Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Travel and Religion
On the ineptitude of using Green Flake to criticize me

On the ineptitude of using Green Flake to criticize me

Last updated on: September 2, 2025 at 3:07 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

On the ineptitude of using Green Flake to criticize me 2025-09-02T15:07:50-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

An Interpreter Foundation volunteer works to set up the Foundation’s new wifi system, in a bid to boost our signal speed. Below him are the adjoining cities of Orem and Provo, separated only by the mighty Provo River. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This went up yesterday on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: “The Interpreter Foundation Podcast — August 21, 2025: Wresting the Scriptures.”

For the 21 August 2025 episode of the Interpreter Foundation Podcast, Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Martin Tanner discussed the wresting of the scriptures by critics.

An artistic enhancement and colorization of a public domain 19th-century photograph of Green Flake. Probably taken in Salt Lake City, Utah, probably in the 1890s.

I continue to draw ignorant (and, thus, poorly aimed) fire from certain quarters regarding the position that I took in a recent FAIR presentation and a recent Meridian Magazine article on the subject of Brigham Young and slavery. Just this morning, for instance, a critic writes that he “imagines” that, if someone like me had told the black Latter-day Saint pioneer Green Flake (1828-1903) that Brigham Young was opposed to slavery, Brother Flake would have been, umm, a bit skeptical of the claim.

This, though, is a wonderful example of where actually knowing something about the topic might have helped the critic. (“It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble,” said Will Rogers. “It’s what we know that ain’t so.”). For “imagination” is the operative word in the critic’s claim.

Green Flake was born enslaved on the Jordan Flake Plantation in North Carolina. His enslavers eventually joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he did, as well. He was baptized on 7 April 1844, and he and his enslavers moved to Nauvoo in 1845.

Like Brigham Young, Green Flake was a member of the vanguard pioneer company that established the settlement at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, and that then went on to arrive in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in July 1847. (He had been dispatched by his enslavers to go ahead and prepare a house for them.) Soon after their arrival, Brigham reputedly turned to Brother Flake and told him that he was just as free as every other member of the company.

Many Latter-day Saints were re-baptized when they reached the Salt Lake Valley, in order to show their commitment to their faith in this new place. Green Flake was among them: He was re-baptized on 8 August 1847 by Tarleton Lewis and was confirmed later that same day by Elder Wilford Woodruff of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

What happened thereafter is not altogether clear, but what is apparent from the historical record is the fact that the widowed Agnes Flake, who had gone down to the new Latter-day Saint settlement at San Bernardino in California, wrote to Brigham Young, asking him to send Green Flake to her so that she could sell him there, and that Brigham refused to do so. Brigham rented Green Flake’s labor for a year and then, having set him up with a farm in Union, Utah, officially freed him somewhere between 1852 and 1854. One account says that, after their marriage, Green and Martha Flake continued to supply produce to her former enslavers as the price of her freedom — until Brigham Young, hearing of their continued payments, told them to stop: “You owe them nothing,” he reportedly told Green and Martha. The 1860 census lists Green, Martha, and their two children as free residents of Union, Salt Lake County. (The nineteenth-century Union settlement is divided today between modern Midvale, Cottonwood Heights, and Sandy.) According to some sources, when Brigham Young died in 1877, Green Flake insisted — out of affection and respect — on being the one to dig President Young’s grave.

As one of the original 1847 pioneer company, Green Flake was a revered member of the Latter-day Saint community in Utah and Idaho for over half a century and often spoke at Pioneer Day celebrations. Among his descendants was Lucille Bankhead, a civil rights activist in Utah and the first Relief Society president of the Genesis Group.

Incidentally, while I’m once again on the topic of Brigham Young: My wife and I had a Zoom meeting today with Mark Goodman, James Jordan, and Russell Richins about the production schedule for our forthcoming series of short Becoming Brigham video-documentaries. We have filmed about thirty of them, thus far, but post-production is (of course and pretty much by definition) lagging behind. Only about eight are currently complete. Our initial goal was to do fifty-two of them and to release them on a weekly basis. We’re acquiring such good material, though — notably in excellent interviews with fine scholars — that the eventual number of episodes may increase substantially. Anyway, we’ve determined to aim at launching our weekly releases at the beginning of 2026.

I’m excited about this project. More and more so, in fact, as it proceeds. I’m learning a great deal from it, and I’m confident that its audience will, as well. We’re still in need of funding to complete it, though. Small and large contributions are both very welcome. If you would like to help, please go to the donation page on the Interpreter Foundation website and indicate the purpose of your contribution. (This is all, of course, tax exempt.)

A group of young Latter-day Saint women who are probably on their way to the workhouse. (They’re plainly too old to be going to school as women in Utah.) I don’t think that Utah females are permitted to drive. Right? These women do, though, appear to be wearing shoes, which may indicate a recent relaxation of Church standards. (LDS Media Library)

I very much appreciated this article by Meagan Kohler in the Deseret News and I commend it to you: “Answering my critics about issues facing women of faith: Certain questions and criticisms about my writing have come up more frequently than others. Here are some responses.” I always try to read what Meagan Kohler writes.

A Latter-day Saint chapel in Miami, Florida (LDS Media Library)

Finally, from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™, here’s yet another illustration of how theism and theists continue to blight innocent people around the world: “How EnglishConnect Is Opening Doors and Changing Lives: The Church provides the global program in more than 50 languages.” I know that at least a few of the readers of this blog out there are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I suppose that, if they decide to join in such an evil cause as EnglishConnect, there is nothing — at least as the laws are constituted right now — that we can do to stop them.

Posted from Depoe Bay, Oregon

Travel and Religion

History and Religion

Previous Post

September 1, 2025

Desire, Experience, and the Divine

Next Post

September 3, 2025 Hearing from Reeve and Rich themselves

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Thanks John. You always have so many interesting facts. I could listen to you read ..."

I Dig My Job!

Walking through History

"You dig out some really interesting information from the background details of the Church."

Phil Leaning

Walking through History

"The G-20 interreligious summit is happening in Salt Lake City for the first time. President ..."

John Pack Lambert

Walking through History

"Provo High may have some nostalgic value for some folks here--but I have to say ..."

Jack

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God use to speak to Moses in the wilderness?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A mighty wind A thunderstorm A pillar of fire A burning bush