The Pershing Square Station on Metro’s B and D Lines is headed for a new name. Metro’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to rename the downtown Los Angeles stop after Bridget “Biddy” Mason, a formerly enslaved woman who became a prominent landowner, entrepreneur and philanthropist in the city.
The board’s action, reported by MyNewsLA.com, directs Metro to update station signage, maps, geographic information data and other wayfinding materials to reflect the new name. Before the vote, Esotouric described a motion proposing the name Biddy Mason Station for the stop serving the B and D Lines beneath downtown LA. The motion was introduced by Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and joined by Directors Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, Holly Mitchell, James Butts and Hilda Solis, per the same account.
Metro’s motion also calls for the agency to notify the city of Los Angeles, nearby businesses, community organizations and other stakeholders before the official rollout, and to run a public-awareness campaign through social media, its website and other channels. The motion was co-authored by Metro Board members Dupont-Walker, Mitchell, Solis and Butts, the MyNewsLA report notes. Mitchell serves as a Los Angeles County supervisor, Solis also serves as a county supervisor, and Butts serves as mayor of Inglewood.
Who Was Biddy Mason
Mason was born into slavery and was forced to travel from the South to California with her enslavers before she successfully petitioned a Los Angeles court for her freedom, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. She went on to work as a nurse and midwife, became one of the first Black women to own property in Los Angeles, and accumulated substantial wealth through real estate investments, the paper reports…