The Historical Record: Mormons and Slavery


If someone says “Mormons never had slaves,” the historical record says otherwise.

Even the Mormon Church's own official history acknowledges that some early Mormons owned enslaved people. It specifically names Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, who were enslaved to Mormon families and traveled with the 1847 Mormon pioneer company to Utah.¹

The National Park Service confirms the same history. Green Flake was born enslaved, converted to Mormonism, and was brought west with the Mormon pioneers. His labor was even accepted by the Church as part of the Flake family's tithing.²

And this wasn't just a few people passing through Utah. Slavery was legally permitted in Utah Territory. In 1852, Mormon leaders serving in the Utah legislature debated slavery. Brigham Young and Orson Spencer supported legalizing and regulating slavery, while Apostle Orson Pratt strongly opposed it. Young and Spencer's position won, and the legislature authorized a form of Black slavery.¹

So what did Mormon leaders actually believe?

Joseph Smith eventually opposed slavery. The Mormon Church's own history says Smith became increasingly outspoken against slavery and, during his 1844 presidential campaign, proposed that the federal government end slavery.¹

Brigham Young took a different position. In 1852, while he was both president of the Mormon Church and governor of Utah Territory, he supported legislation legalizing and regulating slavery in Utah.¹

Orson Pratt strongly opposed slavery. He argued against enslaving Black people because of their color and spoke against compromising with slavery.¹

So I'm not going to make the dishonest claim that every Mormon supported slavery. That's not true.

But it's equally dishonest to claim Mormons never had slaves.

The evidence is clear: some early Mormons owned enslaved people, enslaved Mormon pioneers traveled to Utah, and slavery was legally permitted in Mormon Utah under Brigham Young's leadership. The National Park Service documents Green Flake and Hark Lay, and the Mormon Church's own history acknowledges these facts.² ³

There's also federal census evidence. The National Archives says the 1850 Utah census records include a “Slave Inhabitants in Utah County: Deseret” schedule listing 26 enslaved people, 24 of them by name. The Archives also notes that the original Utah territorial census is held by the **LDS Church History Library.**⁴

So this isn't simply something an “anti-Mormon” website made up.

The Mormon Church's own historical sources, the National Park Service, and the National Archives all document it.

The real historical question isn't “Did Mormons have slaves?”

Yes, some did.

The better questions are: What did Mormon leaders teach about slavery? Why was slavery permitted in Utah? And how does that history fit with Mormon claims of continuing divine revelation?

You don't have to exaggerate Mormon history to make the point. The historical record is strong enough on its own.

Sources

  1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Slavery and Abolition.” Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, .

  2. National Park Service. “Green Flake.” Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, U.S. Department of the Interior, .

  3. National Park Service. “Chapter 1: Race, Slavery, and Freedom.” Utah: Slaves and Saints, U.S. Department of the Interior, 

  4. National Archives. “1850 Census Records.” National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 

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