{"product_id":"the-woman-who-would-not-dianna-aubin-9798232955625","title":"The Woman Who Would Not Step Aside: The Life and Legacy of Mary Ellen Pleasant","description":"\u003cp\u003eBefore Rosa Parks, before Ida B. Wells, before the civil rights movement had a name, one woman on the far edge of the American frontier was already fighting; and winning; her own battles for justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn into bondage or servitude around 1814 and raised among abolitionists in Nantucket, Mary Ellen Pleasant crossed a nation at war with itself to become one of the most powerful and misunderstood women in 19th-century America. She built an empire in Gold Rush San Francisco, turned overheard secrets into fortune, and quietly funded the fight for freedom; even contributing to John Brown's legendary cause.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut power came with a price. As her wealth and influence grew, so did the city's fear of her. The newspapers called her \"Mammy Pleasant,\" branding her a sorceress, a schemer, a woman who had reached too high. When her business partner Thomas Bell died in a mysterious fall, society that once sought her favor turned to ruin her name.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYet even stripped of fortune, Pleasant refused to yield. She took on segregation in California's courts nearly a century before the Montgomery bus boycotts, leaving behind a legacy that law, rumor, and prejudice could not erase.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold with vivid detail and historical precision, \u003cem\u003eThe Woman Who Would Not Step Aside\u003c\/em\u003e traces Pleasant's rise from the margins of slavery to the heights of influence; and into the myth that still shadows her memory. Through letters, court transcripts, and contemporary accounts, it restores her rightful place as a visionary entrepreneur, a hidden abolitionist, and the Mother of Civil Rights in California.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA story of brilliance and betrayal, of wealth and resistance, this is the life of a woman who refused to be invisible; and whose voice still echoes through the fog of San Francisco.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Dianna Aubin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798232955625\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dianna Aubin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/27\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 90\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.21lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.22d","brand":"Dianna Aubin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47520975421695,"sku":"9798232955625","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_65702b39-f74e-4a86-81ff-6deedcdffa21.jpg?v=1762888044","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-woman-who-would-not-dianna-aubin-9798232955625","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}