A push to rename Pershing Square for Biddy Mason, unsung L.A. hero

It was nearly a year ago when Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León broke ground on a multimillion-dollar renovation of Pershing Square in downtown L.A.

The ceremony marked the first of three construction phases that will transform the concrete space into a more accessible and attractive public square by demolishing walls, lowering the park to street level and adding more greenery. Phase One is expected to cost about $21 million.

But the five-acre park, nestled between Olive and Hill streets, will not only get a new look but possibly a new name.

De León is set to announce a plan to introduce a City Council motion on Friday to rename Pershing Square after Biddy Mason, who was born into slavery, won her freedom in court and became a philanthropist and unsung hero of Los Angeles. She also founded the city’s First AME Church, one of the largest Black churches in the U.S.

The park is currently named after military hero John J. Pershing, who commanded the U.S. armed forces during World War I.

De León also plans to submit a separate motion to add a ceremonial street sign on Spring Street, between 1st and 5th streets, as a way to honor Mason as well.

The section of the street runs along the Broadway Spring Center, a parking garage and shopping arcade that sits where Mason, in 1866, bought land for $250. It’s also the site of the Biddy Mason Memorial Park. The tiny, secluded park features a concrete wall that charts Mason’s life and includes impressions of a wagon wheel, a fence and a medicine bag — nodding to her time as nurse and midwife before she walked from Mississippi to California behind a wagon. The park also shows plaques of survey maps, one of Mason’s property deeds and her portrait.

Cheryl and Robynn Cox, sisters and fourth-great-granddaughters of Mason, said they’re grateful that the councilman is pushing for recognition of the woman whose contributions to Los Angeles went virtually unnoticed for more than a century.

Biddy Mason

(Seaver Center for Western History Research)

“We understand that as a Black woman she has not received the ceremonial accolades that many founders and contributors to the city received,” said Robynn Cox. “So having something like a park that is historic and was around when she was alive and has been a central part of the city is a great step in the right direction for her receiving the recognition for what she has done.”

“We hope that if we rename the park after her, it will give her higher visibility,” said Cheryl Cox, “so that more people are intrigued to learn more about her and possibly bring her out of the shadows.”

De León is expected to make the announcement on Wednesday, which is Juneteenth, the federal holiday that marks the date in 1865 when Union soldiers informed the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, that they were free, marking the end of slavery.

Nick Griffin, executive director of Downtown Alliance, a coalition of more than 2,000 property owners, said the group was thrilled with the park’s anticipated name change.

“I think tapping into the powerful legacy [of] Biddy Mason is almost a perfect fit for the revitalization of a park that has also been to some extent forgotten over the years,” he said. “I think both the park and her legacy will benefit from a rediscovery.”

Few know of Mason’s story. She was born into slavery in the summer of 1818. At a young age, she moved to several states as she was sold and purchased by enslavers. She developed skills in agriculture, medicine and midwifery along the way.

At 18, she and her sister were sold to Robert Smith, a plantation owner in Logtown, Miss. In 1847, Smith converted to Mormonism and relocated his family to Utah to help establish a Mormon community. Mason walked more than 2,000 miles on foot behind a 300-wagon caravan for months, cooking and herding cattle while caring for the Smiths’ children as well as three of her own, including an infant.

In 1851, the Smiths relocated from Utah to San Bernardino. By then, California had been admitted to the Union, and slavery was illegal. Eventually, Mason fought for her freedom in court, with the judge ruling in her favor and that of other Smith’s other slaves

Her case was one of the first legal challenges in Los Angeles and set a precedent for others to petition for their freedom in California.

Mason then went to work as a nurse and midwife, saving $2.50 a day until she had enough to buy land between Broadway and Spring Street, where she built her home.

She continued to purchase real estate throughout the city. By 1878, Mason had become a wealthy landowner, eventually selling some of her properties for as much as 10 times their original price.

Her philanthropy grew alongside her wealth. She was known to pay the annual property taxes for local churches. She started First AME out of her home. She also built the first school and foster home for Black children. In 1884, when a storm caused the Los Angeles River to swell and sweep away homes, Mason paid a grocery store to give away free food to flood victims, regardless of color. She helped so many people that she was fondly referred to as Aunty or Grandma Mason.

Mason died in 1891 and was soon forgotten. Then in 1988, First AME placed a headstone on her unmarked grave at Evergreen Cemetery. The following year, the small memorial park downtown was erected in her honor.

But Cheryl and Robynn Cox said they had long tried to get a street renamed after their ancestor, with no luck.

Two years ago in February, while honoring Mason at the memorial park, they approached De León and his team with their request. They don’t recall when those conversations included renaming Pershing Square.

The timing of De León’s proposal comes as he is running for reelection and trying to move past a 2021 scandal that involved several members of the City Council and drew outrage from a wide array of political and civic leaders. De León took part in a secretly recorded conversation with two other council members and a high-level labor leader that featured, among other things, racist and derogatory remarks about then-Councilmember Mike Bonin, who is white, and Bonin’s son, who is Black. The audio was leaked a year later.

Faced with demands for his resignation, De León apologized on Tavis Smiley’s talk show, offering his “deepest, deepest apologies” to the Black community, both in L.A. and elsewhere. He said he should have spoken up or walked out of the room during that conversation.

De León’s office downplayed the timing of the councilman’s push to rename the park, saying he’s simply trying to do the right thing by honoring an important figure from Los Angeles history. Talks with the family about the honor predated the scandal, the office noted.

A rendering shows the redesigned Pershing Square after the third phase of work is complete.

(Courtesy of Agence Ter / Gruen Associates and L.A. Bureau of Engineering)

Cheryl Cox and her sister said they couldn’t speak to De León’s motives.

“We want to keep the focus just on our grandmother,” Robynn Cox said.

“We don’t condone what was said and what was not said,” Cheryl Cox said. “But it should not in any way disparage from our grandmother, nor her legacy, nor what the city should be doing for her.”

Cox noted “the blood sweat and tears” that her ancestor had expended on Los Angeles and said many had received recognition for doing less.

“We appreciate that a councilman was willing to create this opportunity,” she added.

On a recent afternoon, there were few visitors at Pershing Square. Amid the din of traffic, hissing buses and loud stereos, the playground sat empty, and men lay on the grassy strips, napping under the sun. Along the square’s pathways, homeless people took up what few shaded areas were available; some used drugs openly.

“It’s not very people-friendly. There’s no shade,” said Gayle Baigelman, 63, as she walked her gray pit bull, Hope. “And you can see who is usually drawn to this place.”

She said she’d heard about the park’s renovation and was looking forward to the transformation. She also approved of the proposed renaming.

“That’s definitely the right person to honor.”

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.