When people think of women slaves, landowner isn’t one of the terms that comes to mind. When Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born into the harsh reality of slavery in 1818, nothing about the future indicated there was a life beyond slavery.
Most accounts say she was born in Mississippi, and sold to slave owners in Georgia and South Carolina before being given as a wedding gift to Robert M. Smith as his bride and returning to Mississippi. There was no way to know that the “gift” of Biddy Mason would create generations of wealthy black Americans who would help build Los Angeles.
Bridget Mason spent most of her time caring for Smith’s chronically ill wife and became a highly skilled nurse and midwife. By the time Smith converted to Mormonism and decided to make a religious pilgrimage to the Utah territory, Biddy Mason was 30 years old and the mother of three girls, ages ten, four and an infant.
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