Black History 365 | # 266 Biddy Mason

Bridget Biddy Mason (1818-1891) is an American Hero. Born enslaved, Mason became one of the first prominent citizens and landowners in Los Angeles in the 1850s and 1860s. She also founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles in 1872. Mason took legal action for her freedom. Mason’s enslavers attempted to relocate Mason and her family to Texas, where slavery was legal. Mason’s free Black friends intervened by alerting the local sheriff’s office, who took Mason and her family into protective custody. Mason’s case for freedom was sent to the courts, where Black people were not allowed to testify. However, events led to Mason stating her case in front of the judge. On January 21, 1856, in the case of Mason v. Smith, Los Angeles District Judge approved Mason’s petition. The ruling freed Mason and thirteen members of her extended family. This was the first ruling of its kind in California and set a precedent for future cases that came before California courts. This case ruled that Mason and her children were “free forever.” Mason became a doctor’s assistant and ran a midwifing business. She accumulated a fortune worth about $7.5 million in today’s dollars, making her one of the richest women in Los Angeles. She established a homestead in what became downtown Los Angeles. Mason used her wealth to establish a daycare center for working parents and created an account at a store where families who lost their homes in flooding could get supplies. She also co-founded and financed the First African Methodist Episcopal (FAME) Church, which is still going strong. Known as Grandma Mason, she died in 1891 and is honored through the Biddy Mason monument in downtown Los Angeles.

Black History 365 | # 265 Queen Nanny

Queen Nanny was a Maroon leader and Obeah woman in Jamaica during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Maroons were slaves in the Americas who escaped and formed independent settlements. Nanny herself was an escaped slave who had been shipped from Western Africa. It has been widely accepted that she came from the Ashanti tribe of present-day Ghana. Nanny and her four brothers (all of whom became Maroon leaders) were sold into slavery and later escaped from their plantations into the mountains and jungles that still make up a large proportion of Jamaica. Nanny and one brother, Quao, founded a village in the Blue Mountains, on the Eastern (or Windward) side of Jamaica, which became known as Nanny Town. Nanny Town, placed as it was in the mountains away from European settlements and difficult to assault, thrived. Nanny limited her attacks on plantations and European settlements and preferred instead to farm and trade peacefully with her neighbors. She did however make numerous successful raids to free slaves held on plantations and it has been widely accepted that her efforts contributed to the escape of almost 1,000 slaves over her lifetime. Nanny’s life and accomplishments have been recognized by the Government of Jamaica and she has been honored as a National Hero and awarded the title of “Right Excellent”. Currently, there are only seven such National Heroes and Nanny is conspicuous as the only woman. A modern portrait of Nanny, based on her description, appears on the Jamaican $500 note, the largest banknote in circulation in Jamaica. BIG UP!!

Black History 365 | # 264 Sahli Negassi

Sahli Negassi is a special kid. Fewer than one percent of students get a perfect score on the SAT exams; that's about 1,000 students a year. He scored 1600 on the infamous SAT, an entrance exam used by most colleges and universities. Negassi, a senior managed this achievement all while balancing two sports, serving as president of two clubs, and taking multiple advanced placement classes. West Orange Public Schools shared that Negassi hopes to attend Harvard and pursue a career in law. “Harvard is the best school on my list to support me in that process,” Negassi said. “Give me 10 years, and I’ll be out in the world doing something more important than a standardized test!” Right on young man.

Black History 365 | # 263 Sekou Odinga

Rest in peace to Sekou Odinga. The longtime Black liberation activist Sekou Odinga has died at the age of 79 January 2024. He was a member of Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity, as well as the Black Panther Party in New York City and the Black Liberation Army. After spending years underground, he was convicted in 1984 of charges related in part to his role in helping Assata Shakur escape prison. Odinga served 33 years in state and federal prison before being released. Speaking about what drew him to the program of the Black Panther Party, Odinga told Democracy Now!, “What attracted me more than anything else was the stand against police brutality, because like all the other ghettos in this country or Black areas of this country, police brutality was running rampant. From my first memory of it was—in New York was little Clifford Glover, who was murdered out in my neighborhood in Jamaica, Queens…what we were really concerned about was trying to put some kind of control on the police, or at least be in a position that we could counter some of what they were doing.” Rest well.

Black History 365 | # 262 Dwayne McDuffie

Put some respect on Dwayne McDuffie’s name. He is a super legend. He is best known for creating the animated television series Static Shock, writing and producing the animated series’ Justice League Unlimited and Ben 10, and co-founding Milestone Media. McDuffie earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan in 1983 and attended film school at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. While McDuffie was working as a copy editor at the business magazine Investment Dealers’ Digest, a friend got him an interview for an assistant editor position at Marvel Comics. At Marvel Mr. McDuffie helped develop the company’s first line of superhero trading cards and wrote for established series like Spider-Man and Captain Marvel. He also created Damage Control, a mini-series published at intervals from the late ’80s to the present about a firm that repairs the property damage caused by battles between superheroes and super-villains.  However, McDuffie was vocal about the lack of diversity in their comics, especially regarding the curious amount of black characters that rode skateboards or wore chicken suits. In 1990 he left Marvel to pursue freelance opportunities. The company he co-founded, Milestone Media were distributed by DC Comics. His partners were a coalition of African-American artists and writers, consisting of himself, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle. Their goal was for Milestone to address the underrepresentation of minorities in American comics, and to create characters that were diverse in their ethnicities, backgrounds and experiences. HATS OFF!