Scope of the Project

This book identifies and tells the stories of the enslaved and indentured African American pioneers of Utah Territory. Despite the historical connection between Indigenous and African American slavery in Utah Territory, the book mentions Indigenous slavery only in passing. Although this book contains material applicable to a legal history or a history of race and Mormonism, its most important goal is to be a treasury of the experiences of Utah's enslaved Black residents, so the introductory history moves quickly and does not delve into topics adequately covered in other published or forthcoming works. It also serves as a demonstration of the differences between legal history and lived experience, showing what happened when Southerners transported a small number of enslaved people into the largely White settlements of the American West.