Mary Ellen Pleasant - Career and Marriages

Career and Marriages

With the support of the Hussey/Gardners she often passed as white. Mary Ellen married James Smith, a wealthy flour contractor and plantation owner who had freed his slaves and was also able to pass as white. She worked with Smith as a “slave stealer” on the Underground Railroad until his death about four years later. They transported slaves to northern states such as Ohio and even as far as Canada. Smith left instructions and money for her to continue the work after his death.

She began a partnership/marriage with John James Pleasants circa 1848, although no records exist of it, their marriage was probably conducted by their friend Captain Gardner, Phoebe's husband, on his boat. They continued Smith’s work for a few more years when increasing attention from slavers forced a move to New Orleans. J. J. Pleasants appears to have been a close relative of Marie Laveau’s husband and there is some indication that Mary Ellen and Marie Laveau did meet and consult many times before Mary Ellen went to San Francisco during the Gold Rush Era, arriving in April 1852 by boat. J. J. had gone ahead and written back that the area seemed promising for the Underground Railroad.

When Mary Ellen arrived in San Francisco (known as Yerba Buena briefly), she passed as white, using her first husband's name among the whites, and took jobs running exclusive men’s eating establishments starting with the Case and Heiser establishment. She met most of the founders of the city as she catered lavish meals and she benefited from the tidbits of financial gossip and deals usually tossed around at the tables. She engaged a young clerk, Thomas Bell, at the Bank of California and they began to make money based on her tips and guidance. Thomas made money of his own, especially in quicksilver and by 1875 they had amassed a 30 million dollar fortune between them. J. J., who had worked with Mary Ellen from the slave stealing days to the civil rights court battles of the 1860s and 70's, died in 1877 of diabetes.

Mary Ellen did not conceal her race from other blacks and was adept at finding jobs for those brought in by Underground Railroad activities. Some of the people she sponsored became important black leaders in the city. She left San Francisco from 1857 to 1859 to help John Brown. She was said to have actively supported his cause with money and work. There was a note from her in his pocket when he was arrested after the Harpers Ferry Armory incident, but as it was only signed with the initials “MEP” (which were misread as “WEP”) she was not caught and was able to return to San Francisco to continue her work there where she was known as the “Black City Hall”.

After the war, she publicly changed her racial designation in the City Directory from "White" to "Black", causing a little stir among some whites. She began a series of court battles to fight laws prohibiting blacks from riding trolleys and other such abuses. She usually prevailed.