Archives West Finding Aid

The Steven K. Madsen collection on Blacks in Utah (1879-1980) was collected between 1965 and 1979 by Steven K. Madsen, whose study of the early arrival of Black people in Utah (after 1847) and the Black community of Union, Utah Territory, was prompted by an interest in history aroused by the U. S. Bicentennial celebrations of the mid-1970s. This collection contains only photocopies, and includes news clippings from The Deseret News; excerpts from Book of Marks and Brands and Book of Pioneer; deeds for property in the community of Union; Union Fort Cemetery records; handwritten recollections of descendants of early Black residents; and an announcement of a 1979 series of lectures, sponsored by the Utah State Historical Society, by University history professors on "Blacks In Utah and Universal Mormonism." Very few written historical records on African Americans who came to Utah and remained are available. One exception is the record of Green Flake, who arrived in Salt Lake along with two other Black people in the first party of Latter Day Saint Pioneers. Green Flake was an enslaved person, friend, and driver for Brigham Young. Flake was later freed, settled in the community of Union, married, and raised a family. He is buried in the Union Fort Cemetery.