Mary Ellen Pleasant, friend of John Brown
Mansion that Mary Ellen Pleasant built for herself, her partner, Thomas Hill, and his family at 1661 Octavia St.
Mary Ellen Pleasant was a friend to many, from a runaway slave1Mrs. Pleasant was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and paid part of Archy Lee's legal costs. https://www.aclunc.org/sites/goldchains/explore/archy-lee.html to a mad socialite wandering the streets of San Francisco2Sarah Althea Hill went mad after her husband, Judge Terry, was killed by a US Marshall. Mrs Pleasant helped her get off the streets and into the insane asylum where Sarah spent the next 45 years believing it to be her mansion.. Her friendliness made her rich, and her passionate fight for equal rights made her poor.
It is the old, old San Francisco story—a poor person arrives to seek their fortune, finds it, grasps it, spends it on mad projects, and dies in poverty a century or more before these projects become commonplace reality. Mary Ellen Pleasant lived this story and shone brightly, only to be almost forgotten in the city where she helped so many.
Slanders claimed that Mary Ellen Pleasant was born a slave on the plantation owned by Sarah Althea Hill's parents, but in her memoir she says she was born a free woman at 9 Barley Street in Philadelphia in 1814. Little is known about the identity of her parents, except that her mother was also a Black woman named Mary. Mary Sr. abandoned her daughter at an early age to be raised by a couple named Williams, who, in turn, surrendered her to the Hussey-Gardner family. The Hussey-Gardners housed Mary and gave her a job at their store, but not an education. In her later years, Mary Ellen Pleasant regretted that lack. She did not learn to read until she was 25.
The Hussey-Gardners belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, and we can infer that the word "friend" had a deeper and more profound meaning for a child they brought up. They introduced Mary to the abolitionist movement and remained her close friends for the rest of her life.
Mary met and married her first husband, James Smith, in 1840 in Boston. He was a spy for the Underground Railroad3Not an actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by which people escaped slavery. Those aiding the escaping slaves were called conductors.. His father left him a plantation near Harper's Ferry that he used as a station on the Railroad, filling it with freed slaves. After his death, Mary got more actively involved in what was then called "slave stealing." This soon made Boston unsafe for her. In 1852 she arrived in San Francisco, where her second husband, John Pleasance4After whom she took the surname Pleasant, because even grammar was wild and lawless in the Wild West., already awaited.
Here she immediately recommenced abolitionist work under the guise of Mrs. Ellen Smith, a White cook. It is said that upon disembarking, she held an auction for her cooking services. Once the winner was announced, she told him to double the price. When he did, that was her sign to open her own restaurant. The food and service were far above rival establishments, and the waitresses were picked for their skill in listening to the clients. The things they overheard helped Mrs. Pleasant become the first Black millionairess in America5The Guinnes book of World Records will tell you that this achievement belonged to C. J. Walker, a generation later. This is why you should not trust Irish beermakers to teach you about American history..
Her other ways of earning money involved plaçage6Plaçage is a tradition brought to America by the French. A man, who is usually rich and White, and a woman, who is usually neither, are placed (hence the name) into a long-term financial arrangement that is socially tolerated but lacks rights or legal protections for the woman., laundry, a short-term stint at running a house of assignation7At $500 entry per person in 1869 dollars, over $2,000 in the twenty first century, catering, housekeeping, stewardship on boats, investments in real estate and mining, business consulting, money lending and exchange, and favor trading. Some also claimed that Mrs. Pleasant was not above blackmail and black magic, but there isn't a hint of evidence for it.
She poured her fortune into protecting runaway slaves and fighting for equal rights. She assisted William West in organizing a safe house for escapees, organized and joined protests to support the North during the Civil War, helped Black families move to and become established in San Francisco, and paid for multiple abolition and equal rights court cases.
In one of these cases, she participated as a plaintiff demanding the right to ride the streetcars in 1866. She went as high as the California Supreme Court and won8Mrs Pleasant was not the first Black woman to sue for access to public transportation in San Francisco. That was Charlotte L. Brown, but Miss Brown won both of her cases before they made it to the California Supreme Court. America's law is based on precedent, and the higher the court the more useful the precedent for future cases. Mrs. Brown's cases were ground-breaking, but Mrs. Pleasant's case was more helpful in future legal battles.. In 1859 she largely financed "the first blow at the root of the tree of slavery"—John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry—and even rode, disguised as a jockey, to alert plantation slaves to his plan. She considered this support to have been the "most important and significant act of her life."
In her spare time, Mrs. Pleasant helped women of any ethnicity who found themselves in trouble or unable to provide for their children.
After the war, Mrs. Pleasant began to identify herself as Black in all contexts. She moved in with her investment partner, Thomas Bell, director of Bank of California, and his wife9Very Bay Area. They lived in a 30-room mansion that Mrs. Pleasant furnished to her taste and in which she controlled the household financials. The Bell children lived with them, but Mary's daughter, Lizzie, was by that time a married woman herself. Teresa Bell, Thomas' wife, was later shown to have hated Mrs. Pleasant and considered her "a demon from first to last."
After Bell's death, Teresa sued for most of the property. The courts were on Teresa's side, as she was demonstrably White. Mrs. Pleasant lost her house and her collection of diamonds. The Bell/Pleasant finances were found to be so entwined that the case continued until Mrs. Pleasant's own demise. Despite this, Mrs. Pleasant continued friendly relations with the Bell children, who visited her in her new home and called her Auntie.
This, and her engagement with the Sharon case, turned public opinion against Mrs. Pleasant. Most of the slanders you hear about her today date from that period. So does the disgusting habit some writers have of referring to her as "Mammie" - a demeaning nickname Mrs. Pleasant despised and repeatedly repudiated.
Like many San Francisco millionaires, Mary Ellen Pleasant died destitute; her friend Olive Sherwood had her interred in the Sherwood family plot in Napa. By her request, her gravestone says, "She was a friend of John Brown."
Learn more with opera from the amazing Susheel Bibbs: https://www.marypleasant1.com/ ,
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/436106/927992020
1Mrs. Pleasant was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and paid part of Archy Lee's legal costs. https://www.aclunc.org/sites/goldchains/explore/archy-lee.html Mrs. Pleasant was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and paid part of Archy Lee's legal costs. https://www.aclunc.org/sites/goldchains/explore/archy-lee.html
2Sarah Althea Hill went mad after her husband, Judge Terry, was killed by a US Marshall. Mrs Pleasant helped her get off the streets and into the insane asylum where Sarah spent the next 45 years believing it to be her mansion. Sarah Althea Hill went mad after her husband, Judge Terry, was killed by a US Marshall. Mrs Pleasant helped her get off the streets and into the insane asylum where Sarah spent the next 45 years believing it to be her mansion.
3Not an actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by which people escaped slavery. Those aiding the escaping slaves were called conductors.Not an actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by which people escaped slavery. Those aiding the escaping slaves were called conductors.
4After whom she took the surname Pleasant, because even grammar was wild and lawless in the Wild West.After whom she took the surname Pleasant, because even grammar was wild and lawless in the Wild West.
5The Guinnes book of World Records will tell you that this achievement belonged to C. J. Walker, a generation later. This is why you should not trust Irish beermakers to teach you about American history.The Guinnes book of World Records will tell you that this achievement belonged to C. J. Walker, a generation later. This is why you should not trust Irish beermakers to teach you about American history.
6Plaçage is a tradition brought to America by the French. A man, who is usually rich and White, and a woman, who is usually neither, are placed (hence the name) into a long-term financial arrangement that is socially tolerated but lacks rights or legal protections for the woman.Plaçage is a tradition brought to America by the French. A man, who is usually rich and White, and a woman, who is usually neither, are placed (hence the name) into a long-term financial arrangement that is socially tolerated but lacks rights or legal protections for the woman.
7At $500 entry per person in 1869 dollars, over $2,000 in the twenty first century At $500 entry per person in 1869 dollars, over $2,000 in the twenty first century
8Mrs Pleasant was not the first Black woman to sue for access to public transportation in San Francisco. That was Charlotte L. Brown, but Miss Brown won both of her cases before they made it to the California Supreme Court. America's law is based on precedent, and the higher the court the more useful the precedent for future cases. Mrs. Brown's cases were ground-breaking, but Mrs. Pleasant's case was more helpful in future legal battles. Mrs Pleasant was not the first Black woman to sue for access to public transportation in San Francisco. That was Charlotte L. Brown, but Miss Brown won both of her cases before they made it to the California Supreme Court. America's law is based on precedent, and the higher the court the more useful the precedent for future cases. Mrs. Brown's cases were ground-breaking, but Mrs. Pleasant's case was more helpful in future legal battles.
9Very Bay Area Very Bay Area
It is the old, old San Francisco story—a poor person arrives to seek their fortune, finds it, grasps it, spends it on mad projects, and dies in poverty a century or more before these projects become commonplace reality. Mary Ellen Pleasant lived this story and shone brightly, only to be almost forgotten in the city where she helped so many.
Slanders claimed that Mary Ellen Pleasant was born a slave on the plantation owned by Sarah Althea Hill's parents, but in her memoir she says she was born a free woman at 9 Barley Street in Philadelphia in 1814. Little is known about the identity of her parents, except that her mother was also a Black woman named Mary. Mary Sr. abandoned her daughter at an early age to be raised by a couple named Williams, who, in turn, surrendered her to the Hussey-Gardner family. The Hussey-Gardners housed Mary and gave her a job at their store, but not an education. In her later years, Mary Ellen Pleasant regretted that lack. She did not learn to read until she was 25.
The Hussey-Gardners belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, and we can infer that the word "friend" had a deeper and more profound meaning for a child they brought up. They introduced Mary to the abolitionist movement and remained her close friends for the rest of her life.
Mary met and married her first husband, James Smith, in 1840 in Boston. He was a spy for the Underground Railroad3Not an actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by which people escaped slavery. Those aiding the escaping slaves were called conductors.. His father left him a plantation near Harper's Ferry that he used as a station on the Railroad, filling it with freed slaves. After his death, Mary got more actively involved in what was then called "slave stealing." This soon made Boston unsafe for her. In 1852 she arrived in San Francisco, where her second husband, John Pleasance4After whom she took the surname Pleasant, because even grammar was wild and lawless in the Wild West., already awaited.
Here she immediately recommenced abolitionist work under the guise of Mrs. Ellen Smith, a White cook. It is said that upon disembarking, she held an auction for her cooking services. Once the winner was announced, she told him to double the price. When he did, that was her sign to open her own restaurant. The food and service were far above rival establishments, and the waitresses were picked for their skill in listening to the clients. The things they overheard helped Mrs. Pleasant become the first Black millionairess in America5The Guinnes book of World Records will tell you that this achievement belonged to C. J. Walker, a generation later. This is why you should not trust Irish beermakers to teach you about American history..
Her other ways of earning money involved plaçage6Plaçage is a tradition brought to America by the French. A man, who is usually rich and White, and a woman, who is usually neither, are placed (hence the name) into a long-term financial arrangement that is socially tolerated but lacks rights or legal protections for the woman., laundry, a short-term stint at running a house of assignation7At $500 entry per person in 1869 dollars, over $2,000 in the twenty first century, catering, housekeeping, stewardship on boats, investments in real estate and mining, business consulting, money lending and exchange, and favor trading. Some also claimed that Mrs. Pleasant was not above blackmail and black magic, but there isn't a hint of evidence for it.
She poured her fortune into protecting runaway slaves and fighting for equal rights. She assisted William West in organizing a safe house for escapees, organized and joined protests to support the North during the Civil War, helped Black families move to and become established in San Francisco, and paid for multiple abolition and equal rights court cases.
In one of these cases, she participated as a plaintiff demanding the right to ride the streetcars in 1866. She went as high as the California Supreme Court and won8Mrs Pleasant was not the first Black woman to sue for access to public transportation in San Francisco. That was Charlotte L. Brown, but Miss Brown won both of her cases before they made it to the California Supreme Court. America's law is based on precedent, and the higher the court the more useful the precedent for future cases. Mrs. Brown's cases were ground-breaking, but Mrs. Pleasant's case was more helpful in future legal battles.. In 1859 she largely financed "the first blow at the root of the tree of slavery"—John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry—and even rode, disguised as a jockey, to alert plantation slaves to his plan. She considered this support to have been the "most important and significant act of her life."
In her spare time, Mrs. Pleasant helped women of any ethnicity who found themselves in trouble or unable to provide for their children.
After the war, Mrs. Pleasant began to identify herself as Black in all contexts. She moved in with her investment partner, Thomas Bell, director of Bank of California, and his wife9Very Bay Area. They lived in a 30-room mansion that Mrs. Pleasant furnished to her taste and in which she controlled the household financials. The Bell children lived with them, but Mary's daughter, Lizzie, was by that time a married woman herself. Teresa Bell, Thomas' wife, was later shown to have hated Mrs. Pleasant and considered her "a demon from first to last."
After Bell's death, Teresa sued for most of the property. The courts were on Teresa's side, as she was demonstrably White. Mrs. Pleasant lost her house and her collection of diamonds. The Bell/Pleasant finances were found to be so entwined that the case continued until Mrs. Pleasant's own demise. Despite this, Mrs. Pleasant continued friendly relations with the Bell children, who visited her in her new home and called her Auntie.
This, and her engagement with the Sharon case, turned public opinion against Mrs. Pleasant. Most of the slanders you hear about her today date from that period. So does the disgusting habit some writers have of referring to her as "Mammie" - a demeaning nickname Mrs. Pleasant despised and repeatedly repudiated.
Like many San Francisco millionaires, Mary Ellen Pleasant died destitute; her friend Olive Sherwood had her interred in the Sherwood family plot in Napa. By her request, her gravestone says, "She was a friend of John Brown."
Learn more with opera from the amazing Susheel Bibbs: https://www.marypleasant1.com/ ,
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/436106/927992020
1Mrs. Pleasant was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and paid part of Archy Lee's legal costs. https://www.aclunc.org/sites/goldchains/explore/archy-lee.html Mrs. Pleasant was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and paid part of Archy Lee's legal costs. https://www.aclunc.org/sites/goldchains/explore/archy-lee.html
2Sarah Althea Hill went mad after her husband, Judge Terry, was killed by a US Marshall. Mrs Pleasant helped her get off the streets and into the insane asylum where Sarah spent the next 45 years believing it to be her mansion. Sarah Althea Hill went mad after her husband, Judge Terry, was killed by a US Marshall. Mrs Pleasant helped her get off the streets and into the insane asylum where Sarah spent the next 45 years believing it to be her mansion.
3Not an actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by which people escaped slavery. Those aiding the escaping slaves were called conductors.Not an actual railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by which people escaped slavery. Those aiding the escaping slaves were called conductors.
4After whom she took the surname Pleasant, because even grammar was wild and lawless in the Wild West.After whom she took the surname Pleasant, because even grammar was wild and lawless in the Wild West.
5The Guinnes book of World Records will tell you that this achievement belonged to C. J. Walker, a generation later. This is why you should not trust Irish beermakers to teach you about American history.The Guinnes book of World Records will tell you that this achievement belonged to C. J. Walker, a generation later. This is why you should not trust Irish beermakers to teach you about American history.
6Plaçage is a tradition brought to America by the French. A man, who is usually rich and White, and a woman, who is usually neither, are placed (hence the name) into a long-term financial arrangement that is socially tolerated but lacks rights or legal protections for the woman.Plaçage is a tradition brought to America by the French. A man, who is usually rich and White, and a woman, who is usually neither, are placed (hence the name) into a long-term financial arrangement that is socially tolerated but lacks rights or legal protections for the woman.
7At $500 entry per person in 1869 dollars, over $2,000 in the twenty first century At $500 entry per person in 1869 dollars, over $2,000 in the twenty first century
8Mrs Pleasant was not the first Black woman to sue for access to public transportation in San Francisco. That was Charlotte L. Brown, but Miss Brown won both of her cases before they made it to the California Supreme Court. America's law is based on precedent, and the higher the court the more useful the precedent for future cases. Mrs. Brown's cases were ground-breaking, but Mrs. Pleasant's case was more helpful in future legal battles. Mrs Pleasant was not the first Black woman to sue for access to public transportation in San Francisco. That was Charlotte L. Brown, but Miss Brown won both of her cases before they made it to the California Supreme Court. America's law is based on precedent, and the higher the court the more useful the precedent for future cases. Mrs. Brown's cases were ground-breaking, but Mrs. Pleasant's case was more helpful in future legal battles.
9Very Bay Area Very Bay Area
Mary Ellen Pleasant
