Well, it Depends on Your Point of View0
Mormon Life says: Exploring our own bias when telling someone else's history.
One of the first conflicts I discovered as Darius Gray and I began writing African American Mormon history was this: Whites tell the history of black Mormons a lot differently than blacks do.
Initially, I found this phenomenon as I explored the varied stories of one of three slaves in the vanguard pioneer company, Green Flake. Now, if you happen to be a Flake, you might be on the defensive already. As a white Flake, you might have been told that Green was freed by James Madison Flake as soon as the family joined the Church, so he wasn’t a slave when he came to Utah. Or, in the alternate white version, Green Flake was offered his freedom and refused it. He wanted to remain a slave because he loved the family.
Well, not so much. I have a copy of a letter from Amasa Lyman to Brigham Young asking that Green Flake be sold so that his master’s widow could have the proceeds from the sale. In fact, a buyer was already identified and ready to pay handsomely. (Brigham Young prevented the sale.)
Read the rest of this story at feministmormonhousewives.org
LEAVE A COMMENT
Login to leave a comment.