This African American was born a slave. One of her burdens was to make sure that the livestock kept up with her master’s 300-wagon caravan from Mississippi to the Southern part of California. It is said that she was made to walk behind the caravan throughout the journey.
Once on California soil, a sheriff asked her master to prove ownership and when he could not, this African American woman and her daughters were freed soon after.
This amazing woman worked hard thereafter as a nurse and midwife, later on as a successful herbalist businesswoman. She was frugal and bought one of the first homes in downtown Los Angeles. She later invested her savings in real estate and became a rich landowner in Los Angeles.
Despite her upbringing as a slave, she built a reputation for being helpful to poor people of all races. She became a well-known philanthropist and helped to found, in 1872, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. In November of 1989, the citizens of Los Angeles named a day after her.
Who was this incredible woman?
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