Biddy Mason (August 15, 1818 – January 15, 1891) was an African-American nurse and a Californian real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Biddy Mason was born into slavery reportedly on August 15, 1818, in Hancock County, Georgia, but her exact birthplace and birthdate are unknown.

[7]: 21 [citation needed] An enslaved woman named Hannah Smiley (later Embers) worked with Biddy on the Smith farm.

The group departed from Winter Quarters, Nebraska on July 3, 1848 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah Territory on October 10, 1848.

[11] During the journey west, Biddy herded livestock, prepared meals, and midwifed while caring for her own children.

The enslaved people built log cabins, cleared fields, and planted in the town of Cottonwood in the Salt Lake Valley.

[14] California's courts routinely ruled against the freedom claims of enslaved African Americans in support of slave owners.

[16] Biddy relayed her fears of being separated from her children and remaining enslaved to two free black men: Charles Owens and Manuel Pepper.

After Smith failed to appear in court on January 21, 1856, the judge presiding over the case, Benjamin Ignatius Hayes, freed Biddy and her family members.

[6] Mason worked in Los Angeles as a nurse and midwife, delivering hundreds of babies during her career.

Using her knowledge of herbal remedies, she risked her life to care for those affected by the smallpox epidemic in Los Angeles.

[citation needed] She dined on occasion at the home of Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California and a wealthy Los Angeles land owner.

[27] For many decades, Robert Curry Owens was noted as the wealthiest Black man in Los Angeles.

On March 27, 1988, in a ceremony attended by the mayor of Los Angeles and members of the church she founded, her burial place was marked with a gravestone.

[24][25] Artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville designed an installation called Biddy Mason's Place: A Passage of Time.

[34][21][35][36] Mason is featured in a mural by Bernard Zakheim originally installed in Toland Hall Auditorium at the University of California, San Francisco during the 1930s.