02/10/2022
Who is Mary Ellen Pleasant and how was she a trailblazer in the world of ? 🧐
Outside of being an early abolitionist, who worked to expand the Underground Railroad westward during the California Gold Rush, she changed history books in a myriad ways as the FIRST Black self-made millionaire in the United States! 🤩
She was an entrepreneur who, after the death of her late husband and abolitionist, James Smith, came into a not so small fortune–~$45,000 or $1.65M in today's dollars.😎
So, having already become a millionaire widow, how did she use these funds to reinvest in ?
.Especially during those times as a Black woman in a male, Anglo-Saxon dominated America?
Answer: wisely. 🎓
As a self-identified "capitalist by profession" she became a financier and real estate mogul in the San Francisco area to support the booming housing needs of the Forty-Niners. This allowed her passive returns on that wealth. 🔑
As an abolitionist, she was a financial supporter of John Brown, the renowned abolitionist, and is credited for providing the monetary backing for Harper's Ferry–in the sum of $30,000 (or about $930,000 in today's dollars). 👀
This was noted to be "the most important and significant act of her life." (Ebony Magazine, May 1979).
Rest in Power to the "Mother of Civil Rights in California" - Queen Pleasant! 👏🏾👏🏾
Who will be next?
join.black-business.co
🖤🤎
