Meet Mary Ellen

Rosa Parks is called the mother of the Civil Rights Movement. Her refusal to give up her seat to a white person as the laws of that time demanded, eventually led to African-Americans gaining the right to vote in this country, which has led to the first African-American man being voted into office as the President of the United States. Rosa Parks was a great woman, but I cannot help but feel cheated because there was another woman whose legal battle and victory played out in the courts of San Francisco one hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama. This woman was courageous, risking her own life to lead so many slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. She was charismatic, loving, kind, generous, and very cunning. Her name is not as recognized as Rosa Parks' is, but her story is a testament to the spirit of the African American woman living in a white man's world at a time when African American women were barely seen, let alone heard. I would like you to know Mary Ellen Pleasants.

Mary Ellen Pleasants was born a slave August 19, between 1814 and 1847. The exact year of her birth is unknown due to conflicting information she has given regarding her earliest years. Mary Ellen has said that she was born without a last name to a mother who was reputed to be a Haitian voodoo priestess, and the son of a Virginia governor, John H. Pleasance. Mary had very fair skin, and used her color to pass as a white woman later in life. After witnessing her mother being tortured and killed by a plantation overseer, she was left to fend for herself.

According to Mary, at the age of nine she was bought out of slavery, sent to New Orleans to attend school, and ended up in Ohio working as a servant for Louis Alexander Williams. Williams' wife  adored Mary, which angered him so much that he sent her to Nantucket to work as an indentured servant. It was in Nantucket that she learned business working for Grandma Hussey, an old Quaker merchant who was also a liberal as well as an abolitionist.  The Hussey's taught Mary that although blacks and whites had differnt colored skin,  they should all be treated equally.   Grandma was the one who told Mary that she should never tell anyone her heritage, and that she should “pass” for white.  She probably figured that she would have more opportunity, and be able to accomplish things that no other African-Americans could because of the laws.  For Mary that would not be hard. Mary adopted her well-loved mistress' name and became Mary Ellen Williams from that point until she met and married James W. Smith.

Smith, like Mary was a mullato who was also able to pass as a white man. He was a wealthy contractor who lived publicly as a Cuban,  but secretly worked as a spy for The Liberator, an abolitionists newspaper. The two of them became agents of the Underground Railroad, escorting slaves to freedom. Smith inherited a plantation in Virginia and employed  slaves that he bought out of slavery, then granted them their freedom. Between 1844 and 1848, Smith died due to poisoning. Mary was suspected of killing him, but nothing ever came of it. Smith left Mary $45,000.00 in bonds, which she exchanged for gold, and land. To say that Mary was a wealthy woman was an understatement for at that time, a wealthy African-American woman was unheard of.

In 1850, Mary married Smith's friend, James John Pleasance and continued her slave rescuing. She soon became a wanted woman and fled to New Orleans to stay with her husband's friends. It was in New Orleans that “J.J.” left to go west. Mary stayed behind and studied voodoo with the infamous voodoo priestess Madame LeVeaux who taught her to use her powers to help her people. Shortly after, she left Louisiana for San Francisco to avoid capture.

On April 7, 1852, Mary arrived in San Francisco where she assumed the identity of a white woman named Mary Ellen who ran a boardinghouse, catering to the most influential and wealthiest men of San Francisco society. She used their affection for her to obtain employment for fellow African Americans, soon becoming known as “The Black City Hall.”. Mary's money went to help escaped slaves fight extradition, and she helped African-Americans start businesses. Mary had always had a head for business, and she owned several different ventures. She left San Francisco for Canada during the Depression where she continued to rescue slaves with the help of her husband. J.J. was captured and hanged, and Mary returned to San Francisco, now wanted for treason. However, that did not stop her from continuing her work, although she had to do it in secret. Soon the Emancipation Proclamation allowed her to reveal that she was a woman of color, and  she organized court battles to fight the unfair laws. In 1868, she fought the trolley system for the right to ride San Francisco trolleys, and the case set a precedent, which aided civil rights almost one hundred years later.

Mary was worth 30 million dollars during the 1860's and 70's, but her fortune dwindled when scandal sullied her good reputation. Mary became ill and lost her long time partner in the 1890's, and on January 4, 1904, Mary Ellen passed away, leaving behind a legacy of love, danger, scandal, and philanthropy. Her story deserves to be heard. To find out more about this extraordinary women go to your local library.