“Among them was a [man] known generally as Black Pete who became a revelator.” — George A. Smith1
Peter, known as "Black Pete," was the first African American member of the Church.2 Not much is known about his early life, but it is thought his mother was from West Africa3 and that Peter was born into slavery and grew up enslaved in Pennsylvania.2
By 1831, and as a free man, Peter had likely joined the Morley farm, a group of Christians living on the Isaac Morley farm near Kirtland who later joined the Church.2,3 George A. Smith recounted that, while at the farm, many people had begun to see types of visions of angels and letters coming down from heaven. Peter even saw a revelation carried by a Black angel, and he ran after it. George wrote that Peter ran off a steep 25-foot wash bank and passed through a tree top, falling into the Chagrin River beneath him. He came out with just a few scratches.1
After 1831, there are no records of Peter's activities. He is not mentioned in Latter-day Saint sources after 1864, and it is unclear whether he continued as a member of the Church. He would have been around sixty years old in 1835, so he may have passed away by that time.2
