy’s Residence Broadway & 3rd Avenue, Los Angeles -- 1866 Biddy Mason Residence Spring Street Lifelong. - - “Open Hand” “Open Hand”
❖ Founded FAME at home
❖ Safe Home - Dinners
❖ Medical Care/Midwife
❖ Care Indigent & Indians
❖ Foster Children
❖ Grocery Store First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles Rebuilt After Fire 1972
➢ Church at Biddy’s Home
➢ Land: Biddy Gift
➢ FAME Church: Biddy & Charles Owens
➢ Rebuilt After Fire 1972 Roadmap FAME Church Los Angeles FAME LA Church With Guests Sen. Kamala Harris & Mayor Eric Garcetti Biddy Mason Park & Memorial Spring Street, Los Angeles Gladys Owens Spikes – GGGranddaughter Los Angeles Biddy Mason Charitable Foundation Recreated
Los Angeles Foster Children (30,000)
✓ Home Stories & Meals
✓ Physical/Psychiatric Care
✓ Scholarships
✓ Drug Mothers
✓ FAME Outreach Pio Pico (1801 -1898) - - Rancher (Whittier – Pendelton ~500,000Acres) War of Independence Spain – Mexico 1821 War Mexico – America 1841-1848 Governor Alta California (1845-1846/1853) Gold Rush 1849 - - - California Statehood 1850 Earliest Blacks of California Pio Pico – Mexican Black
Evergreen Cemetery, Boyle Heights East Los Angeles Tombstone 1977 Mayor Tom Bradley Bernard Zakheim Fresco - - UCSF Toland Hall