Meet Mr. Wesley Taylor and learn more here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...

Unfortunately, census and other vital records from the period do not offer additional clues as to Wesley Taylor's identity. Until further evidence emerges, Century of Black Mormons recognizes a Mr. Wesley Taylor as a “faithful” Latter-day Saint living in Utah in 1896.

The Broad Ax, a Black-owned newspaper in Utah, described the Black men in the group as “very old gentlemen,” and “faithful members of the Mormon Church.” Throughout the celebration, they reportedly intermingled with the Old Folks of other races “as brothers and sisters.”

Unfortunately, the news report does not offer any other identifying information for Knox, Taylor, or Harris, other than the fact that they were Black and Latter-day Saints.

On July 25, 1896, he attended a Utah-based festival which celebrated the state’s elderly citizens who were over seventy years old. His attendance was noted in a local Black-owned newspaper, along with other elderly Black members of his faith: Isaac Manning, Jane James, a Mr. Knox, and a Mr. Harris.

Today we remember Wesley Taylor who was described as a faithful African American member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who lived in Utah towards the end of his life.

because of the racial restrictions that barred people of Black African ancestry from temple admission and priesthood ordination for almost 130 years.

Meet Phyllis and learn the rest of her story here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...

Her life stands as a testament to her commitment, tenacity, and the deep yearning in her heart for all the blessings promised to Latter-day Saints. It is also a witness to the pain that Black Saints experienced in their chosen faith . . .

Later, sadly, Phyllis had her access to the temple revoked because of her racial ancestry. Despite the turmoil this caused, she remained a practicing Latter-day Saint.

Soon after the family’s conversion, Phyllis emigrated to Utah with her husband & infant son. There she performed key temple rituals, including being married or “sealed” to her husband & then to other family members in the Salt Lake Temple.

Today we remember Philida "Phyllis" Jacoba Elizabeth February Daniels Sampson who was baptized a Latter-day Saint in South Africa in 1909. Phyllis and her family were of mixed racial ancestry, or “coloured” in South African terminology.

Meet Polly and learn the rest of her story here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...

She moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1909, and spent the rest of her life there. She left her religious roots behind following her move to Seattle but instead found community in the Women of Woodcraft, the women’s auxiliary to the Fraternal Order of the Woodmen of the World.

Given such events in her immediate family, there is no evidence that Polly ever sought temple admission for herself. She twice married Fredrick Crowton, a white Latter-day Saint who was abusive to her. She also divorced him twice.

After Polly's mother divorced her father, Latter-day Saint leaders denied Polly's sister & mother temple admission. Her sister was denied because she had Black African ancestry through her father while her mother was denied because she had married a man of Black African ancestry.

After Polly's mother immigrated to Utah Territory, she married James Preston Berry, a barber of mixed racial ancestry who was not a Latter-day Saint. The couple had two children together, the youngest of whom was Polly.

Today we remember Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Bowdidge Berry Crowton. Polly's mother was a white convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the Isle of Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

Wow! Thank you! You just made my day!

Her life thus represents the long shadow that slavery cast well into the 20th century as well as the sometimes-porous nature of Latter-day Saint racial policies and the mutability of “race” over time.
Meet Grace and learn the rest of her story here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...

She passed away in Utah, in 1993, at age 96, the daughter of a formerly enslaved father. Let that fact sink in for a moment: the daughter of a formerly enslaved father who fought in the Civil War, died as a Latter-day Saint in Utah in 1993.

She married four times, one of which was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple. She then served as a missionary from 1951 to 1953 in the Central States Mission. Grace outlived all of her siblings and was the last member of her immediate family to die.

In 1909, her parents were denied temple admission because the leader of their Latter-day Saint congregation concluded that Nelson “had negro blood in him.” Grace nonetheless passed as white and attended the Salt Lake Temple as a single woman in 1927.

Her mother converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kansas while her father converted after the family moved to Utah. As a result, Grace was born into a Latter-day Saint family and raised in the faith that her parents had adopted.

Grace's father Nelson was born into slavery, the son of an enslaved woman and a white enslaver. He later escaped, fought in the Civil War on the side of freedom, and then married a white woman, Grace's mother, Annie Cowan Russell.

Today we remember Grace Samantha Ritchie Gerhardt Searle Mann Ashton, the first documented woman born to a formerly enslaved parent to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

His obituary includes a picture of Huron smiling widely, and he is described as a “Member, LDS Church.”

Meet Huron and learn the rest of his story here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...

a fitting convergence of events that harkened back to his great-grandfather, Green Flake, who was an enslaved pioneer in 1847, and a devout Latter-day Saint. At the time of Huron’s passing, he had thirteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Utahns commemorate their pioneer heritage each year on July 24th, the day in 1847 that Brigham Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Huron passed away on this celebratory day in 1976,

Huron was 67 years old when he passed away. He missed by two years the removal of the priesthood and temple restrictions that barred him from priesthood ordination and temple admission, not for lack of devotion, but because of the color of his skin.

His father, though never baptized, supported the family in their church activity. This foundation of faith stayed with Huron as he married and then led his own family in a life dedicated to the Latter-day Saint gospel.