Past Events
Unveiling of Black Women Mural Event at Richmond Park
This event is to unveil the mural of four Black women who have contributed to the uplift, character, heritage, and culture of Salt Lake City and all of Utah.
featured image: Western Federation of Colored Women, Courtesy of University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections
Soil Collection Ceremony
Event by Salt Lake County Community Remembrance Coalition, Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation, UTAH Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society and Ask Mama Alice
The Salt Lake County Community Remembrance Coalition of Sema Hadithi African American Heritage & Culture Foundation in collaboration and partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama will be hosting a SOIL COLLECTION CEREMONY at the sites of two racial lynchings that occurred in Salt Lake City.
On June 11th, 2022, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, local African American leaders and Utah elected officials will gather at the locations of the horrific murders of Mr. Thomas Coleman (1866) and Mr. William ("Sam Joe") Harvey (1883) to hold a Memorial Ceremony and collect soil from the sites.
The soil will be put into jars which will be sent to The National Memorial for Peace & Justice in Montgomery, Alabama to be displayed alongside the soil of other lynching victims.
We will gather at 10:00 am on Capitol Hill at 300 North and Main Street, near where Mr. Tom was murdered. After a Memorial Ceremony and Soil Collection Ceremony, we will march down the hill and congregate at the site where Mr. William was murdered at the corner of 100 South and State Street. There we will hold a second Soil Collection Ceremony and brief Memorial Ceremony.
The event is FREE and open to the public. Please join us and PARTICIPATE IN THE RESTORATIVE POWER OF TRUTH-TELLING.
From the film “Visit the Museum” by The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). 3 March 2022.
Memorials and Monuments
MAY
*DATE AND TIME TENTATIVE
The use of monuments as propaganda in rewriting the historical and political narrative. The creation of exclusive community narratives and expressing racial exclusion and oppression.
Image courtesy KSL NewRadio
The Wisdom of Our Years, Special Screening Event
“The Wisdom of Our Years”, produced by Phyllis Caruth and originally screened in 2008, is a documentary whose aim was to tell how far we’ve come as we strive to live the dream articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that all be judged “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
The film presents the stories of women now passed whose career choices were once limited to domestic service, and men now passed who could aspire to no higher career path than where a train might take them. All are part of Utah’s unique and little-known Black American History.
The Wisdom of Our Years, Special Screening Event (Copy)
“The Wisdom of Our Years”, produced by Phyllis Caruth and originally screened in 2008, is a documentary whose aim was to tell how far we’ve come as we strive to live the dream articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that all be judged “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
The film presents the stories of women now passed whose career choices were once limited to domestic service, and men now passed who could aspire to no higher career path than where a train might take them. All are part of Utah’s unique and little-known Black American History.
Engagement is a Building Block: How Outreach Can Inform the Physical Space
Museums often struggle to step outside of their comfort areas and find approaches to underserved communities. Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation is confronting that issue head-on, by taking the critical steps of researching and building relationships prior to building a physical museum. This discussion will address insights and challenges from their work so far, and how their efforts might benefit museums throughout Utah.
Discovering, Preserving, and Telling the Stories of African Americans in Utah
This virtual Family History Day event includes:
Keynote from Nancy Loe of Sassy Jane Genealogy entitled Beyond "Peaceful Coexistence": Archivists and Genealogists Working Together.
Presentation from the Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation entitled Discovering, Preserving and Telling the Stories of African Americans in Utah
Presentation from Ryan Lee, curator of 19th Century Mormon and Western Manuscripts at BYU entitled Family History Resources in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections
Presentation from Utah State Archives staff entitled Insights from a Life: Engaging with Records to Trace Your Family History
2021 Annual Day of Remembrance Celebration and Black History Conference
TELL THE STORY - UNITY THROUGH HISTORICAL TRUTH
Presented by Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation and the Utah Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society
Sponsored by the Utah Dept. of Heritage and Arts - Thrive 125, In partnership with Project Success Coalition, Brigham City Museum, Union Station Museums, Mormon History Association, and Utah Humanities
DAY OF REMEMBRANCE CELEBRATION
Friday, October 8, 2021, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
BLACK HISTORY CONFERENCE
Saturday, October 9, 2021, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
9:00 AM - 12:30 PM - Fort Douglas Military Museum Cannon Yard
- Opening Ceremonies and Museum Tour
12:30 PM - 6:00 PM - UofU Guest House - Granite Ballroom & Black Cultural Center
Buffalo Soldier Working Group Presentations
Soldiers at Fort Duchesne - graphic novel project and telling your family story by creating your own comic.
Soldiers at Fort Douglas - PTSD, family, and death at Fort Douglas
Colonel Charles Young - The third African American to graduate from West Point and served at Fort Douglas, Utah
Black Women Working Group Presentations
Alberta Henry - Dr. Kathleen Christy, former school board administrator, and diversity and equity coach, talks about her good friend Alberta Henry.
Women Social and Uplift Clubs - Black women formed creative resources to uplift themselves and create community.
Emancipation Day Queens and Celebrations - Utah is one of the few states where the Black population celebrated Emancipation Day all the way back in the 1800s.
Black Church Working Group and Lynching Project
The Black Church Discussion Panel
This is a viewing of the PBS Utah panel discussion of the Black Church in Utah streamed live on Feb 9, 2021
The Genesis Group
African American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day discuss their experiences and the importance of the Genesis Group for Black Latter-day Saints.
This is a panel discussion featuring:
Alice Burch, a former Relief Society President
LDS couple Nathanael Byrd and Cassandra Byrd
Ramesus Stewart-Johnson, former Genesis President in Texas.
The Life and Murder of Thomas Coleman, Enslaved Mormon
Connell O’Donovan follows the enslavement, troubled life, and lynching of Thomas Coleman on Arsenal Hill, the present site of the Utah State Capitol.
Illustrating Utah History: The Fort Duchesne Buffalo Soldiers
This enlightening and insightful panel discussion brought to you by The Brigham City Museum of Art & History, in partnership with Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation and the Buffalo Soldier Research Group, features Robert Burch, Reilly Jensen, Fiona Robinson, and Dwayne Madry. The panel reviewed the findings of artifacts from the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Duchesne, the historical research that found their stories, and the decision to make this history more accessible in the form of a graphic novel.
Living African American Mormon History
56th Annual Mormon History Association Conference, ‘Restoration, Reunion, Resilience’ is being held June 10th - 12th, 2021. Sema Hadithi will participate in the panel discussion, “Living African American Mormon History".”