• Uncategorized

Black History: Mary Ellen Pleasant

Written by on February 22, 2016

Mary Ellen Pleasant was born on August 19, 1814 in Virginia. She spent her early years in Nantucket working as a bondservant to the Hussey family, an abolitionist family. Later in life, Pleasant married James Smith, a wealthy former plantation owner and an abolitionist. Mary Ellen and James worked on the Underground Railroad. Smith died four years later and Mary Ellen continued to work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

 

At around 1848, Mary Ellen married John James Pleasant. Mary Ellen spent a year in New Orleans to study Voodoo with Mam’zelle Marie Laveau. There she learned not774707a9-200d-4c22-8294-a1261d2d1cc4 only voodoo rituals, but also how to mentor people and to manipulate the secrets of the rich to gain aid for the poor. In April 1852, Mary Ellen and John Pleasant moved to San Francisco to avoid trouble laparkan.com/buy-accutane/ with slavers for their abolitionist work. Mrs. Pleasant established several restaurants for California miners; the first restaurant was named the Case and Heiser. By 1875, Mrs. Pleasant accumulated a fortune with the help of clerk Thomas Bell through her investments and various businesses. She also helped to establish the Bank of California. Mrs. Pleasant earned her title as the “Mother” of California’s early civil rights movement by establishing the local Underground Railroad. In the 1860s and 1870s, Mrs. Pleasant brought several civil rights lawsuits in California, especially against the trolley companies, most of which she won.

 

Mary Ellen Pleasant went on to become celebrated as a philanthropist and businesswoman and to amass a $30,000,000 fortune with her secret partner, Scotsman, Thomas Bell. Today, the Voodoo Queen of California’s legacy of love and courage lives on.


[There are no radio stations in the database]