Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is expected Friday to officially begin the process of renaming downtown’s Pershing Square as Biddy Mason Park, in honor of a former slave who became a prominent LA citizen and landowner in the 1850s.
According to de León’s office, the renaming would serve as a symbolic and overdue recognition of Bridget “Biddy” Mason’s life. Born into slavery in Georgia in 1818, she came to Los Angeles and became a nurse and co-founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church.
On Wednesday — Juneteenth — the councilman announced his intention to rename Pershing Square. His motion, if approved Friday, would then need to be considered by a council committee and then get a final vote by the City Council.
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joined by Cheryl and Robynn Cox, direct descendants of Bridget Mason, during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the civic leader at Biddy Mason Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25, 2022.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
“Biddy Mason’s story reminds us that history is not just a collection of dates and events, but a tapestry of lives lived, struggles endured, and triumphs achieved,” de León said in a statement.
“This is more than a renaming. This is a reclamation of a legacy long overdue. I want to make sure that her legacy is never forgotten, but enshrined into our city permanently.”
Additionally, the councilman is expected to submit a separate motion seeking to erect a ceremonial sign on Spring Street, between First and Fifth streets, also in honor of Mason.
According to the Los Angeles Conservancy, Mason bought a nearly 1-acre site in 1866, between what is now Broadway and Spring streets and Third and Fourth streets, the site of a mini-park in her honor named Biddy Mason Memorial Park.
Sisters Cheryl and Robynn Cox, fourth-great-granddaughters of Mason, have backed de León’s plans.
“We understand that as a Black woman she had not received the ceremonial accolades that many founders and contributors to the city received,” Robynn Cox told the Los Angeles Times.
“So having something like a park that is historic and was around when she was alive and has been a central part of the city is a great step in the right direction for her receiving the recognition for what she has done.”
Pershing Square was originally dedicated in 1866 by then-Mayor Cristóbal Aguilar as La Plaza Abaja, then later dedicated in honor of World War I Gen. John J. Pershing in 1918.
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