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Mary Ellen Pleasant (August 19, 1814 [a] – January 11, 1904 [b]) was an American entrepreneur, financier, real estate magnate and abolitionist. She was arguably the first self-made millionaire of African-American heritage, preceding Madam C. J. Walker by decades.
Bell was a decades-long bachelor [4] when Pleasant introduced him to Teresa Percy Hoey, [3] [10] who had been one of her "protégés". [11] [d] Teresa's maiden name was Harris and she was a widow when she married Bell. [10] Home of Mary Ellen Pleasant and Thomas Bell's family, 1861 Octavia, San Francisco, California
Teresa Percy flees her abusive husband, a gambling addict, from New York City to San Francisco in the mid-1800s. Her new friend Lizzie, a prostitute, introduces her to Ms. Mary Ellen "Mammy" Pleasant, a mysterious local socialite infamous for having "rescued" and gainfully employed numerous black people who were former slaves and part of southern America's African-American diaspora.
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Mary Pleasant and Teresa Bell oversaw the family finances together, but by 1897 the family was deeply in debt. Fred Bell blamed Pleasant, and he filed a series of lawsuits directed at gaining control of the estate. The litigation perpetuated the image of Pleasant, a light-skinned woman who had once passed for white, as a devious "mammy."
Similarly, in The Wind on Her Tongue, Oya’s relationships with Marie Laveau and Mary Ellen Pleasant provide her with guidance, solidarity and a shared sense of purpose. These women, each ...
Pleasants married his cousin Ann Elizabeth Irvine in the spring of 1818, but their marriage was short lived as she died after only a year of marriage. This marriage produced no children. Ten years later in 1829 Pleasants married Mary Massie, with whom he had one child. [2] Black civil rights activist Mary Ellen Pleasant claimed to be his daughter.
Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park, Lower Pac Heights. When work with the Underground Railroad in New England became too dangerous, Mary Ellen Pleasant moved to San Francisco to work as a cook for ...