Mary Ellen Pleasant
left to right: Kim Hester Williams, Hannah Henry, Alanna WIlliams (viola), Rev. Robin Denney, Leslie Lew, J.T. Thompson, Mattea Williams (vocalist). photo by Nick Otto, Napa Register
Text of Mary Ellen Pleasant’s life written by Hannah Henry, read at the dedication March 11, 2023 by James J.T. Thompson of the Napa Valley Black History Month Celebration:
Mary Ellen Pleasant was a complex and powerful figure during a profoundly tumultuous time in this country. Details of her life story have taken many different forms, contradictory at times even in her own words: Was she born in 1814 or 1817? In Philadelphia, Virginia or Georgia? Was she born free or into slavery?
What we do know is that Mary Ellen Pleasant was born in the time of slavery. She was light skinned enough to pass as white but worked as a fearless abolitionist no matter what race she claimed or story she told.
She was never formally educated but was known as an extremely intelligent and gifted person whose actions shaped the country we live in today. She is credited with bringing the Underground Railroad west to San Francisco where she built an inheritance into astounding wealth. Yet for her entire rise to the upper reaches of San Francisco society she never let go of her goal - to liberate, educate and vindicate her people.
The most profound achievement of her lifetime was not just becoming the first Black millionaire in the country but in using that wealth to bankroll John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry - an orchestrated attack on the institution of slavery that is known as the precursor to the Civil War.
A handwritten note was found on John Brown at his hanging: “The axe is laid at the root of the tree. When the first blow is struck, there will be more money and help. - MEP” Mary Ellen Pleasant’s initials were mis-read for a generation and thus her role in this pivotal event in our nation’s history has long gone un-recognized.
In San Francisco, Mary Ellen Pleasant applied her financial acumen to building businesses that hired formerly enslaved people, provided spiritual guidance and practical education to those in need, and invested in both growth opportunities and altruistic endeavors. She called herself a capitalist and yet she was the mother of the most important social revolution in our nation’s history.
She built a mansion on Octavia St. in San Francisco with the Bell’s (now a park in her name) and designed and established the historic Beltane Ranch in Sonoma.
She was a founding investor in both St. Mary’s College in Oakland and the Athenaeum Library, the first library for African Americans in California, founded in 1853. She also mentored, housed, supported and employed countless people, especially people of color who were otherwise discarded by society at the time.
How is Mary Ellen Pleasant connected to Napa? She resides here only as her final resting place. The sudden death of her business partner of 20 years, Thomas Bell, resulted in a financial dispute with his spouse Theresa Bell. This dispute prompted the slandering of her reputation and Mary Ellen Pleasant died stripped of property, wealth, and name. But she had friends - and when she was very ill she was taken into the care of Olive Sherwood who had Mary Ellen Pleasant buried in the Sherwood family plot in Napa, here at Tulocay.
How would our country appear now without the genius and generosity of Mary Ellen Pleasant? What do we do with her story and how do we carry her legacy forward?
We hope you continue to learn about her story and as a community we accept the responsibility to honor her legacy and steward her monument.
New plaque at the gravesite of Mary Ellen Pleasant - after the dedication March 11, 2023. Photo by Nick Otto, Napa Register
“Image of Mary Ellen Pleasant,” Berkeley Library Digital Collections, University of California
We are honoring a historic woman of Black history, a woman who worked for freedom and justice, who died poor in pocket but rich in spirit. A play is being written about her by Cris Eli Blak. Her life story is kept alive by Shusheel Bibbs. Mary Ellen Pleasant never lived in Napa but she is buried here. We will be gathering to honor her life with a dedication of a plaque on March 11th at 11:00 am at Tulocay Cemetery, Napa. The plaque will be posted on this page after the dedication.
