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History Museum to screen doc about slave turned millionaire
(by Stacey Rynders - June 11, 2008)
The intriguing history of Mary Ellen Pleasant, a 19th-century civil rights activist, abolitionist and entrepreneur, was confused with enough inaccuracies to dissuade many researchers from delving further into her life.
But for St. Louis native and current California resident Cheryl Susheel Bibbs, the life of Pleasant proved a rich African-American heritage to discover and share with others.
The award-winning documentary Meet Mary Pleasant, which recently showed at the Cannes Film Festival, is the latest accomplishment for Bibbs, who is considered by many to be the foremost authority on Pleasant. Bibbs, who wrote, directed, produced and performed in the documentary, will attend a free screening of the documentary at 7 p.m. June 12 at the Missouri History Museum, located at Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park.
“There is so much lost history in this documentary,” said Bibbs. “People will learn a lot of African-American and American history. Mary Pleasant is a wonderful person; we need to know about African-Americans who have contributed.”
One of the pieces previously missing from her history is that Pleasant, the “Mother of Civil Rights in California,” was in fact the first African-American millionaire; it’s a popular misconception that such a claim belongs to Madame C.J. Walker.
Born a slave, Pleasant lived through the Civil War, participated in the Underground Railroad and became an entrepreneur and civil-rights activist. Her fortune was once estimated to be around $30 million. Until Bibbs began researching Pleasant’s life and uncovering new historical data, much about Pleasant was either unknown or inaccurate.
“I found a very scandalous book from the 1950s that was largely responsible for the inaccuracies about Pleasant’s life,” said Bibbs. “[This] must have been time for Pleasant’s story to come out, because I found documents not yet discovered by historians.”
Meet Mary Pleasant reveals Pleasant’s social activism, as well as some of the intrigues of her business and romantic life. In 1868, Pleasant fought for the right of African-Americans to ride on the San Francisco trolleys. In her case, she asked for a monetary award for discrimination. Her lawsuit went to the California Supreme Court, and though Pleasant won no money from the case, it was used in 1982 as a precedent for awarding damages for discrimination.
“This is a woman that loved across boundaries without losing sight of her goals,” said Bibbs. “I think that’s a healing message, and that sort of broadening is needed in the United States today.”
Singer Jacqueline Hairston first introduced Bibbs to Pleasant’s story in 1991. Hairston wanted Bibbs, an accomplished concert singer, to perform in an opera based on Pleasant’s life.
“‘I’ll look into it’ were my famous last words,” Bibbs said.
Bibbs became so enamored of Pleasant’s life that she has written a book titled Heritage of Power, as well as toured the country in a one-person chautauqua performance about Pleasant. Bibbs’ next goal is to turn Pleasant’s story into a feature film. Already there are offers, but Bibbs insists any film partners must retain the historic accuracy and integrity of Pleasant’s life.
Meet Mary Pleasant is narrated by award-winning actress Ruby Dee and weaves in Bibbs’ performance, historical photographs, narration and period music. “I call it a performance documentary,” said Bibbs.
In addition to winning an Emmy, Meet Mary Pleasant took honors at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. While attending the Cancun Film Festival, Bibbs received an invitation to a film festival in the United Kingdom, invitations from documentary distributors and a request to submit to a South African film festival.
“[Screenings of documentaries such as this] give the Missouri History Museum an opportunity to explore universal and national themes,” said Alex Detrick, assistant director of community education and events at the museum. Detrick said the documentary exhibits the same triumph of the human spirit as the George Washington Carver and the Katherine Dunham exhibits coming to the Missouri History Museum this November.
Meet Mary Pleasant will be televised locally on PBS after the screening at the Missouri History Museum.
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