Who was Biddy Mason? After her portrait was found in a group of Works Project Administration (WPA)-era murals slated for destruction, a flurry of media reports has fostered a growing curiosity about Mason’s place in the pages of Black history and the history of nursing.
Biddy Mason is among the figures depicted in the “History of Medicine in California,” a 10-mural series completed by Bernard Zakheim in 1938. The murals, which have long been on display at the University of California, San Francisco, are housed in a building that is going to be demolished in 2022 to make way for a new medical center. The family of the artist was told that they would need to furnish the funds required for the preservation of the murals. As UCSF and the Zakheim family battled over the cost of preserving the murals, the conflict gathered a varied group of interested parties, including Mason’s descendants Cheryl and Robynn Cox. In June, the General Services Administration entered the fray. The GSA countered UCSF’s ownership claim, insisted that the paintings be preserved and stated that “ownership of the murals resides with G.S.A., on behalf of the United States.”
The debate over the fate of the murals continues, but one happy result is that Biddy Mason’s story has emerged from obscurity. And her story is a classic American journey. Mason began life as a slave in the Deep South. She toiled in slavery on the pioneer trail before gaining her freedom. Finally, after working as a free nurse and midwife, she became a wealthy (and charitable) community leader who improved the lives of her contemporaries and later generations as well.
Born enslaved in Mississippi, Mason ultimately became the property of a Mormon convert. As she traveled west in a caravan with her owner, his family, and their enslaved laborers, she performed midwife duties, herded cattle, and cooked. The caravan ultimately made its way to California. In 1856, five years after her arrival, Nelson successfully petitioned for freedom for herself and 13 members of her family. She then moved to Los Angeles, where she worked for $2.50 a day as a midwife and nurse for Dr. John Strother Griffin, one of the first formally trained doctors in Southern California. Eventually, she set up her own business.
She never learned to read, but Mason was canny with money. She invested her earnings in property in various locations around Los Angeles and became a wealthy woman. By the time she died in 1891, Mason was a prominent philanthropist, and left her heirs an estate worth 3 million dollars. In addition to donating time and money to relieve prisoners and the impoverished, Nelson founded LA’s oldest Black church, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, a daycare for the children of poor working mothers, and a Traveler’s Aid center. She lived until 1891.
Visit here to see a more detailed history of Biddy Mason and her place in history. For an account of the debate over the UCSF WPA murals, see this article in the New York Times.
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