Biddy Mason.

A Home as History.

We have come to think of history as grand scaled events or being influenced by individuals who have figuratively moved mountains. Especially in our collective past as a country, African Americans have been pushed to the wayside when it comes to representation.

The homestead of Biddy Mason. It is understandable to debate why one’s home should and could be classified as a historic landmark or a place deserving of recognition.

It is important to realize what went on within the constraints of the home, what conversations may have been had, what occupations were practiced within the walls and who the people were that lived there.

Biddy Mason created a name for herself during her time. She was a figure within her community and personalized her space at 331 Spring Street in Los Angeles. There was a garden, space for her grandson’s businesses and her living quarters all contained by brick in a two-story layout.

It can be assumed that she may have felt that she was just living her life and providing for her family, but her role extended past her kin.

By 1986, this space had transformed to a parking lot where layers of asphalt hid stories of the past. Unsuccessful attempts had been at reviving the space in commemoration of its African American occupancy. Following her death, her grandson wanted to turn it into a community center in 1905. In the 1970’s, there was an attempt made to honor Biddy Mason’s hand in founding the church, but that too ended without progress.

The organization “The Power of Place” was able to secure a commemoration to Fire Station 30 and some firefighters and their families were also involved in the process. During some attention received in honor of Black History Month, the fire station was mysteriously burned down. No one knows if it was an accident or intentional, but nonetheless, it had an affect on how the space was used. Many felt their safety was compromised and the idea was abandoned altogether.

Biddy Mason was a Midwife and she helped found the Los Angeles AME Church.

Miriam Matthews, a retired librarian was a grand resource for all involved to pull information from. She’d had lots of materials on African Americans from the Los Angeles area. She had scrapbooks to show people as well.

She brought Biddy Mason to life, showing that she was not this grand figure, but a human being who accepted and excelled in her responsibilities.

Betye Saar, Donna Graves,Sheila Levrant de Brettsville who is an artist and Susan E. King who is also an artist successfully put on the display. Our book’s author Dolores Hayden also played a hand in creating the exhibit.

After reading this article and reflecting on the outcome, I thought about the Power of Place in connection with power in general. When African Americans made attempts, they got nowhere. It wasn’t until The Power of Place and it’s aides came into the picture that desirable outcomes were reached. Of course, I am not considering this a negative thing, just pointing out the politics behind our society in conjunction with this particular memorial. When individuals who’d had direct affiliations with the commemorated figure Biddy Mason attempted to honor her, their attempts were cut short but when individuals so far removed but belonging to the dominant race came fourth, they were successful.

In terms of our own project, I am a big advocate for having all hands on deck. Involvement of members of the community is key in all aspects. I would love to ensure that they feel their presence in whatever it is that we do. It is one thing to get ideas from them, interact with them and then put on a production…but another to have them active throughout the entire process; having them be hands on during the event as well. That would be a wonderful collaboration.

Of course I have said that I love family fun events that involve members of all age groupings. I love storytelling and realized in class that it would be fun to get the Visual Arts department on board to create something tangible to walk away from. From the aspect of ensuring all voices are heard, it would be great to videotape everyone saying something about the area, children included. For them may have a few questions to get them talking or who knows..they may just have something to say. But to create a documentary with snippets of what was said..maybe even two versions…one that has the conversations in full length and then one that could be shown in the background of our event or something. Either way, we would be able to generate income that way. Also another idea would be to have a big circle where we all sit around and tell stories. We could all sit down criss-cross apple sauce (yeah, I took it back to grade school with that, lol) and the storyteller would be in the middle pivoting around to make sure that everyone could see and hear them. We could pass pictures around and what not or just something to keep everyone interacting with one another and engaged. Another idea I have (gosh, all of these ideas that have generated through our discussions in class) is to have some of us tell snippets of a story from first person as if we have experienced them to show everyone that we are similar, that any story could be our story and then have the actually owner of the story stand up and tell the rest. For example, I could stand up and say “My home was right over there on such and such street, now all that stands there is garbage and shreds of metal…” and then say to everyone that not really, but that could be my reality. Following that, then we would have the actual person who that applies to stand up and tell their story. I don’t know..those are just ideas.