“So we left the boat and started on foot to travel a distance of over eight hundred miles.” — Jane Manning¹

Jane Manning James, an early Black Latter-day Saint, was living in Connecticut when she converted to the restored gospel in 1842.² In 1843, James and her family set out for Nauvoo but were denied boat passage in New York. Their shoes wore out as they walked the remaining 800 miles, and a family prayer healed their cracked and bleeding feet.¹ Upon arriving in Nauvoo, James was invited into Joseph and Emma Smith’s home, where she lived and worked for several months.^1,3

1. “The Autobiography of Jane Manning James,” history.churchofjesuschrist.org

2. “James, Jane Elizabeth Manning,” exhibits.lib.utah.edu

3. “Jane Elizabeth Manning James,” churchofjesuschrist.org