Celebrating 100 years of Black History Month Commemorations!
Welcome to the Spring 2026 edition of Digging Up the Past. As we head to print, we are also heading to Black History month – that is, we are heading into celebrating the Centenary of Black History Commemorations! As noted on our Department T-Shirts – “Black History is American History,” but it is also Latin American History and World History. Please, if you find yourself on campus at WSU, join us as we celebrate the centenary, we have included a working schedule in this edition of Digging (be sure to check with the Department of History or the African American Student Center for updates).
In this issue you will also find Haiku written by students taking History 250: Peoples of the United States, as well as abstracts from student in our Roots of Contemporary Issues courses. Our
featured article is by Kade Barry, a history major who just wrapped up his degree and is heading to graduate school for a master’s degree in business. Kade’s article excavates and maps the
contributions that Black soldiers made to the success of the allied powers during World War I. Reading over his article, we can see that the U.S. has come a long way since the early twentieth
century, yet old and new struggles for racial justice confront us daily. As Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us with his speech at the National Cathedral in 1968, the year of his martyrdom, “the
arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Yet as Dr. King, as well as great educators such as Mary Church Terrell remind us, the arc only bends toward justice when we, in
our place in time, stay in the fight, using our words, education, and many gifts to work for a more just world. Finally, in the opening pages of this issue, you will find a reprint of “A Century of Black History Commemorations,” a rich summary provided by the Association for African American History and Life – of which Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Month, was also a founder. I hope that you will enjoy this issue of Digging up the Past, and that it will not only encourage you to take more history classes, but to stay in the fight for a more just world. I close this short welcome with a short litany honoring Carter G. Woodson, founder of Black History Month
A Litany for Carter G. Woodson
Sharecropper Miner Scholar
Scholar
Scholar
Berea Scholar
Harvard Scholar
Doctor of Philosophy in
History
In History
In History
Only DuBois came before you
Forging paths
Paths to roads
Roads to highways
More books than most write in their
lifetimes:
A Century of Negro Migration
The History of the Negro Church
The Negro in Our History
The Mis-Education of the Negro
And Founding
And Founding
Founding
Black History Month
The Journal of African American History
The Association for the Study of African
American Life and History – –
See what History
In the right hands
Can do?
A Century of Black History Commemorations
Executive Summary provided by the Association for African American Life and History,
https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/
2026 marks a century of national commemorations of Black history. Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Moorland, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps institutionalized the teaching, study, dissemination, and commemoration of Black history when they founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) on September 9, 1915…
As part of the global African diaspora, people of African descent in the United States have viewed their role in history as critical to their own development and that of the world. Along with writing Black histories, antebellum Black scholars north of slavery started observing the milestones in the struggle of people of African descent to gain their freedom and equality. Revealing their connection to the diaspora, they commemorated the Haitian Revolution, the end of the slave trade, and the end of slavery in Jamaica. They observed American emancipation with Watch Night, Jubilee Day, and Juneteenth celebrations. Eventually they feted the lives of individuals who fought against slavery, most notably Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The scholar Arthur A. Schomburg captured the motivation of Black people to dig up their own history and present it to the world: “The American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future.”
When Carter G. Woodson, as director of the Association, established Negro History Week, he did so as part of that tradition… Year after year, he built Negro History Week into an African American and American cultural institution. He set the themes and provided materials to illustrate the contributions people of African descent had made to the movement of history and modern culture. As his contemporary W. E. B. Du Bois put it, “He literally made this country … recognize and celebrate each year a week in which it studied the effect which the American Negro has had upon the life, thought and action in the United States.”
Since the passing of the founder, ASALH has continued his work, making Negro History Week and
Black History Month an even more deeply rooted American institution. On February 10, 1976,
during the United States Bicentennial, President Gerald R. Ford became the first president to issue
a message recognizing Black History Month. Then in 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244
designating February as Black History Month. These efforts have made February the month when
Black history finds its way not simply into the schools of the American nation, but also into cultural
heritage sites (museums, archives, libraries, parks, etc.), public squares, workplaces, houses of
worship, and homes across the land and across the oceans…
To understand the modern world, especially nations where Black peoples form a significant
population, one must grapple with the impact that the public observances have had on the past
and the present. This year, when we are also commemorating the 250th anniversary of United
States independence, it is important to tell not only an inclusive history, but an accurate one. We
have never had more need to examine the role of Black History Month than we do when forces
weary of democracy seek to use legislative means and book bans to excise Black history from
America’s schools and public culture. Black history’s value is not its contribution to mainstream
historical narratives, but its resonance in the lives of Black people.
This Day In History
January 8, 1977: Pauli Murray become the first Black person perceived as a woman to be
ordained an Episcopal priest. Murray was also the first Black person to earn a JSD from Yale Law
School, a founder of the National Organization for Women, and served on the Committee on
Civil and Political Rights (under President Kennedy). Murray was author of State’s Laws on
Race and Color which Thurgood Marshall later referred to as the “Bible” for Civil Rights Lawyers.
January 15, 1929: Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights martyr. In 1955, King was recruited to serve as spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation in transportation was unconstitutional. In 1957, Dr. King was elected president of the Civil Right organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He would serve as head of the SCLC until his assassination in 1968.
January 16, 1992: The Chapultepec agreement is signed by the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front) and the Federal Government of El Salvador, ending a twelve-year civil war that had
claimed over 75,000 lives. The U.S. had supported the Salvadoran government in its war against the
Liberation Front, fueling the war and the assassination of opposition political leaders as well as unarmed civilians and missionaries
February
February 1, 1960: Black college students stage sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N. C.,1960.
February 4, 1913: Birthday of Rosa Parks, secretary of the Montgomery NAACP chapter, her arrest after refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, helped spark a boycott of the bus system.
February 14, 1817: Chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass, an American social reformer, abolitionist, feminist, orator, writer, and statesman. By many historians, he is considered the most important leader of the movement for African American civil rights in the 19th century.
February 22, 1876: Birthday of Zitkala-Sha, Yankton Dakota Sioux, writer and activist. Fired from the
Carlisle school because of her advocacy for Indigenous rights, she went on to co-author the first American Indian opera, Sun Dance, and served as editor of American Indian Magazine. In her elder years, she co founded the National Council of American Indians (1926).
March
Mar. 17-Apr. 11, 1966: Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta, and the National Farm
Workers Association march from Delano to the California state Capitol in Sacramento (UW)
demanding worker rights. César Chávez day is celebrated throughout the U.S. on March 31st.
Come celebrate with us at WSU!
March 3, 1968: Protesting racism and discrimination in education, more than 1000 students (and Sal
Castro, a teacher) walk out of Abraham Lincoln High School in L.A. Known as the L.A. Blowouts, over
10,000 high school students joined them. To this day, the event remains the largest student strike at
the high school level in the history of the United States.
March 27, 1950: Birthday of Julia Alvarez, Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist, her first
novel How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) was highly acclaimed for its portrayal of
the experiences of second-generation Latinas in the U.S.
April
April 4, 1968: Dr Martin Luther King Jr, civil rights leader, assassinated. For many his death marked the end of hope of a “beloved community.” Civil Rights efforts continued, but hope was greatly diminished.
April 5, 1911: 100,000 to 500,000 people march in New York City to attend the funeral of seven
unidentified workers killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in late March.
April 23, 1910: National Urban League founded in New York, 1910. Initially it focused its efforts on aiding Black migrants who came North during the Great Migration. As an aid and justice organization, it played a significant role in the 1963 March on Washington. The organization continues to be active in the twenty first century.
Sources
Sources: Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/; Oscar Rosales Castañeda, “Timeline:
Movimiento from 1960-1985,” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, University of Washington
https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/mecha_timeline.htm; “This Day in History,” Zinn Education Project,
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/ ; “This Month in Women’s History,” National Women’s History
Alliance, https://nationalwomenshistoryalliance.org/events/this-month-in-womens-history/; “Today in Black
History,” University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center, https://www.africa.upenn.edu/K12/Today_B_History.html; Women’s History, “Biographies”, https://www.womenshistory.org/educationresources/biographies.
The Field of History Allows You To… “Dig up the Past”: Abstracts by Students of History at WSU
“The Journey of Jiu-Jitsu: From Japan to Brazil and Beyond,” by Miguel Cansino, History 105
Jiu-Jitsu emanates from centuries of Japanese tradition, has changed the face of combat sports
throughout the world. What most probably do not know, however, is how BJJ exploded onto the
world scene not only as a tournament sport but also as an avenue of self-expression and personal
empowerment. My project explores the evolution of Jiu-Jitsu-from the ancient Japanese art of
jujutsu, through its reinvention by the Gracie family in Brazil, to its place upon the world stage
today. My sources included books, scholarly articles, and interviews with martial artists. I learned
that pioneers such as Mitsuyo Maeda were crucial to the global proliferation of Jiu-Jitsu, bringing
the sport from Japan to Brazil in the early 1900s. Maeda used challenge matches as a means to
prove the efficiency of Jiu-Jitsu, and his students later modified the techniques to be based more
on leverage than on brute strength, making it possible for people of all sizes to engage in the
sport. Of equal interest were the relationships between the globalization of Jiu-Jitsu and the
cultural exchange that shaped its development. Why should high school and college students care
about the history of Jiu-Jitsu? The story of this martial art is one of fighting, but also about
adaptation and perseverance. Be it an interest in martial arts or just a good underdog story, there
is something highly commendable with the journey that is Jiu-Jitsu.
“How the Conservative Christian Right Used Intellectual Discourse to Justify and Reinforce
Bigotry: Studying Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage, 1996-2015,” by Trevor Bolin, for History 469
In the United States, between 1995 and 2015, conservative pundits and the Republican party
altered how they discussed same-sex marriage and the LGBT+ community. Sourced from articles
and videos available from conservative news, magazines, and advocacy groups between 1995 and
2015, and then using the citations within those articles to discover the sources for their claims, I
then compared those sources with other research from contemporary scholars. Three questions
guided this research: What were common conclusions among conservative news sources and
advocacy groups in their arguments against same-sex marriage? What were the sources that
conservative writers used to make those arguments? Finally, were the sources biased, misquoted,
or used out of context? My research found that between 1995 and 2015, conservative writers
who argued against same-sex marriage did so under the guise of intellectual authority, but
removed data from context, cited biased sources, and misquoted others to cultivate panic about
dangers to children and an undermining of American values. It is critical to take note of this
strategy because it may be at the root of anti-LGBTQ publications and blogs today. The ACLU, as
of April 2023, was tracking 452 different bills across the United States that would harm the
LGBTQ+ community. This research is significant because it demonstrates the importance of asking
questions about the sources that politicians, academics, and other professionals use. It is also
important because, when discriminatory language towards marginalized groups becomes
normalized, the rights of all American citizens and residents become fragile.
“Marsha P. Johnson: Oppressed and Opinionated,” by Elise Gamson, for History 369
Marsha P. Johnson is an activist most famous for her involvement in the Stonewall Riots of 1969.
This historical event is often credited for inspiring modern-day pride celebrations. On the night of
June 28th, 1969, New York City, the police raided a popular LGBTQ+ bar called the Stonewall Inn.
Johnson, who was celebrating her 25th birthday at the bar, joined the other bar patrons to fight
back against the police. Many people remember Johnson as the rioter who “threw the first brick”
on the night of the infamous police raid, sparking the days-long protest. While her participation
in Stonewall made her an iconic figure for the LGBTQ+ community, there is so much more to her
story. For this project I used refereed secondary sources, as well as published interviews (primary
sources).
Johnson was a Black transgender woman struggling to survive and thrive in New York; she
supported herself as a sex worker and as a performing artist. Even after facing the hurdles of
racism, transphobia, homelessness, and more, Johnson risked her safety to stand up for what she
believed in. Following the riots, she was dedicated to activism for queer women of color, including
transgender women like herself. In fact, she co-founded STAR with fellow Stonewall rioter Sylvia
Rivera. Starting in 1970, just a year after the riots, STAR provided support for homeless drag
queens and transgender youth of color. Although their focus was transgender women and drag
queens, they took in any queer-identifying youth who needed help. Marsha P. Johnson made
waves not only for transgender women but for the whole LGBTQ+ community; her activism and
her legacy continue today every time we take a stand for LGBTQI+ rights.
“The Great Smog of 1952: A Lesson for Today,” by Abigayle Hurst, History 105
In December of 1952, London woke up to a thick fog so dense that people could not see their
own feet. Over five days, this “Great Smog” killed thousands and exposed how dangerous air
pollution could be, even though few people understood it at the time. My research explored how
this deadly event highlighted public health as a regulatory issue, forced governments to confront
industrial pollution, and reshaped expectations for clean air around the world. I chose the London
smog because environmental pollution is still an issue today, and it is important to learn and
change from the past rather than repeat history. To understand the crisis, I used academic journal
articles, a peer-reviewed book, and articles from the time of the smog (1952). One of my most
fascinating discoveries was how, at the time of the event, the number of deaths from the fog was
recorded at 4,000. Modern research tells a more tragic story; we now know that there were about
10,000 deaths including deaths from long-term effects. Another surprising finding was how the
event helped push Britain to pass its first clean air laws in 1956, proving that tragedy can force
meaningful change. My sources revealed how ordinary citizens, scientists, and government
leaders all interpreted the event differently, shaping slow but important reforms. The Great Smog
shows how disaster, science, and politics intersect—and how young people today inherit the
environmental consequences of decisions made long before they were born. Learning from past
mistakes can help us imagine cleaner, safer futures for us all
History Haiku
One of many creative endeavors in which history students engage, is History Haiku: snapshots of history, rendered in three lines (with syllables of 5-7-5). Below find several haiku by students in History 250 (Peoples of America). See if you can form a vivid mental image of the events and people of whom they write.
About WSU’s Early Years
A frosted breeze blows
Trains bring us home to Pullman
Our campus in ice
Grayden Swanlund
Tuition-free schooling
With strict rules and discipline
Goodbye dearest trains
Ivan Ramirez
College for workers
Tuition-free with rules and discipline
Don’t walk on the grass
Matthew McDonald
Settlers Arriving in Eastern Washington
When gold is unearthed
War and destruction abound
How precious is it?
Callissa Rebel
Old lies on paper
Our ancestral lands stolen
The courts are no help
Jack Lopriore
We will fish freely
Treaty rights still rule our land
Return to the courts
Jack Lopriore
Do you have history haiku you would like to publish? Submit your work to Dr. Heidenreich Zuñiga at Lheidenr@wsu.edu. Be sure to write “haiku submission” in the subject line.
Featured Article
Prejudice and Pride: American Black Soldiers Serving in World War I By Kade Barry, Class of 2026, Washington State University
War ravaged Europe from 1914 to 1918. Millions died in muddy trenches and battlefields for little
to no gain. The Allies, also known as the Entente powers, were desperate for relief to come and help turn the tide. In April 1917, a sleeping superpower finally awoke and joined the fighting. America answered the call late, but their presence made a significant difference in the War’s closing years. On November 11, 1918, America and her allies prevailed over the Central Powers. However, despite America’s triumph on the battlefields, the grim truth of racism and segregation bled its way into the ranks of the military. Black soldiers, despite having a large presence in the Great War, faced institutional racism daily. In many ways, the country to which they returned did not change.
A Racially Divided Army (1917-1918):
Despite segregation and Jim Crow laws, many Black Americans felt a sense of duty to protect their nation and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Some enlisted out of patriotism, some hoping that their service would help end racial discrimination at home, and most for “all of the above.” Twenty thousand Black Americans went to enlistment offices following America’s declaration of war. Despite the rapidly growing number of Black enlistments, segregation was implemented immediately. In attempts to prevent Black soldiers from advancing up the chain of command, all fourteen officer training facilities that were in operation during the declaration, were designated as white only. Historically, there were Black officers who served in the Civil War; and there were three men who, in the late nineteenth century, graduated from the elite Westpoint: Henry Ossian Flipper (1877), John Hanks Alexander (1887), and Charles Young (1889). Yet by the time of WWI, the military had slid back into a stance of radical discrimination.
The Black men who enlisted, as well as those drafted, were sent to serve in segregated divisions—
the 92d and 93d—both of which were under the under command of white officers.
Even when segregated into Black divisions, the Army still put white men in control. While the 92nd division was primarily composed of black soldiers and officers, not one black officer held command over a white officer.5 Many of the enlistments and draftees called for a new black leadership, leading the Secretary of War to renew the lost tradition. However, instead of offering desegregated camps, the military formed separate Black officer camps, to be opened in June, 1917. The U.S. Army, at the time of the Great War, reflected the biases of its government and the predominately white society
369th Infantry Regiment of the 93rd Division, “Harlem Hellfighters” (1916-1919):
Despite the ongoing discrimination that African Americans faced, both in the military, and in the
larger nation-state, America’s fiercest fighting force of the First World War was known as the “Harlem Hellfighters.” The group was formed in 1913 as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. However, they would not be recognized federally until 1917.7 Also termed the 369th, this regiment was made up of primarily black soldiers and was under command of the 93rd, a segregated Black division.
Due to the substandard training provided to Black troops in the U.S, the 369th regiment, the first out of the 93rd to arrive in Europe, was sent for further training with the French military. Unlike Black soldiers serving under U.S. command, the 369th soon found themselves integrated into French infantry. Ironically, General Pershing transferred command to the French based on his own biases. 8 The sacrifices of the Black troops were great: the 93rd Division endured days on the frontlines, losing more than 2,000 troops to death or injury. These numbers account for about 32% of the whole division. The 369th Regiment was deployed 191 days—more than any U.S. regiment during the whole war. They saw most of their combat in the bloody battles of Champagne-Marne Defense and Aisne-Marne Offensive.
Access Denied: The Fight at Home:
he sacrifices of Black soldiers helped the Allies win the War but did not end racism back home.
Many of the black soldiers returned to large parades around American cities, celebrating their hard work. In fact, the 369th came back to America in February of 1919 to a New York victory parade. However, after the parades ceased, the men faced the reality of an unchanged America, the violence of Jim Crow would continue to plague the nation for decades. 11 Despite the sacrifice and valor of black soldiers, America and the military remained racially segregated. Not until 1937 would the War Department begin to address structural racism inside of the military.
Black soldiers made up a significant part of America’s fighting force. They proved to be loyal to the cause, responding to the general draft, and also volunteering to serve. Yet even as they donned the uniform of their country, they lived and trained in substandard segregated camps and were excluded from leadership. Despite ongoing racial discrimination, the men served with valor. And when regimens such as the 369th arrived in France, they received additional training and were integrated into the French Army. They returned to a warm welcome on the streets of New York but quickly realized that America’s old racist ways had not changed; the fight for justice at home would continue.
Sources
Leigh Rifenburg, et al, “African-American Participation during World War I,” Division of Historical and
Cultural Affairs – State of Delaware, April 13, 2021. https://history.delaware.gov/world-war-i/africanamericans-ww1/.
Chad L. Williams, Torchbearers of Democracy : African American Soldiers and the Era of the First World
War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 42.
Thomas William Fife, “African-Americans in the Great War 1917-19,” Military Images 27, no. 4 (2006):
Duty, Honor, Country,” National Museum of African American History and Culture,
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/west-point.
Emmett J. Scott, Scott’s Official History of the American Negro in the World War (Chicago; Homewood
Press, 1919), 130.
Jami L. Bryan, “Fighting for Respect: African Americans in World War I,” On Point 8, no. 4 (2002): 13.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44610299. 6 Williams, 43.
“The Legacy of the Harlem Hellfighters,” Empire State Plaza & New York State Capitol, Accessed
October 24, 2024. https://empirestateplaza.ny.gov/legacy-harlem-hellfighters. 8 Bryan, 14; Paul LaRue, “Unsung African American World War”
Fife, 6.
Melissa Ziobro, “369th Sustainment Brigade,” On Point 23, no. 2 (2017): 23.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26478337.
N.A., “The Harlem Hellfighters: The Most Storied Black Combat Unit of World War I,” American Battle
Monuments Commission, February 9, 2021. https://www.abmc.gov/news-events/news/harlemhellfighters-most-storied-african-american-combat-unit-world-war-i. 12 Philip
McGuire, “Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Black Leadership, Protest and World War II,” The
Journal of Negro History 68, no. 2 (1983): 149. https://doi.org/10.2307/2717718.
American Portraits
Gladys Mae Sellers, a.k.a Madame Goldye Steiner The First Female African-American Jewish Cantor and Actress
By Nadia Ertz, Department of History, WSU
According to the sensational promotion material surrounding her stage identity, Madame Goldye Steiner’s “‘life reads like a story from a thousand and one nights. Goldye, the colored cantor, one of the most beautiful women in Africa, was born in Abyssinia… Once a tribal chief met her… he sent her to Milan, Italy, to cultivate her voice.’” In reality, however, Gladys Sellers was not some exoticized creature from a faraway land. She was born to a Black Jewish family in Illinois, sometime around 1889, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her brother and mother. By the age of 16, Sellers was already working as an actress in the local Milwaukee theater scene. A strong Civil Rights activist, she performed at the Wisconsin Convention for African American Race Unity in Oshkosh, and the National Half Century Anniversary of Negro Freedom event in Chicago.
Sellers lived a double life, having to rely on her local Black Christian church for community support,
while also keeping ties to her Jewish faith, learning Hebrew and Yiddish. In the 1920s, Sellers moved to Chicago, and under the pseudonym Goldye Steiner, she sang khazones and other Jewish songs for the next fifteen years. She could sing in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, German, and French. In the 1930s, she moved to New York and began performing in smaller New York Yiddish theatre productions, then even on Broadway. She was an inspiration to the African-American community and the American Jewish community alike. Because of this, the Gladys ARTS foundation was dedicated to her in 2024.
Layle Lane: Educator and Activist
By L Heidenreich Zuñiga, Department of History, WSU
Layle Lane worked for human and civil rights for long before there was a national Civil Rights Movement. Born in 1893, in Marietta, Georgia, her father was a Congregational minister and her mother a schoolteacher. The family moved to New Jersey when she was 13 years old, and she was the first African American graduate of Vineland High School. After she earned her B.A. from Hunter’s College, New York, she went on to earn a master’s degree from Columbia University. Shortly thereafter she became a history teacher at James Monroe High School, in the East Bronx. While Lane became renowned educator, serving as principal of the innovative Benjamin Franklin High School (which was open 24 hours a day and developed a community-based curriculum), she also accomplished critical work accomplished outside of the classroom. For Layle Lane was one of the strong organizing forces behind the March on Washington Movement. The MOWM called for an end to discrimination in “education, housing, in transportation, and in every other social, economic and political privilege…”
Yet its president, A. Philip Randolph was also president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Cars Porters, and so he often had to travel on work related business. Because of this, it was Lane who worked from the New York office, organizing petition drives, rallies, and conferences. Her role in the movement was so critical that she was one of the representatives, who, with Randolph, met with President Roosevelt when he wanted to convince the MOWM to call off their 1941 March. Because of pressure from the MOWM, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, outlawing discrimination in the nation’s defense industries, and establishing the Fair Employment Practices Committee.
Bridget Mason: Nurse, Investor, Philanthropist
Sarah Amador, Department of History, WSU
In 1856, Bridget “Biddy” Mason’s enslaver moved from Mississippi to California, forcing Mason and others to move with him. But en route, as Mason used her nursing and caretaking skills to care for other travelers, she learned important news: Slavery was illegal in California. Mason fled her enslaver’s control, triggering legal proceedings that landed the family in the Los Angeles County Jail for “protection” and to wait for the courts to decide their fate. Ultimately, Mason, her daughters, and the other women she advocated for were granted autonomy over their bodies and labor; they were free. As a free Black woman, Mason remained the matriarch of her family and worked as a home nurse and midwife, tending to prisoners in the same jail where she was formerly imprisoned. She also invested in property, using her significant earnings to support the growing Black community in Los Angeles. Mason and her family maintained a philanthropic legacy that helped those in need; she founded a school, co-founded the first Black church in Los Angeles, and much, much, more. Her resistance and subsequent success act as reminders of the leverage Biddy Mason employed as a member and leader of her community. Her story affirms the complexity of identity, and is an example of Black persistence and genius.