A Los Angeles City Council committee advanced a proposal Tuesday to rename downtown’s Pershing Square in honor of Bridget “Biddy” Mason, a formerly enslaved woman who became a prominent Los Angeles landowner, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
In a unanimous vote, the three-member Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee approved the proposal re-introduced by Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, chair of the committee. It now moves to the full City Council for consideration.
“Item five is a motion I put forth to recognize Biddy Mason’s contributions not just to CD14 but to the city writ large,” Jurado said during Tuesday’s meeting. “She’s even buried in Evergreen Cemetery, which is in CD14 as well.”
“This is a beginning of making sure that our history is inclusive of everybody, especially here in the city of Los Angeles,” Jurado added.
The proposal was introduced two years ago by Jurado’s predecessor, former Councilman Kevin de León, who also sought to install associated ceremonial street signs.
Before losing his re-election bid to Jurado in 2024, de León secured City Council approval to designate a stretch of Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles as the Biddy Mason Legacy Corridor.
The committee’s consideration comes shortly after a three-day celebration honoring Mason’s life and legacy that began Aug. 14. The “I Am Biddy” celebration, organized by First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, featured programs commemorating Mason’s journey from enslavement to becoming one of the city’s earliest Black landowners, entrepreneurs and civic leaders.
City officials have described the proposed renaming of Pershing Square as a symbolic recognition of Mason’s contributions to Los Angeles. Mason was born into slavery and forced to walk from Georgia to California with her enslavers. She later successfully petitioned a Los Angeles court for her freedom.
She became a nurse, midwife and one of the first Black women to own property in Los Angeles, eventually accumulating substantial wealth through real estate investments. Mason was also known for her philanthropy and support of the city’s Black community.
De León began efforts to honor Mason in 2022 following a wreath-laying ceremony. At a tribute wall in downtown Los Angeles, he met sisters Cheryl and Robynn Cox, Mason’s fourth-great-granddaughters, who urged him to pursue additional recognition of their ancestor.
The city already has a memorial to Mason at Biddy Mason Memorial Park between Broadway and Spring streets. Her family has said the site can be difficult to find because of its location next to a parking lot.
According to the Los Angeles Conservancy, Mason purchased a nearly 1-acre property in 1866 between what are now Broadway and Spring Street and Third and Fourth streets, where the mini-park is located.
Pershing Square was originally dedicated in 1866 by then-Mayor Cristóbal Aguilar as La Plaza Abaja. It was renamed in 1918 in honor of Gen. John J. Pershing, who commanded U.S. forces in Europe during World War I.