Courtesy Jay Buckley
BYU Slavery Project agenda at the January meeting of the Utah Valley Historical Society.
It is well known that some were slaves when Black entered the Salt Lake Valley with other pioneers when he converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Utah Valley Historical Society will examine the relationship between slavery and the founding of Brigham Young University at its monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 10, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting, which is free and open to the public, will be held in his room 201 in the Provo Library at Academy Square.
BYU faculty and students share findings on the relationship between the African American experience and BYU’s early history.
“The BYU Slavery Project was founded in 2019 by Christopher Jones of BYU’s History Department. We are committed to carefully examining the
The BYU Slavery Project has led hours of research by dozens of undergraduate students since it officially launched in the fall of 2020. The research was conducted in conjunction with classes offered by Jones and Matthew Mason, which provided research assistant opportunities for students for two consecutive summers.
“Jones’ discovery of family history, along with the experience of Jones and other history departments studying their own histories in this way at the university, made them interested in pursuing research,” said Buckley.
Another version of the class began the process of determining how best to communicate the findings to both lay and academic audiences. Buckley said Jones and Mason will lead the presentation, while project alumnus Grace Solberg will discuss her research.
Jones is an assistant professor of history at BYU. His research and teaching focuses on the intersections of religion, race, and nation in the early American and Atlantic worlds.
A faculty member since 2003, Mason is a professor of history at BYU. Much of his research and teaching concentrates on the history of slavery in the United States and Great Britain, particularly its political history.
Soelberg recently graduated from BYU with honors. She majored in history, studying the intersection of race relations and popular media. She recently completed her tenure as a research staff member at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.
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