The Making of "Mammy Pleasant"

A Black Entrepreneur in Nineteenth-century San Francisco

Author: Lynn Maria Hudson
ISBN: 9780252027710

Mary Ellen Pleasant arrived in Gold Rush-era San Francisco a free black woman with abolitionist convictions and a predilection for entrepreneurial success. Behind the convenient and trusted disguise of "Mammy," she transformed domestic labor into enterprise, amassed remarkable real estate, wealth, and power, and gained notoriety for her work in fighting Jim Crow.Pleasant's legacy is steeped in scandals and lore. Was she a voodoo queen who traded in sexual secrets? a madam? a murderer? InThe Making of "Mammy Pleasant,"Lynn M. Hudson examines the folklore of Pleasant's real and imagined powers. Emphasizing the significance of her life in the context of how it has been interpreted or ignored in the larger trends of American history, Hudson integrates fact and speculation culled from periodicals, court cases, diaries, letters, Pleasant's interviews with the San Francisco press, and various biographical and fictional accounts. Addressing the lack of a historical record of black women's live

Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Publish Date: 2003-01

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural Heritage, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies, Social Science / Women's Studies

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: African-American/Black Studies)