By: Carolyn Cannon Jenkins

What better way to begin celebrating Black History Month than to travel to The Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters to learn about the Black pioneers, most enslaved, who were an important part of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On February 1, 2025, a long overdue event took place at the Winter Quarters Visitors’ Center in Omaha, Nebraska. This event embodied the dream of a talented and dedicated Latter Day Saint, La Sonya Luther.  

I was fortunate to travel to Winter Quarters with four of my cousins, Marian North, Rachel Leavitt, Mark Thomas and Dallin Leavitt, all of us descending from Brigham Young. The event, “The Untold Stories of Black Pioneers at Winter Quarters,” featured stories of Black pioneers as well as a choir performance orchestrated by La Sonya’s gifted daughter, Sam Luther. Ever since the event, I have had one of the choir’s songs, “Together,” playing over and over in my head. Part of the song’s lyrics seemed to capture the intent of the event. By telling the untold stories of Black pioneers, we all rise together. These narratives have been excluded in the past, and if we continue to exclude them, “we all fall together.”

… If you’re lookin’ for hope tonight, raise your hand
If you feelin’ alone and don’t understand
If you’re fightin’ in the fight of your life, then stand
We’re gonna make it through this hand in hand

… And if we fall, we will fall together
Together
Oh, and when we rise, we will rise together
Together, oh (whoo)

Our small group of descendants from Brigham Young have formed an organization with a mission statement and To Do lists.  Our group, Descendants for Racial Reconciliation, states this as our mission: “As disciples of Jesus Christ and descendants of early pioneers, we acknowledge historical racial harms experienced by impacted communities.  We look to take specific actions that encourage compassion, healing, and reconciliation.” Our hope in traveling to Omaha was to support efforts to tell the Untold Stories. In doing so, we hope to contribute to healing and reconciliation efforts. First and foremost, we were there to listen and learn. Secondly, we were there to support our good friends La Sonya Luther, Stephanie Phillips, and others who told the stories of Black Pioneers.

At the event, visitors had opportunities to hear the stories of Black pioneers Lydia Walker, Elijah Abel, Green Flake, Hark Wales, Jane Manning James, and John Burton, told in verse by Black community members. Although all the stories were touching to me, Lydia Walker’s story was especially poignant. Lydia was one of the first known Black members of the Church. As was customary at the time, she took the last name of her enslavers, and interestingly her enslavers did not join the church; she joined independently. Lydia was exploited for her ability to reproduce children who would also be enslaved. In the 1850, it was common for the enslavers to keep the male children as slaves and to sell off the female children once they were old enough. She toiled for the Walker household for 15 years and spent much of her life pregnant and nursing. In writing the verse about Lydia, La Sonya wrote, “She is remembered today as a testament to the enduring power of faith and the covenants that transcend the injustices of her time.”

A few of the descendants represented Brigham Young and Eliza Young, a wife of Brigham Young who was a friend to Jane Manning James.  Patty Sessions, a midwife who helped Jane Manning James deliver her son, represented by Julie Lucas.

The Mormon Trail Center visitors ended their tour by watching an inspiring video of Darius Gray. a founding father of the Genesis Group, a group formed in 1971 to support Black Later-Day Saints. In the video, Gray presents an account of a revelation he received about racist policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; policies that were discontinued in 1978. He was given permission by the leaders of the Church to present his experience. The video was powerful and hopeful. 

The weekend was full of lament and hope for broadening the narrative about the history of the Latter-Day Saints who for a short time settled in Winter Quarters. These are stories we all need to hear and to keep telling. 

Oh, and when we rise, we will rise together!