by Court | May 14, 2021
“I’d rather be a corpse than a coward.” Mary Ellen Pleasant’s Story Mary Ellen Pleasant was a prominent abolitionist in the lead up to the Civil War, in California and beyond. Some of the details about her work are up for debate, but there is no doubt that...
by Court | May 12, 2021
My dearest full bodied apparitions, I finally finished my Mary Ellen Pleasant series! Part 1 and Part 2 are now live on the blog. DAMN that one took awhile but it was worth it! I have been researching Pleasant for months now – I read academic texts, ghost...
by Court | May 10, 2021
“When Mary Pleasant left the sheltered island of Nantucket as a young woman she took with her her invaluable business skills, an informal yet substantial education, and political savvy that would last a lifetime.” – The Making of Mammy Pleasant: A Black...
by Court | May 6, 2021
“Mary Ellen Pleasant is an enigma. She has puzzled California historians for generations. Not all the pieces of her life fit neatly together; not everything can be explained. . . She became a ‘figment of imagination as much as a figure of history.’” – Paul...
by Court | May 6, 2021
At night, in the smallest park in San Francisco, you can sit on a bench and listen to the swaying and creaking of eucalyptus trees. Fog may creep in, but it’s not quiet: the traffic of Bush Street roars by and there are probably some weirdos walking along Octavia....
