(BUSINESS) Pleasant Mary Ellen Printed Bank Check Accomplish

Sale 1961 - Lot 165

Price Realized: $ 489

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(BUSINESS.) Pleasant, Mary Ellen. Printed Bank Check, Accomplished and Signed, to the order of Spring Valley Water Works. San Francisco, 08 June 1886

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Additional Details

A scarce signature of this noted African-American woman. Mary Ellen Pleasant (1814-1904) has often been referred to as the mother of Civil Rights, stemming from her early support of John Brown, as well as her own personal confrontations with "Jim Crow." At one time she was the most talked-about woman in San Francisco, and her fortune amassed during the Gold Rush was over $30, 000, 000. By the turn of the century her business dealings had gone wrong and she was accused of murder, prostitution, and other crimes. The popular press demonized and trivialized her, dubbing her "Mammy" Pleasant.