The Making of "Mammy Pleasant"
A Black Entrepreneur in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco (Women in American History)
by Lynn M. Hudson
- 3 Want to read
"Mary Ellen Pleasant arrived in Gold Rush-era San Francisco a free black woman with abolitionist convictions and an aptitude for entrepreneurial success. Behind the convenient and innocuous disguise of a mammy, she transformed domestic labor into enterprise, amassed remarkable real estate, wealth, and power, and gained notoriety for her work in fighting Jim Crow.".
"Pleasant's legacy is steeped in scandal and lore. Was she a voodoo queen who traded in sexual secrets? A madam? A murderer? In The Making of "Mammy Pleasant," Lynn M. Hudson examines the folklore of this remarkable woman's real and imagined powers.
Emphasizing the significance of her life in the context of how it has been interpreted or ignored in American history, Hudson integrates fact and speculation culled from periodicals, court cases, diaries, letters, Pleasant's interviews with the San Francisco press, and various biographical and fictional accounts.".
"Through Pleasant's life, Hudson also interrogates the constructions of race, gender, and sexuality during the formative years of California's economy and challenges popular mythology about the freewheeling sexual culture of the American West."--BOOK JACKET.
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Subjects
African American businesspeople, African American women, African Americans, Biography, Businesswomen, History, Race relations, Pleasant, mary ellen, 1814-1904, African americans, biography, African americans in business, Businesswomen, biography, African americans, california, San francisco (calif.), biography, San francisco (calif.), history, United states, race relationsTimes
19th centuryShowing 3 featured editions. View all 3 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
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1
The Making of "Mammy Pleasant": A Black Entrepreneur in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco (Women in American History)
January 21, 2008, University of Illinois Press
Paperback
in English
0252075277 9780252075278
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2
The making of "Mammy Pleasant": a Black entrepreneur in nineteenth-century San Francisco
2003, University of Illinois Press
in English
025202771X 9780252027710
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zzzz
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WorldCat
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3
The Making of "Mammy Pleasant": A Black Entrepreneur in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco (Women in American History)
November 18, 2002, University of Illinois Press
Hardcover
in English
025202771X 9780252027710
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zzzz
Libraries near you:
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Book Details
First Sentence
"Every detail about Mary Ellen Pleasant's past is contested: her birthplace, her parents, her name, her occupation, and her wealth."
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- Created April 30, 2008
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