Green Flake

Green Flake (January 6, 1828

Life in Nauvoo In 1845 the Flakes moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in order to be closer to the main body of Latter Day Saints. William Jordan Flake, eldest son of James and Agnes, remembered "being taken to the top of the Nauvoo Temple by our Negro servant Green, and viewing the surrounding country for miles in every direction." Green Flake was a part of the first group of Latter Day Saints to leave Nauvoo for the West and participated in the initial establishment of Winter Quarters, Nebraska. Oscar Crosby and Hark Lay were other slaves on the overland journey. On July 13, 1847, Brigham Young sent Orson Pratt and others, including Flake, to prepare the way into Salt Lake. This vanguard group reached the valley on July 22, 1847.

Green was re-baptized on August 8, 1847, by Tarleton Lewis and confirmed the same day by Wilford Woodruff; many Latter-day Saints were rebaptized when they reached the Salt Lake Valley to show their commitment to the faith. Upon his arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, Green built a log cabin in Cottonwood (now known as Holladay, Utah), Green moved to Union, near the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, in 1856. Green Flake died in Idaho on October 20, 1903. He was buried in the Union Cemetery in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, next to his wife.

In 1851, after James Flake's death, William Crosby wrote in a letter to Brigham Young that Green was a "Lying disafected Saucy to Brother Flakes wife [sic]". An article on the Pioneer Day celebrations in Salt Lake City noted his presence there, describing him as "a vigorous, broad-shouldered, good-natured, bright old gentleman."

Legacy One of Flake's descendants was Lucille Bankhead, a civil rights activist in Utah and the first Relief Society president of the Genesis Group.

Black Pioneer is a 2020 biopic.