Lot 9: BEULAH WOODARD (1895 - 1955) Biddy Mason.

BEULAH WOODARD (1895 - 1955)
Biddy Mason.

Clay painted brown, circa 1949. Approximately 588x330x253 mm; 23 1/2x13x10 inches. Scattered losses around base edge.

Illustrated in Selected Pieces from the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. Afro-American Art Collection.

Woodard depicts this heroic African-American woman moving her family and livestock to freedom. Bridget ("Biddy") Mason was born a slave on August 15, 1818 in Hancock County, Georgia. She was among a small group of slaves taken by her Mormon master Robert Smith, first to the Utah Territory, and then on to California. In 1856, when Smith was planning to move to the slave state of Texas, Mason petitioned a Los Angeles court for her freedom. A California judge freed her and the other slaves in Smith's possession as residents of a free state. Mason worked in Los Angeles as a nurse and midwife. Saving carefully, she was one of the first African Americans to purchase land in the city. As a businesswoman she amassed a fortune of nearly $300,000, which she shared generously with charities. She was instrumental in founding a traveler's aid center, an elementary school for black children, and was a founding member of the Los Angeles African Methodist Episcopal Church. She died on January 15, 1891 in Los Angeles.