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Black Americans were among the first pioneer settlers to arrive in Utah, coming to the Great Basin as enslaved people. Although many lived in Utah long enough to become free, their enslaved status and later position on the fringe of Utah society have left us with incomplete versions of their stories. Secondary sources are often the only available records that

Early Life On January 6, 1828, Green Flake was born into slavery on the William Jordan Flake Plantation in North Carolina. Green was “gifted” to James, William’s son, as a wedding present in the 1840’s when Green was in his early teens. Shortly after marrying, James Flake moved to Mississippi in hopes of claiming land. Green was separated from his

After the Great Depression, the United States saw a nationwide trend toward increased political engagement among young people. The NAACP, originally founded in 1909, took advantage of this movement to significantly restructure its youth program. The subsequent changes to the Youth Council formalized the participation of young people within the NAACP by allowing its youngest members more opportunities to interact

Among records recently transferred to the Utah State Archives from the Ogden School District were two seemingly unremarkable 1960s-era photo albums from Pingree Elementary School. Despite the plain covers, the photos in the album revealed that Pingree Elementary was not just another school. The photographs provide a striking and human window into one of the important Black communities in Utah

AnnaBelle Shaw was born in Mississippi in 1922. She moved to Ogden during World War II when her fiancé was stationed at Hill Field, now known as Hill Air Force Base. They married at the end of 1942. After the war they divorced and AnnaBelle met and married her second husband, Billie Weakley in 1947. AnnaBelle Weakley and her husband

Jane Manning has been immortalized in the lore of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was born African American in Connecticut in the early 1820’s. Her mother was enslaved, but was emancipated by the time Jane was born. Her father died when she was very young. She gave birth to her first son in 1839 but the

Alberta Hill was born in Louisiana in 1920, where her parents worked as sharecroppers. As African Americans, they were discriminated against in Louisiana. When she was three, her family moved to Kansas where they hoped for a better racial climate and educational opportunities for their children.  When Alberta was a teenager she was in a car accident. A piece of