This Is the Place Heritage Park, honoring the arrival 175 years ago of Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley, now tells a more complete story of their epic journey.
Stone monuments were unveiled Friday at the state park in the eastern foothills celebrating the significant contributions of Black pioneers, some of them slaves.
For instance, Green Flake, Hark Wales and Oscar Smith — all three enslaved — entered the valley July 22, 1847, two days before Brigham Young, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reportedly declared, “This is the right place.”
Hundreds gave a standing ovation as Flake’s descendants pulled the sheet off the statues, located on a plaza behind the towering memorial with Young perched on top.
Those descendants then pulled together in group hug.
On their historic arrival, Flake, Wales and Smith scouted the area, tilled the ground, planted crops and laid down a trail for their enslavers and vanguard wagons that soon would follow.
A monument also honors Jane Manning James, a free Black woman who had converted to the fledgling faith and worked in the household of church founder Joseph Smith.
James, perhaps the best-known Black female Latter-day Saint this side of Gladys Knight, eventually was “sealed” to Smith as a “servitor.”
This story will be updated.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/kSXA1Mm
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