Jackson T Mkhabela was called as Stake President of the Soweto Stake and sustained at a Stake Conference held in the Pimville Stake Center.
All previous Stake Presidents in South Africa had been white though there have been black Counselors. This is significant when you consider the country’s racial diverse past and the fact that President Mkhabela presides over many white Saints in this multiracial Stake. In the Apartheid days the only white people you would see in Soweto where soldiers and police. White saints regularly attend meetings in Soweto as they did this last Sunday. This is not unique to the LDS Church but is reflection of how far South Africans have come as a people. Elder Scott of the 12 and Elder Sitati a Regional Authority Seventy extended the call.

Gladys Knight cherishes last duet with Charles
Deseret Morning News Tuesday, February 15, 2005–When the Grammys were handed out Sunday night, Gladys Knight was not on hand to get the one for her gospel duet with the late Ray Charles. "I was doing a fireside in Las Vegas," she said. Her programs are so popular they have to be divided into two sessions, "and my bishop came up to me in between them and said, ‘You won! You won!’ I was so surprised." (Follow the link by clicking on her name above to read the entire article.)

Jane Manning James - Black Pioneer
Provo Daily Herald, UT, Februray 16, 2005 -Jane Manning James, the most well-known female black pioneer, was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Connecticut. She then walked 800 miles with eight family members, including her young son, to meet thousands of church members in Nauvoo, Ill., in 1843.
Originally, she thought she would ride a steamboat for part of the journey, but after she put her trunk of clothes on the boat, the captain would not let her on and would not give her back her trunk. In her life history, which she dictated to be read at her funeral, she detailed her shoeless journey.
“We walked until our shoes were worn out, and our feet became sore and cracked open and bled until you could see the whole print of our feet with blood on the ground,” she said. “We stopped and united in prayer to the Lord; we asked God the Eternal Father to heal our feet. Our prayers were answered and our feet were healed forthwith.”
During the trip they each had to show free papers at state borders to prove they were not escaped slaves.
When they finally got to Illinois, they were not met with the excitement from the Mormons they expected. James’ records indicate her family of new black converts who arrived in worn-out clothes were rebuffed by some members.
But church founder Joseph Smith had the opposite reaction. James said he welcomed them into his home with a warm smile…..(Follow the link by clicking on her name above to read the entire article.)

Black Pioneers
Provo Daily Herald, UT - In 1838, a 10-year-old black boy was given as a wedding present to James and Agnes Flake in North Carolina. He went by the unusual name of Green and, according to custom, took the surname of his white slave owners. Later, after moving to Mississippi, Green Flake’s life intersected with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when the family converted to the faith.
Green was a teenager when he migrated west with Brigham Young to settle in the Salt Lake Valley. Flake family folklore suggests that Green drove the very wagon from which Young is alleged to have uttered the famous words, “This is the right place. Drive on.”
After Green built a cabin in the valley, he walked back to Nebraska to guide the Flakes to their new home in the Utah territory.
He was one of 100 black pioneers to make the historic journey west in the mid-1800s. Though he died in 1903, he will be among a group of five black pioneers who will be accepted as honorary members of the Brigham Young chapter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers on Thursday….(Follow this link to read the entire article.)

Elijah Abel - Black Pioneer
Provo Daily Herald, UT - Elijah Abel has earned historical fame for being a test case for blacks and the priesthood, said Margaret Young, a black pioneer historian.
Abel joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the first black member in 1832 and was then ordained as an elder in the Mormon priesthood in March 1836, documents show.
Most records show that Abel was a free man, but some indicate he way have used the underground railroad to get that freedom, Young said. His position as an elder and a member of the church’s Quorum of the Seventy later become the topic of much official church discussion after blacks were banned from holding the priesthood.
Abel lived with the Mormons in Nauvoo, Ill., for a time and worked as a carpenter. He was later called by LDS Church prophet Joseph Smith to serve as the town’s undertaker, a position most often held by carpenters…(Follow the link above to read the entire article.)

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.)

Slaves were early converts to LDS Church
Salt Lake Tribune Sat, 12 Feb 2005 11:46 PM PST
Green Flake. Elijah Able. Oscar Crosby. These were the names of three African-American pioneers who settled in Utah in 1847 after they traveled with Brigham Young’s caravan of Saints, said Ronald Coleman, who spoke at The Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ third annual African-American open house Saturday.

Gladys Knight Concert
The Southern California Public Affairs Council is sponsoring a special concert featuring Gladys Knight and her 100-voice multi-cultural choir, Saints Unified Voices. Sister Knight’s new album, “One Voice” features unique arrangements of LDS favorites performed by the choir and featuring Gladys Knight. Tickets are limited.

5th Annual African American Genealogy Workshop
Saturday, October 16, 2004 Menlo Park, CA
Classes include: Beginning Genealogy (How to Start Your Family History, How to Organize Your Family History, and How to Share Your Family History), Computer Research, and much more.

Gospel Music Concert Menlo Park, CA October 16, 7:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30) Covenant Community Choir
Featured Soloists: Rev. Isaiah Jones, Jr., Rev. Virginia Jackson, and Doris Backey