Green Flake - Black Pioneer
Green Flake - Black Pioneer
Provo Daily Herald, UT - Green Flake is one of the three black pioneers whose names are immortalized on the back of the Brigham Young monument in Salt Lake City.
He was born in North Carolina as a slave and was given as a wedding present to James and Agnes Flake when he was 10 years old. Green and the Flake family later moved to Mississippi where the Flakes joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"My sense is there was not coercion to make the slaves join," said historian Margaret Young. "I do not know how much they were taught, but they did not have to join."
A few weeks after James and Agnes Flake were baptized, records show Green and one other Flake slave were baptized, too. The Flake family records, which include a biography of William Jordan Flake by Osmer Flake, state that the family decided to travel to Illinois to gather with the Mormons in 1844.
They gave each slave a choice whether or not to stay in Mississippi. Green Flake and another slave named Liz Flake chose to make the journey. Green and the Flake family arrived in Nauvoo, Ill., in April 1844.
Three years later, Green Flake was pointed out as one of the stronger slaves and chosen to join Brigham Young, then president of the church, and the Vanguard Company as the first pioneers to reach the Salt Lake Valley….(Follow the link above to read the entire article.)