How Mary Ellen Pleasant became one of the first black millionaires

Mary Ellen Pleasant may not be a household name, but her story rivals that of any great American businessman. In the 1800s, Pleasant became one of the first African-American female self-made millionaires in America despite the significant obstacles she faced as a black woman.

Pleasant has used her inherent savvy, building a massive portfolio that is said to be worth up to $30 million at a time – a fortune that could make her a billionaire in her own right. value today.

She gave up her fortune to support abolitionists across the country while helping slaves escape via the Underground Railroad and settle in the free states. This is her story.

Born In 1814 (some biographers say she was born into slavery on a Georgia plantation, although she claims to have been born free in Philadelphia), Pleasant was separated from her parents as a child and was sent to work as a domestic worker for a white family. in Massachusetts, where slavery had been essentially illegal since the late 18th century. There, she learned to read, write, and work in a shop, but she never received formal education.

“I often wondered what I would get with an education,” Pleasant said in an autobiography published in 1902. “I left the book alone and studied men and women thoroughly.”

Indeed: Pleasant moved to San Francisco in 1852 during the Gold Rush (California joined the Union as a free, slave-free state in 1850). There, she worked as a domestic helper and chef for wealthy businessmen.

Wealthy, white men would reject an African-American woman in their midst, and Pleasant took advantage of that, according to The New York Times.

Pleasant used her proximity and anonymity to gather a wealth of valuable investment tips by listening in on recruiter conversations. In fact, one historian has raised the possibility that Pleasant worked as a domestic worker specifically to receive investment advice and compelling gossip.

Lynn Hudson, who wrote her 2003 biography “The Making of ‘Mammy Pleasant,” told The New: “It’s very likely the jobs she does are a cover she’s using because she’s clearly making money. money from investments” The York Times.

According to reports, Pleasant was making about $500 a month as a chef when she first arrived in San Francisco at age 38, and invested most of her salary and savings in real estate and other investments. Other opportunities she heard about, including gold and silver mines.

She also bought various local businesses, starting with a laundromat. By the 1860s, Pleasant was the owner of a thriving laundry business and a series of inns, where she often disguised herself as a servant to make it easier to ignore.

Pleasant also met a banker named Thomas Bell, who helped her pursue some of her investments as part of a years-long business partnership forged to make both parties They all became extremely rich. According to The New York Times, to avoid discrimination, or simply questions about how a black woman can amass a substantial fortune, Pleasant has placed many of her investments under named Bell, the white man.

The two bought shares in laundries, dairy, restaurants and even Wells Fargo Bank, founded in San Francisco in 1852. Some historians estimate their total fortunes eventually to be up. to over $30 million (an amount equivalent to about $864 million today, based on inflation).

As a wealthy African-American woman in the 1800s, Pleasant made no attempt to flaunt her wealth – but she made no secret of it either. She built a 30-room mansion worth about $100,000 at the time (equivalent to about $2.4 million today) in central San Francisco, in what is now the city’s affluent Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood city. In her biography, historian Lynn Hudson describes the estate as “a multi-story Victorian mansion lavishly furnished with extensive grounds.”

Pleasant lived in the mansion with Bell and his family, though she also acquired many other properties later in the century, including a 985-acre ranch in the Sonoma Valley northeast of San Francisco. (an estate that is now a vineyard with a bed and breakfast).

As a result, she faced hatred and malicious rumors that she was only Bell’s mistress and denigrated her inns as brothels while claiming that she practiced witchcraft.

Throughout her life, Pleasant supported goals to end slavery, and partnered with the Underground Railroad to help escape slaves to freedom.

Before landing in San Francisco, Pleasant was married to a wealthy multiracial and abolitionist merchant, who is said to have left her an inheritance upon his death. (Pleasant was married twice but had no children.) During the 1840s, Pleasant used it to help transport slaves to freedom in the northern states and Canada as part of the Underground Railroad.

While in San Francisco, Pleasant continued to provide financial support to former slaves using the money left by her husband as well as her growing fortune. Pleasant often found work and housing for African-Americans who had escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad.

As her fortune and place in San Francisco society continued to grow, Pleasant openly addressed civil rights issues, including suing two electric vehicle companies for racial discrimination. Those cases paved the way for streetcar discrimination in the city while also helping to earn the recognition of Pleasant as “mother of civil rights” in California.

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Pleasant also used his money to help fund anti-slavery efforts. She admitted to sending $30,000 (more than $850,000 in today’s dollars) to abolitionist John Brown to finance the 1859 raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, an effort to launch a larger armed slave revolt in the southern United States, according to historian Lynn Hudson’s. 2003 book.