Disparity of Race: A Closer Look at the Brigham Young Monument

Mormon pioneers began traveling west in 1846. They were looking for a place where they could worship without the conflicts that they were enduring in Illinois, Missouri and previously Ohio and New York. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had been persecuted for their beliefs since Joseph Smith had started the religion April 6, 1830. After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young led a group of pioneers to Winter Quarters Nebraska, and eventually to the Utah Territory. The thousand-mile trek from the Midwest to Utah was a hard journey for the group and there were many hardships along the way. The party reached the Great Basin July 24, 1847 consisting of: one hundred and forty three men, three women, two children, seventy wagons, one boat, one cannon, ninety three horses, fifty two mules, sixty six oxen, and nineteen cows.[1] However, on July 22, just two days earlier, an advance party entered Utah carrying Brigham Young and three African American Slaves that had been given to Brigham Young in Winter Quarters Nebraska. These three slaves were Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby who are referred as “Colored Servants” on the Brigham Young Monument in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Brigham Young Monument was commissioned in 1891 by the Brigham Young Memorial Association which had been created by the president of the church Wilford Woodruff.[2] Cyrus Edwin Dallin was a Utah born sculptor who had studied in Paris and was asked to design the bronze sculpture of Brigham Young. Dallin was asked to include a trapper, Indian, and a pioneer family in addition to the statue of Brigham Young to represent those who preceded the pioneers in the Great Basin.[3] He was also commissioned to sculpt the angel Moroni that sits atop the Salt Lake Temple. Dallin finished the sculpture in 1893, just in time for it to be displayed at the World’s Fair in Chicago that same year. The LDS church had a problem coming up with the $25,000 that was agreed upon to pay for the sculpture. So on July 20, 1897 the monument was finally unveiled during a celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the pioneers’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.[4]

The Brigham Young Monument in Salt Lake City Utah was commissioned twenty eight years after the Emancipation Proclamation and twenty six years after the thirteenth amendment. It had been on display at the World’s Fair in Chicago for all to see. It had been designed by a sculptor that had spent time in Boston and Paris. Why then does the plaque on the north side of the monument distinguish between white pioneers and “colored servants”? Was the phrase “colored servants” specifically referred to by the Brigham Young Memorial Association when they gave the plans of the monument to C. E. Dallin? Did this distinguishing feature reflect the views of the sculptor or the person who the monument was created to celebrate?

Brigham Young was born in Vermont and spent all of his life in the northern United States before making the journey to the Salt Lake Valley.[5] His family owned a very small farm which did not employ slave labor. Young was a carpenter and painter, and also did not own any slaves.[6] If Brigham Young did not own slaves why did his views reflect a pro-slavery sentiment? Why was it important to use the phrase “colored servants” on a memorial commemorating his passage to the Great Basin? Does this phrase reflect the general ideology of the time or does it reflect a religious view that coincides with the Southern slave owner?

Brigham Young preached that slavery was ordained of God even though Utah was not suited for slavery.[7] Slavery was legal in the Utah territory because of the Compromise of 1850 which allowed “Popular Sovereignty” (consent of the people).[8] The Mormon Church did not have an official stance on owning slaves. In 1836 Joseph Smith addressed the humane treatment of slaves by their masters, and that slaves should be obedient to the slave owner.[9] An address given by an apostle of the Mormon Church Orson Hyde in 1851 stated that the church would not get involved in relations between a master and his slave.[10] In 1852 Brigham Young urged the first Utah Territorial Legislature to pass the “Act in Relation to Service” which formally sanctioned slavery and indentured servitude.[11] Slavery and the sale of slaves would persist in the Great Basin until the Emancipation Proclamation.

African American slavery was not a new concept in the United States. The American South had been built on the backs of African American slaves. Nat Turner’s Rebellion was happening during the same time that Joseph Smith was establishing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Southerners feared a slave rebellion as well as the abolitionist movement because it meant freedom for their slaves which the southerners regarded as property. Slaveholders would have to work their own fields, or pay someone to work them, if African American slaves were freed. The Abolitionist movement threatened to divide the North and South from the nation.

Southern plantation owners believed that slavery was the natural state of mankind. The Greeks, Romans, and until recently the English had owned slaves. Slaveholders believed that freeing slaves would cause economic ruin for the southern states. Abolition meant the killing of the tobacco, cotton, and rice industries in the South. Flooding the economy with freed slaves would also cause chaos in the southern states with widespread unemployment which would lead to uprising and revolution. Plantation owners defended slavery stating that slaves were better cared for than the working class of the north.[12]

Southern slaveholders also believed that slavery was divinely sanctioned. They assumed that slavery introduced Christianity to “the heathens from across the ocean.”[13] Many Southerners argued that slavery was accepted by God because Abraham had owned slaves and because of the wording in the Ten Commandments which states, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, ... nor his manservant, nor his maidservant."[14] Slave owners agreed with Paul’s action in the New Testament when he returned a runaway slave to his master. Slaveholders pointed to Paul’s act as an act of pro-slavery.

Northerners were not all anti-slavery, although the Abolitionist movement was predominantly concentrated in the north. Northern citizens wanted slaves to be free but to stay in the south. Northern states outlawed slavery but some proceeded gradually, first outlawing the sale of slaves and then later outlawing the ownership.[15] Northerners feared that outlawing slavery would cause an increase in African Americans migrating to the northern states.

The phrase on the Brigham Young memorial is important to historians because it shows a pro-slavery bias in the territories after the Emancipation Proclamation. It could mean that a pro-slavery bias continued long after the conclusion of the Civil War. It also could mean that Brigham Young felt strongly enough about whites being superior to African Americans that the Brigham Young Memorial Association had to add the distinguishing phrase. This question is significant because of the disparity between Brigham Young’s lack of experience with slavery and his pro-slavery position.

Why does the Brigham Young Monument distinguish between white pioneers and “colored servants”? I intend to answer this question through the research methods that I have designed. I plan to work directly with the library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City Utah to gain the necessary primary sources to do a project like the seminar paper including Brigham Young’s journals and discourses. I will have to travel to the LDS Church library to complete my research. I am planning on spending two different days there which should give me time to research the journals of Brigham Young and the letters of Wilford Woodruff as well as papers from the Brigham Young Memorial Association. After seeing how long my research takes on day one I will be able to accurately calculate subsequent visits. Next I plan on using the America: History and Life database to get more in depth information and more primary sources that I may not be able to get through the LDS Church library. An example is the journal of Cyrus E. Dallin that was written during the making of the statues for the Brigham Young Monument. After checking for primary sources I plan to read through secondary sources that will present context of the time period and the issue of slavery.

Using the methods that I have outlined I anticipate to discover the reason for adding the heading of “colored servants” and the motive for making the distinction between whites and African Americans. I hope to discover who decided to add the phrase to the memorial and why it was important. The monument was erected in 1893 and because of that I assume that I will find that the Brigham Young Memorial Association used the same wording that Brigham Young used when documenting who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. If that is the case I hope to find out why Brigham Young had views of superiority over blacks. If the association chose to distinguish between the two races on its own I would like to find out why it did so in a free nation.

The primary sources that I have found all relate to the time period of the 1840’s to the 1900’s. These sources will give me a basis of research from the time period. Sources such as The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants will allow me to see the doctrine that Mormons are supposed to adhere to and the differences between Mormon doctrine and slaveholder views. These sources will also give me historical context to be able to evaluate my questions.

In the LDS Church Library there is a collection of papers from Brigham Young’s desk. This collection includes correspondence, government documents, and rough drafts of letters. I intended to gain a better comprehension of Brigham Young and his stance on African Americans through this collection of documents. This collection could hold the reason for adding the phrase and its importance.

The collection of newspapers from the time period will give me the information that was being reported at the time. An open letter from Wilford Woodruff to the citizens of Utah will allow me to see what he thought of the building of the memorial and why it was important. The Messenger and Advocate articles give insight into Brigham Young’s views on slavery as there are multiple columns that he wrote regarding the subject. In the Times and Seasons article Brigham Young relays a message that states that blacks do not have the wisdom or the capability to be leaders.

An exciting primary source is the Brigham Young Memorial Association papers that are located in the LDS Church Library. This source should yield evidence of the importance of building the monument as well as reasoning behind inserting “colored servants” on the plaque. Through this collection of papers I expect to find other primary sources that I may be able to research to broaden my knowledge of the theme and build my thesis.

My collection of secondary works has been a great resource already as I have read through the bibliography in most of the secondary sources to find my primary sources. Sources like the dissertations have been great resources because I have been able to find their sources easily by using the Internet. A couple of the other works have pointed me in the right direction as I have been looking for more primary sources.

Works such as “Negro Slavery in the Utah Territory” and “Mormons and Slavery - A Closer Look” have given me direction. I expect to get some information that can be disputed since they are older than fifteen years old. I hope to find arguments for and against slavery in Utah within these two works that will help build my thesis and support my argument. Other works that I anticipate using are Conflict and Compromise and Saints, Slaves, and Blacks that will give me an idea of the historical arguments that arise from the issue of slavery and answer why Brigham Young held a pro-slavery position.

Books such as Captives and Cousins and Slavery in the American West will provide context in the broader historical sense. I expect to find the views of pioneers regarding slavery in these books. These views will help to place Brigham Young’s views in the broader context and see if his views were different from the time period or coincided with it. In these books I hope to find what the general view of slavery was and what western settlers thought about African Americans. Having this knowledge will further my research in the broader sense.

Brigham Young is regarded as a great spiritual leader by the Latter Day Saints which is why the church built a memorial honoring his arrival in the Great Basin. If this memorial is to honor his arrival, and the arrival of many pioneers, what is the importance of having “colored servants” as a distinction on the plaque? Is this a view of the artist, the memorial association, or of the leader himself? Through my research I expect to find the answer and uncover the reasoning behind placing the phrase on the plate after slavery was eradicated. Through my research I expect to gain knowledge of the general view of slavery in antebellum and post antebellum Utah and use that to compare and contrast Brigham Young’s views with other Mormons, western settlers, and pro-slavery northerners. I expect the research to yield the reason for the peculiarity of “colored servants” inscribed on the Brigham Young Monument.

---

[1] Brigham Young Statue in Salt Lake City Utah.

[2] Greg Hill, “Brigham Young Statue is Relocated: for 96 years, monument was in Main intersection,” Church News. November 20, 1993, accessed December 9, 2011, http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/23623/Brigham-Young-statue-is-relocated-for-96-years-monument-was-in-Main-intersection.html

[3] Hill, “Brigham Young Statue is Relocated.”

[4] Hill, “Brigham Young Statue is Relocated.”

[5] “Young Brigham” Brigham Young University, Accessed December 9, 2011, http://unicomm.byu.edu/about/brigham.aspx.

[6] “Young Brigham”

[7] Jeffery D. Nichols, “Slavery in Utah.” History Blazer. April 1995, Accessed December 9, 2011, http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/slaveryinutah.html

[8] Nichols, “Slavery in Utah.”

[9] Nichols, “Slavery in Utah.”

[10] Nichols, “Slavery in Utah.”

[11] Nichols, “Slavery in Utah.”

[12] “The Southern Argument for Slavery.” U.S. History Online Textbook (2011). Accessed December 9, 2011. http://www.ushistory.org/us/27f.asp.

[13] “The Southern Argument for Slavery”

[14] “The Southern Argument for Slavery”

[15] Ira Berlin, Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves. (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003), 104.