Many differing accounts exist about Mary Ellen Pleasant (1814-1904). As a child, she learned about business from working with Quakers in Nantucket. Moving to Boston, Pleasant met abolitionists and joined the anti-slavery cause. There she also married a man who may have aided runaway slaves. Pleasant moved to San Francisco, possibly to avoid prosecution for helping slaves escape. In California she became a wealthy business owner and community leader, harboring at least one runaway slave. In 1858 Pleasant and her second husband traveled to Chatham, Canada where they met other abolitionists who supported John Brown. Legend suggests she may have dressed as a jockey and stole into plantations to warn slaves about Brown’s plans to overthrow the government and free the people in bondage. Following the Civil War, she was outspoken in challenging racial discrimination.