Ronald Coleman Remarks
I am honored to have the privilege of participating in this memorial program honoring the life of Jane Elizabeth James, an extraordinary African-American woman whose life reflected the experiences of many African-Americans who were born in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. Jane was born in a nation where not much value was given to people of her racial background, a people who were historically viewed as recipients of American civilization—a people who Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, said "had no rights that a white person was bound to respect."What is often overlooked in the ideal of the growth and expansion of the United States is the presence of African-Americans and their lives within that historic period. They journeyed west, some by choice, others without choice. They helped to open up the routes, clear the land, and plant crops. They endured the trial and tribulations of western settlement, far away from their places of origin. Sometimes their experiences were intertwined with that of white settlers and sometimes independent.
Similarly to other African-Americans, Jane and her four siblings developed their sense of individual self-worth and socialization as African-Americans within the home of her parents, Isaac and Phillis Manning, a family of free blacks. Although born a free woman of color in Wilton, Connecticut, Jane went to work early in life, performing domestic duties in home of a nearby white family. She was a member of a local protestant Church when she, feeling spiritually unfulfilled, went to hear an LDS missionary proselytizing in the area. One year after becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jane and several family members undertook a long and difficult journey to Nauvoo, Illinois, the headquarters of the Church.
Four years later, in 1847, Jane, her husband Isaac, son Sylvester, and infant son Silas journeyed west with other Saints to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Jane never left the valley. Here among her religious family she shared the joys, sorrow, and pain associated with the human experience. Through it all she persevered in her faith to her chosen church.
Jane's life is important to all of us regardless our diverse backgrounds, for it tells us that we are more alike than different. Within the African-American historical experience, her life symbolizes the similarities and differences of beliefs held by African-Americans and suggests that in order to understand African-American history and culture you must be open to understanding its variations depending on race, gender, time and place.
I believe it is most fitting that we have gathered here today, on the eve of the semi-annual LDS Conference in what is the 200th year of the birth of Joseph Smith, a man who after hearing of Jane and her family's 800-mile journey by foot to Nauvoo noted her faith to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.