Nearly a year ago, Los Angeles City Council Member Kevin de León broke ground on the multimillion-dollar renovation of Pershing Square in Downtown LA.
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. The first phase is expected to cost about $21 million.
But the five-acre park between Olive and Hill streets will not only get a new look, but possibly a new name as well.
De León is scheduled to announce plans to introduce a resolution to the City Council 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 Leon also plans to submit a separate proposal to add a formal street sign on Spring Street between First and Fifth streets to honor Mason.
This section of the street runs alongside the Broadway Spring Center, a parking garage and shopping arcade, which is located on the site where Mason purchased land for $250 in 1866. It is also the site of Biddy Mason Memorial Park. The small, secluded park features a concrete wall depicting Mason’s life and includes the imprint of a wagon wheel, a fence, and a medicine bag – reminders of her time as a nurse and midwife before following a wagon across the Mississippi to California. The park also features plaques of survey maps, one of Mason’s property deeds, and her portrait.
Cheryl and Robyn Cox, sisters and fourth great-granddaughter Mason said he’s grateful councilors are pushing to recognize a woman whose contributions to Los Angeles have gone 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 formal accolades that many of the city’s founders and contributors have received,” Robin Cox said. “So having something like a park that is historic and existed when she was alive and has been a central part of the city is a huge step toward getting recognition for the work she did.”
“We’re hoping that if we rename the park after him, it will bring him more publicity so more people will be curious to know about him and possibly bring him out of obscurity,” Cheryl Cox said.
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 the Downtown Alliance, a coalition of more than 2,000 property owners, said the group is thrilled about the park’s anticipated name change.
“I think leveraging Biddy Mason’s powerful legacy is a perfect fit for the revival of the park, which has been somewhat forgotten over the years,” he said. “I think both the park and her legacy would benefit from being rediscovered.”
Very little is known about 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 her enslavers. During this time she developed skills in agriculture, medicine, and midwifery.
At age 18, she and her sister were sold to plantation owner Robert Smith in Logtown, Miss. In 1847, Smith converted to Mormonism and moved his family to Utah to help establish a Mormon community. Mason traveled more than 2,000 miles on foot for months at the back of a caravan of 300 wagons, cooking and tending cattle while caring for Smith’s children as well as three of her own, including an infant.
Smith moved from Utah to San Bernardino in 1851. By then, California had been admitted into the Union and slavery was illegal. Eventually, Mason fought for his freedom in court, with the judge ruling in his favor and that of Smith’s other slaves
His case was one of the first legal challenges in Los Angeles and set a precedent for others in California to petition for their freedom.
Mason then worked as a nurse and midwife, saving $2.50 a day until she had enough money to purchase 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, and eventually sold some of her properties for as much as 10 times their original price.
Her philanthropy grew along with her wealth. She was known to pay the annual property tax for local churches. She started the First AME from 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 overflow and wash away homes, Mason paid a grocery store to provide free meals to flood victims, regardless of color. She helped so many people that she was affectionately called Auntie or Grandma Mason.
Mason died in 1891 and was soon forgotten. Then in 1988, the First A.M.E. placed a headstone on his unmarked grave in Evergreen Cemetery. The following year, a small memorial park was built in the heart of town in his honor.
But Cheryl and Robin Cox said they had long tried to rename the street after their ancestor, without success.
Two years ago in February, while honoring Mason at Memorial Park, he made his request to de León and his team. He doesn’t remember when in those conversations the question of renaming Pershing Square came up.
The timing of De León’s proposal comes as he is running for re-election and trying to move past a 2021 scandal that involved several City Council members and that drew the ire of a number of political and civic leaders. De León’s proposal comes as he is running for re-election and trying to move past a 2021 scandal that involved several City Council members and that drew the ire of a number of political and civic leaders. Secretly recorded conversations with two other council members and a high-level labor leader that included, among other things, racist and derogatory comments about then-council member Mike Bonin, who is white, and Bonin’s son, who is black. The audio was leaked a year later.
Faced with calls for his resignation, De Leon apologizes Tavis Smiley’s Talk ShowOffering his “deepest, deepest apologies” to the black community in LA and elsewhere, he said he should have spoken up during that conversation or left the room.
De León’s office downplayed the timing of the councilman’s pressure to rename the park, saying he was simply trying to do the right thing by honoring an important figure in Los Angeles history. The office said conversations with the family about the honor took place before the scandal.
A visualization of the redesigned Pershing Square after Phase III was completed.
(Courtesy of Agency Terr/Gruen Associates and LA Bureau of Engineering)
Cheryl Cox and her sister said they could not comment on De Leon’s motives.
“We just want to keep the focus on our grandma,” Robin Cox said.
“We don’t support what was said or what wasn’t said,” Cheryl Cox said. “But this should in no way disrespect our grandmother, her legacy or what the city should do for her.”
Cox noted the “blood, sweat and tears” shed by his ancestors in Los Angeles and said many were recognized for doing less work.
“We appreciate that a councillor was willing to create this opportunity,” he said.
On a recent afternoon, there were few people in Pershing Square. Amid the noise of traffic, whizzing buses and blaring stereos, the playground was empty, and people lay on grass strips, napping in the sun. Along the square’s paths, homeless people occupied what little shade was available; some were openly using drugs.
“It’s not very people-friendly. There’s no shade here,” said Gail Baigelman, 63, as she walked her gray pitbull, Hope. “And you can see who’s usually attracted to this place.”
She said she had heard about the renovation of the park and was eagerly looking forward to the transformation. She also approved the proposed name change.
“He is definitely the right person to honor.”
