Flora Jessop (born 1969) is an American

social activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

, author, and advocate for abused children.

Biography

Jessop was born and raised in Colorado City,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. She was raised in a

polygamous Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one h ...

family, with two mothers and twenty-seven siblings, all members of the

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (abbreviated to FLDS Church or FLDS) is a Mormon fundamentalist group whose members practice polygamy. It is variously defined as a cult, a sect or a new religious movement. The ...

(FLDS). When she was sixteen years old, after years of abuse, including being impregnated at 12 years of age by her father and being forced to marry her first cousin, Phillip Jessop, she fled her family and faith. After many years as a vagabond in Middle and Southwest America, Jessop finally sought legal justice and was awarded $10,000 in a lawsuit against the State of Arizona for failing to protect her from the abuse she suffered. Jessop finally settled in Galena, Kansas, where she soon met a man named Tim and started a family with him and their daughters, Shauna and Megan. Jessop's divorce from her cousin Philip was finalized in 1995. In February 2001, Jessop and Tim married in

Baxter Springs, Kansas Baxter Springs is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States, and located along Spring River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,888. History Indigenous settlement For thousands of years, indigenous peoples ...

. In April 2001, her younger 14-year-old sister

Ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

was forced to marry her stepbrother, Haven Barlow. The ceremony, officiated by Warren Jeffs, would be the catalyst that turned Jessop into an advocate against child abuse in the FLDS community. She helped, in large part, to create the Child Protection Project. Flora is the cousin-by-marriage of

Carolyn Jessop Carolyn Jessop (born January 1, 1968) is an American author and former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who wrote '' Escape'', an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later fligh ...

, another former FLDS member who wrote '' Escape'', an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight from that community. Flora has been active since the early 2000s in anti-child abuse work, mainly focusing on the plight of women and children in the FLDS. She founded an organization, "Help the Child Brides" (later dissolved), and later joined "Child Protection Project" with fellow activist Linda Walker. Jessop is the author of a book, ''Church of Lies'', telling her story. She wrote in her book that her goals are to end child abuse in polygamous cults and also to give a name to all child abuse victims in the United States.

References

Citations * * * 1969 births Living people American activists Writers from Phoenix, Arizona Former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Converts to Christianity Mormon feminists People from Mohave County, Arizona People from Galena, Kansas {{US-activist-stub

Biography

See also

References