North Beach Library Community Room
The Ledger and the Mirror uncovers the real William A. Leidesdorff through global archival research, revealing both a remarkable life and the ways history is continually reshaped, distorted and remembered. As a pioneering Black entrepreneur, Leidesdorff rose from his Caribbean origins to become a key diplomat, civic leader and one of early California’s wealthiest figures. His extraordinary achievements and the mystery surrounding his fiercely contested estate have fueled nearly two centuries of competing legends about who he truly was.