This semester I am working on my senior thesis. I have mentioned it in a couple of blog posts and thought that I would let me loyal readers know exactly what I have decided to research.
In a U.S. History class last semester we were discussing slavery being predominately in the South. A color coded map was shown that revealed slavery in Salt Lake City. I was shocked to see that slavery had made its way to Utah when the Territories were suppose to be "free" territories. I asked the professor after class what he thought about the map showing slavery in the Utah and said that he thought the map was incorrect in that aspect. I went along my way satisfied with thought that it was in error but something kept grating on me. I decided to look into the issue and found that Brigham Young had brought three slaves with him from Winter Quarters, Nebraska. I couldn't believe what I was reading and as I read further I found that the names of the three slaves (Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby) were actually on the Brigham Young Monument.
On a trip to see Lyric in Salt Lake City I decided to go and see for myself. In the photo below, on the bottom right hand corner you can see that it says "Colored Servants" and below that are the names of the three slaves. After doing some research I am not shocked that LDS church members had slaves but rather that someone decided to make a divide among the white pioneers and "colored Servants". Therein lies the basis for my thesis. I want to find out the reason that there is a disparity between the races when this monument was erected in 1897 which is well after the Civil War. I have done some research and found that there are many primary sources in the LDS Church library and I am excited to get started. I think that this semester will be a tough one but this experience should be fun and rewarding.
In case you would like to read my senior thesis proposal I have included it here. I did receive an A on the paper even though there are some corrections that need to be made.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It's already been fun learning about this with you babe, sure you'll do great!
Post a Comment