Biddy Mason
An African American woman prominent in the early urban history of Los Angeles, Biddy Mason's story exemplifies how Californians struggled with issues of slavery in the 1850s. Arriving in southern California as a slave in 1851, she later won her freedom and became a midwife and nurse, a philanthropist, and an organizer of the First African American Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles. |
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Is California of 150 years ago anything like the state we live in today? You may have a lot of opinions about that already, but let's take some time to explore what additional ideas we might get from examining the World Wide Web. Working with a partner, decide who will look into the past and who will see what current issues relate to this historic leader. |
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Your main task will be to skim through the Web sites, taking note of what facts, ideas, examples, and stories are the most interesting to you. When you are finished, you and your partner will write several important questions that came to mind when you shared what you each learned about the past and present. When you are ready, click on the graphics below to get started.
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You might have the opportunity to participate in a videoconference presented by an actual historian / actor portraying this early leader of California. This would be a great chance to pose your questions to a true expert. Would you like to find out more?
Background on the Actor / Historian
Sandra Kamusikiri is a professor of English at California State University, San Bernardino, where, for the past fifteen years, she has taught courses in African American literature and language, British Literature and Romantic Prose and Poetry. She earned her M.A. at the University of Iowa and both her B.A. and Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of numerous articles and reviews, and is co-editor of the Modern Language Association's Writing Assessment: Politics, Policies, and Practice. She is currently working on a book on the African heritage of the slave narratives. As part of a traveling Chautauqua funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dr. Kamusikiri has appeared throughout the United States as Maria W. Stewart, a free black woman who lived in Boston in the 1820s and 1830s, was the first American-born woman to lecture in public on political themes, and was probably the first African American to lecture in defense of women's rights.
You have just explored Web sites on California's past and related current issues. You may have even had a chance to join in on a videoconference with a historical presenter. Now you and your partner can decide whether there is an "otherness" about the past, meaning something quite separate from life today, or whether there's a oneness that binds the present to the past. You can use the Insight Reflector page to guide your thinking.
Return to The Otherness of the Past homepage?
Created May 1, 1999 - Last revised: February, 2005
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