Rediscovery
Although some fiction was written that included Mary Ellen in various guises, it was not until the 1998 that another writer and researcher, Susheel Bibbs, began to publish a series of monographs available through MEP Productions, SF. Susheel’s work on Mary Ellen is recognized by the California Humanities Council. In 1975, the city of San Francisco designated eucalyptus trees—that Pleasant had planted in the 19th century at the southwest corner of Octavia and Bush streets in San Francisco—as a Structure of Merit, similar to an official landmark.
In 2003 Lynne Hudson wrote a scholarly book about Mary Ellen entitled The Making of "Mammy" Pleasant, Hudson's book has footnotes and citations.
Michelle Cliff's 1993 book Free Enterprise is subtitled "A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant" and features her abolitionist activities.
The ghost of Mary Ellen Pleasant is a character in the 1997 novel Earthquake Weather, by Tim Powers.
In 2001, the novel Sister Noon, by Karen Joy Fowler, was published. It features "Mammy Pleasant", Thomas Bell, and Teresa Bell as secondary characters who also contribute to the plot (which focuses on a fictional social worker of the time).
Read more about this topic: Mary Ellen Pleasant