Mary Ellen Pleasant

“A demon from first to last.” 

Called both the “Mother of Civil Rights in California” and “The Voodoo Queen of San Francisco,” Pleasant was a Gold Rush-era millionaire who used her riches to fund anti-slavery politicians and revolutionaries. A figure of perpetual scandal, critics slandered her as a murderer, a blackmailer, a brothel keeper, and a witch; most likely none of the rumors were true, but Pleasant was always willing to leverage her reputation to intimidate rivals and promote her own public image.