Speaker 1: All right, y'all on today's episode. If I didn't know,
Speaker 1: maybe you didn't either. Let's talk about someone you probably
Speaker 1: didn't learn about in school, Bitty Mason. And if you're like,
Speaker 1: who's Bitty Mason? Don't worry. In the words of the
Speaker 1: great Michael Jackson, you are nine alone. History books really
Speaker 1: be out here acting like they on a budget for
Speaker 1: black excellence, don't they. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't know.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. Maybe I didn't No, I didn't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1: So Betty Mason born in eighteen eighteen, enslaved in Georgia,
Speaker 1: and listen, they didn't even give her a last name,
Speaker 1: just Betty, like naming someone. Hey, you, the disrespect started
Speaker 1: at birth in those periods. Anyways, Bitty gets dragged across
Speaker 1: the country by her and slavers. Ends up in California,
Speaker 1: and guess what. Slavery was illegal there. But do you
Speaker 1: think her owner cared? Of course not. Colonauza from the
Speaker 1: South pretty much acted like he was immune to the
Speaker 1: California you loss. Now, Bitty with no last name, could
Speaker 1: have stayed quiet, but nah, she was a black woman,
Speaker 1: you know, that wasn't happening. She went to court, and y'all,
Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty six, she won her freedom and her
Speaker 1: kids freedom. Now, let's just pause on that for a second.
Speaker 1: A black woman in the eighteen fifties standing up in
Speaker 1: court and winning. That's a boss chick before boss chick
Speaker 1: was ever even a thing. But wait, it gets better,
Speaker 1: because after she got free, she didn't just chill with it.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Bittty was out here working
Speaker 1: as a nurse and a midwife, stacking paper. Bitty saved
Speaker 1: up and bought land in Los Angeles for two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars and that land grew into a fortune
Speaker 1: worth three hundred thousand dollars. That's millions on millions of
Speaker 1: dollars today. Basically, she became Don peeples of real estate
Speaker 1: before Don Peoples in real estate. And what does she
Speaker 1: do with all that money? On? Did she buy a yacht? No?
Speaker 1: Did she start flexing on TikTok? No? She gave back.
Speaker 1: She built schools, feed the homeless, and started the first
Speaker 1: African Methodist Episcopal church. That's right, Betty was out here
Speaker 1: being Oprah before Oprah. So why don't we know her name.
Speaker 1: Why are you today years old when you found out
Speaker 1: about Betty Well, probably because history books be like and
Speaker 1: we can't have her outshine in the Founding Fathers. But
Speaker 1: we need to talk more about her because Bittty Mason
Speaker 1: is proof that no matter where you start, you can
Speaker 1: change the game and help others along the way. So
Speaker 1: next time somebody asks you for a black history fact,
Speaker 1: hit them with Bitty Mason. And when they say who's that,
Speaker 1: look I'm dead in the eye and say I was
Speaker 1: listening to I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. And
Speaker 1: I found out she was the original CEO of glow
Speaker 1: Up Incorporated. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1: I didn't know