Black people and Mormonism

From the end of the nineteenth century until 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not allow black men to be ordained to the priesthood or to participate in certain temple ceremonies such as the Endowment or sealing that the church believes are necessary for the highest degree of salvation. In the early church at least two black people were ordained by Joseph Smith and one was ordained to the Council of the Seventy, but later Prophets refused to recognize their status. Official racial discrimination in the church dates to Brigham Young, who believed that black skin and denial of the right to hold the priesthood was a punishment for wrongdoing in the pre-existence and for the murder of Abel by Cain, who they thought, like Ham, was the ancestor of people with black skin. Nevertheless, blacks could be baptized, and many African Americans joined the Church and served faithfully.

According to the official account, after much discussion among the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on this matter, they engaged the Lord in prayer. According to the writing of one of those present, "It was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fullness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord." Immediately after the receipt of this new revelation, an official announcement of the revelation was prepared, and sent out to all of the various leaders of the Church. It was then read to, approved by and accepted as the word and will of the Lord, by a General Conference of the Church in October 1978. Succeeding editions of the Doctrine and Covenants were printed with this announcement canonized and entitled as Official Declaration 2. The church now strongly opposes any form of discrimination or racism.

In 1997, there were approximately 500,000 black members of the church (about 5% of the total membership), mostly in Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean. Since then, the black community has grown substantially, especially in West Africa, where two temples have been built.

Blacks and the church before 1847

Main article: Blacks and the Latter Day Saint movement

In the beginning, the church had little need of a policy toward blacks as it membership was concentrated in northern states, but missionary work in the slave state of Missouri soon brought the issue to the front line. The mission to Missouri opened in 1831 with William Wines Phelps as President. The citizens of Missouri suspected that the mere presence of non-slave blacks would incite rebellion, and so the State Legislature enacted some peculiar laws regarding colored immigration to the state. To help members understand the laws, Phelps published an article in the church press instructing black saints who might wish to immigrate to Missouri.

In an attempt to correct the misunderstanding, Joseph Smith issued a number of statements over the next few years stating the church's position against the abolitionist movement. Concerning American slavery, Joseph Smith said "it makes my blood boil within me to reflect upon the injustice, cruelty, and oppression of the rulers of the people," but preached the importance of upholding the law of the land, which included the institution of slavery. Instead, he proposed a gradual end to slavery by the year 1850 by buying slaves from their slave holders. He argued that blacks should then be given equal employment opportunities as whites. He believed that given equal chances as whites, they would be like them. In his personal journal, he wrote that the slaves owned by Mormons should be brought "into a free country and set ...free - Educate them and give them equal rights."

Later in his life, living in Illinois and running for the Presidency of the United States, Joseph Smith wrote a platform containing a plan to abolish slavery. Although Smith spoke on the issue of slavery, none of his statements ever mentioned African Americans in the context of a right to hold the priesthood.

Elijah Abel

File:Elijah Abel drawing.png

Elijah Abel was given the priesthood and held several positions in the church.

Main article: Elijah Abel

Although Joseph Smith never wrote about blacks and the priesthood, he did ordain a black to the office of elder. Elijah Abel was baptized in Maryland, in 1832, just two years after the organization of the church. He moved to Kirtland, Ohio to join the saints and was there ordained to the office of elder on March 3, 1836 by Joseph Smith. Six months later he was called to serve in the Third Quorum of the Seventy and received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. who seems to have been quite aware of Abel's unique status as an African American, for instead of declaring his lineage from one of the tribes of Israel, he was declared "an orphan," but promised equality with his brethren in the eternities. Abel served his first mission for the church to New York and Canada. In 1836, he moved from Kirtland to Nauvoo where he participated in the temple ordinance of baptism for the dead. In 1842, he moved again from Nauvoo to Cincinnati where he married Mary Ann Adams. In 1843, a traveling high council visited Cincinnati but refused to recognize Abel for the sake of public appearance and called him to his second mission to the "coloured population" of Cincinnati.

Abel rejoined the saints in Utah in 1853. By then, Brigham Young had greatly strengthened the church's policies against blacks. Abel petitioned Young for his and his wife's temple endowment and sealing, but he was denied; however, no attempt was made to remove his priesthood or drop him from the Third Quorum of the Seventies. He remained active in the Quorum until his death. John Taylor also denied his petitions, but called him to serve his third mission to Ohio and Canada. He returned very ill and died at the age of 83.

Walker Lewis

Main article: Walker Lewis

Walker Lewis (1798-1856) was another free black man who held Mormon Priesthood prior to the death of Joseph Smith. A prominent radical abolitionist, Episcopalian, and Most Worshipful Grand Master of Freemasonry from Lowell and Boston, Massachusetts, Lewis joined the LDS Church about 1842. In the summer of 1843, he was ordained an elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. His son, Enoch Lovejoy Lewis, also joined the LDS Church about the same time, and Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier heard young Enoch preaching in Lowell just after the death of Joseph Smith in July or August 1844. Enoch may have helped instigate the ban against black men holding Mormon priesthood when he married a white Mormon woman, Mary Matilda Webster, against her family's wishes, in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 18, 1846. When Brigham Young (who had been a friend of Walker's and had fully approved of him having Priesthood) found out about this marriage between a black Mormon and a white Mormon on December 3, 1847, he expressed concerns to the eight apostles with him at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.

In February 1852, when Walker Lewis was living in Salt Lake City, Young specifically added the severe criminal punishment for marriage between any African and any white person to his "Act in Relation to Service", the territorial law legalizing slavery in Utah. Lewis left Utah soon thereafter and apparently returned to the Episcopal Church.

Racial restriction policy instituted by Brigham Young

Main article: Brigham Young

Brigham Young subscribed to another common, although less popular theory that the descendants of Ham were also the descendants of Cain, Ham having married a woman of that race. The curse of Cain included a mark as recorded in the following passage from the Bible:

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I hide; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold, and the Lord put a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:9–15, emphasis added)

Some scholars interpreted the mark placed upon Cain as the black skin of the African peoples. It was also believed though, that black skin is the mark of the curse, with the curse itself being the separation from the spirit of God, including the priesthood.

The first statement linking priesthood denial with the curse of Cain is dated February 13, 1849. It was given by Brigham Young in response to the question, "What chance is there for the redemption of the Negro?" Young responded, "The Lord had cursed Cain's seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood."

President Young never cited Joseph Smith for the source of his doctrine but stated it in his own authority as a prophet, even in the name of Jesus Christ on a least one occasion, as did multiple apostles, including Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball. In 1852, while addressing the Territorial Legislature, Young stated: "Any man having one drop of the seed of [Cain]...in him cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spoke it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and others know it." He did not say that it was revealed to him but that it was known.

In his 'Journal of Discourses' he even claims that "If the White man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain (those with dark skin), the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." This statement was given during a sermon in which Young was criticizing the federal government, and later in the same speech he said "If the Government of the United States, in Congress assembled, had the right to pass an anti-polygamy bill, they had also the right to pass a law that slaves should not be abused as they have been; they had also a right to make a law that negroes should be used like human beings, and not worse than dumb brutes. For their abuse of that race, the whites will be cursed, unless they repent."

When asked "if the spirits of Negroes were neutral in Heaven," Brigham Young responded, "No, they were not, there were no neutral [spirits] in Heaven at the time of the rebellion, all took sides.... All spirits are pure that came from the presence of God."

Utah sanctions slavery while Young is governor

The Great Compromise of 1850, allowed California into the Union as a free state while permitting Utah and New Mexico territories the option of deciding the issue by "popular sovereignty". In 1852, while Brigham Young was governor, the Utah Territorial Legislature officially sanctioned slavery in Utah Territory but stipulated that slaves would be freed if their masters had sex with them, attempted to take them from the Territory against their will, or neglected to feed, clothe, or provide shelter. In addition, Utah stipulated that slaves must receive schooling. Orson Hyde taught the following:

We feel it to be our duty to define our position in relation to the subject of slavery. There are several in the Valley of the Salt Lake from the Southern States, who have their slaves with them. There is no law in Utah to authorize slavery, neither any to prohibit it. If the slave is disposed to leave his master, no power exists there, either legal or moral, that will prevent him. But if the slave chooses to remain with his master, none are allowed to interfere between the master and the slave. All the slaves that are there appear to be perfectly contented and satisfied. When a man in the Southern states embraces our faith, the Church says to him, if your slaves wish to remain with you, and to go with you, put them not away; but if they choose to leave you, or are not satisfied to remain with you, it is for you to sell them, or let them go free, as your own conscience may direct you. The Church, on this point, assumes not the responsibility to direct. The laws of the land recognize slavery, we do not wish to oppose the laws of the country. If there is sin in selling a slave, let the individual who sells him bear that sin, and not the Church.

In 1860 the census showed that 29 of the 59 blacks in the Utah Territory were slaves. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Utah sided with the Union, and slavery ended in 1862 when the US Congress abolished slavery in the Utah Territory.

Racial restriction policy

Blacks were permitted to be members of the LDS church, and to enter temples, and to be baptized. However, until 1978 blacks were not ordained to the LDS priesthood or participate in important temple rituals such as marriages or endowments.

Priesthood denied

The priesthood restriction was particularly limiting, because virtually every non-black male in the LDS church was a priest. Young men are generally admitted to the priesthood around the age 12, and it is a significant rite of passage. Unlike priests of the Catholic church, just about every non-black male in the LDS church was a priest. Being a member of the priesthood was an important step in the spiritual life of any LDS man. LDS priests officiate at church meetings, perform healing rituals, and manage church affiars. See Aaronic priesthood and Melchizedek priesthood. Excluding blacks from the priesthood meant that blacks could not hold significant church leadership roles or participate in many spiritual events.

Don Harwell, black LDS church member, said " I remember being in a Sacrament meeting, pre-1978, and the sacrament was being passed and there was special care taken by this person that not only did I not officiate, but I didn't touch the sacrament tray. They made sure that I could take the sacrament, but that I did not touch the tray and it was passed around me. That was awfully hard, considering that often times those who were officiating were young men in their early teens, and they had that priesthood. I valued that priesthood, but it wasn't available."

Temple marriages denied

Blacks also could not participate in important rituals held in the LDS Temples, such as the endowment ritual and temple marrages, called sealings. These ceremonies are important ceremonies in the LDS faith, and denying blacks the opportunity to participate meant that blacks could not enjoy the full spiritual fullfillment of the LDS faith.

The fact that blacks could not participate in sealing ceremonies was especially detrimental to the black's afterlife, since sealings are required to bind a husband and wife together, and bind parents to their children for eternity. Marriages that are sealed in a Sealing ceremony are considered to be eternal marriages, whereas non-sealed marriages are considered non-eternal, and are considered to lapse upon death.

Black women were affected by this policy, since LDS faith requires a wife to be called into heaven by her husband. However, for a husband to call his wife into heaven, they must have been sealed in a Temple ceremony.

Could blacks enter Celestial Kingdom?

There is some disagreement as to whether blacks, under this policy, could enter the highest level of LDS heaven, the Celestial Kingdom. Under some interpretations of the policy, blacks could not enter the Celestial Kingdom ("The Negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom." — Conference Report, April 1939, 58. ), but under other interpretations, blacks could enter the Celestial Kingdom provided they had undergone baptism ("The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said, And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the Priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we are now entitled to.'" (First Presidency, August 17, 1951).

Discrimination justified by character of spirits during pre-existence

One of the justifications that the LDS church used for the discriminatory policy was that black's pre-existence spirits were not as virtuous as white pre-existence spirits. Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: "According to the doctrine of the church, the negro because of some condition of unfaithfulness in the spirit -- or pre-existence, was not valiant and hence was not denied the mortal probation, but was denied the blessing of the priesthood." (Letter to J. Henderson, April 10, 1963).

Policy applied to Africans and mullatos but not Polynesians

The anti-black policy was applied to Africans, persons of african descent, and any one with mixed race that included any african ancestry. The policy was not applied to Native Americans, hispanics, or Polynesians.

Notable early black church members

Jane Manning James had been born free and worked as a housekeeper in Joseph Smith's home. When she requested the temple ordinances,John Taylor took her petition to the Quorum of the Twelve, but precedence prevailed. When Wilford Woodruff became president of the church, he compromised and allowed Jane to be sealed to the family of Joseph Smith as a servant. This was unsatisfying to Jane as it did not include the saving ordinance of the endowment, and she repeated her petitions. She died in 1908, true to the faith, bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. President Joseph F. Smith honored her by speaking at her funeral. The unusual concession granted to Jane illustrates the discomfort leaders felt about the priesthood restriction.

Other notable early black LDS church members included Green Flake, the slave of John Flake, a convert to the church and from whom he got his name. He was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 16 in the Mississippi River, but remained a slave. Samuel D. Chambers was another early African American pioneer. He was baptized secretly at the age of thirteen when he was still a slave in Mississippi. He was unable to join the main body of the church and lost track of them until after the Civil War. He was thirty-eight when he had saved enough money to immigrate to Utah with his wife and son.

Joseph F. Smith: uncertainty 1901-1918

Main article: Joseph F. Smith

President Joseph F. Smith dominated the African American issue during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The death of Brigham Young and the Presidency of John Taylor brought many questions to the issue of African Americans. Although Young left no doubt that they should not receive the Priesthood, he left other issues unresolved. The most important developments of this period are the change of authorship for the policy of Priesthood restriction from Brigham Young to Joseph Smith, Jr. and the use of the Pearl of Great Price in the justification of this policy.

First, as the author of the Restoration, Joseph Smith, Jr. has always been held in high regard, and all Church doctrines have been traced back to him. Brigham Young relied on his own charisma and prophetic authority. He never attempted to cite Joseph Smith as the author of this policy. John Taylor and his successors apparently felt less sure of themselves, for there arose a great desire to attribute the policy of Priesthood denial to Joseph Smith. Attempts to shift authorship of the policy from Brigham Young to Joseph Smith were thwarted more by Elijah Abel than any other thing. Abel was living, breathing proof that an African American was ordained to the Priesthood in the days of Joseph Smith. His son, Enoch Abel, had also been conferred the Priesthood. The issue came up repeatedly in Quorum meetings as Abel continually petitioned for his temple endowment. Joseph F. Smith stood up for Elijah Abel testifying of his rightful claim to the Priesthood while others said that he had been dropped from the quorum. Eventually, even Joseph F. Smith began telling the story that way, reporting that Abel's Priesthood had been declared null and void by the Joseph Smith himself, though this seems to conflict with Joseph F. Smith's teachings that the Priesthood could not be removed from any man without removing that man from the church. From this point on Joseph Smith was easily and repeatedly referred to as the author of many statements, which had actually been made by Brigham Young, on the subject of Priesthood restriction.

Second, the Church leadership began using the newly canonized Pearl of Great Price to justify the priesthood restriction. Before 1900, leaders needed only to cite the cursed lineage as reason to deny the Priesthood, but near the turn of the century scientists dismissed the reality of a universal flood and identified the descendants of Ham to be Semites, modern Jews and Arabs. Popular opinion shifted as well. People no longer accepted the traditional African genealogies linking them with Ham and Cain. Church leaders needed something else to justify Priesthood restriction. The following verse is what they found:

Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessing of the earth, and with the blessing of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining the priesthood. Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of the priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was led away by their idolatry. (Abraham 1:26-27, emphasis added)

Although this verse makes it clear that the descendants of Ham were denied the Priesthood, it does not link them with modern Africans.

Racial restriction policy rationalized 1930-1950

Main article: Joseph Fielding Smith

The most influential position taken during the second quarter of the twentieth century on blacks and mormonism was stated by Joseph Fielding Smith. He stated an opinion that attempted to resolve the theological problem faced by the policy of priesthood restriction when he published a book titled, The Way to Perfection. Here was the first extensive explanation of this peculiar church policy. In addition to describing the ancient genealogies, the curse of Ham, and the curse and mark of Cain, he also explained at great length a theory which had grown in popularity among the grassroots of the church since 1885 but had never received official endorsement from church leaders. This theory was that African Americans were denied the priesthood in this life because they had been less than valiant in the premortal life. Smith reasoned that during the war in heaven, some spirits would logically have been less valiant in following the Savior than others, therefore the priesthood was restricted from the least valiant. This theory had great appeal among the members of the church because it made its racist policies seem metaphysically fair. Within this theological framing, it was arguable that church policy was not arbitrarily racist but that African Americans actually deserved this restricted status as a result of their lack of faithfulness before birth. This theory had been condemned by Brigham Young who saw no need to go beyond the cursed genealogies, but as mentioned above the theories concerning the genealogy of Africans had been losing popularity due to new scientific evidence to the contrary. Soon after the publication of this book, some church leaders began referring to the war in heaven for justification of the African American policy. (Since 1978, church leaders including Dallin H. Oaks have stated that Smith's theory was his own opinion, which was since shown to be wrong.)

In the United States, Priesthood eligibility was determined by appearance unless it was known that a man had an African ancestor. In the nation of South Africa, British and Dutch settlers were required to trace their genealogy back to Europe. In Brazil, however, it was a completely different matter. The people of Brazil were of such mixed ancestry that there was no way to exactly determine whether an individual had African ancestry. In the Pacific Islands, there were non-African people of even darker color than most Africans.

The "Negro Question" Declaration of 1949

In 1949, the First Presidency under the direction of George Albert Smith made a declaration which included the opinion that the restriction was a matter of revelation, not a matter of policy. It stated:

The attitude of the Church with reference to the Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the Priesthood at the present time.

The declaration goes on to say that the condition of the negroes is due to conduct or action of pre-mortal spirits: "the negro is punished ... for his failure to achieve other stature in the spirit world."

Racial restriction policy modifications 1951-1970

Main article: David O. McKay

McKay presided over the church at a time when large numbers of United States citizens were concerned about civil rights. Official church statements of this time supported the civil rights movement. In 1954, he taught "There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. ‘We believe’ that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that’s all there is to it."

During this time, the church came under severe attacks from those promoting civil rights. Temple Square and the church office building were picketed and many universities boycotted sport competitions with Brigham Young University. Bruce R. McConkie had stated in his 1966 edition of Mormon Doctrine his opinion that:

"Of the two-thirds who followed Christ, however, some were more valiant than others....Those who were less valiant in pre-existence and who thereby had certain spiritual restrictions imposed upon them during mortality are known to us as the negroes. Such spirits are sent to earth through the lineage of Cain, the mark put upon him for his rebellion against God and his murder of Abel being a black skin (Moses 5:16-41; 12:22). Noah's son Ham married Egyptus, a descendant of Cain, thus preserving the negro lineage through the flood (Abraham 1:20-27). Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty....The present status of the negro rests purely and simply on the foundation of pre-existence....The negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom."

Mark E. Petersen (an apostle) addressed the issue of race and Priesthood in his address to a 1954 Convention of Teachers of Religion at the College Level at Brigham Young University. He said:

The reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. 'No person having the least particle of negro blood can hold the priesthood' (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the priesthood marries a negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a negro is to forfeit a 'nation of priesthood holders'....

Petersen held that male descendants of a mixed-marriage could not become a Mormon priest, even if they had a lone ancestor with African blood dating back many generations. However, he did hold out hope for African Americans, in that a black person baptized into the Mormon faith and who accepted Joseph Smith as a Prophet of God could attain the highest form of salvation known to Mormons, the Celestial Kingdom. Petersen said, "If that negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the Celestial Kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."

The advances made by McKay went mostly unnoticed. He approved a petition from a white man with known African ancestry to receive the priesthood after his patriarchal blessing assigned him to a non-cursed lineage, which was in opposition to the doctrinal stance of such elders as Petersen. He also approved the petition of a white couple who had adopted two African American children to be sealed to them in the temple. More significantly, he shifted the responsibility of genealogical research from the members to the local leadership and later to a committee in Salt Lake City to determine the eligibility of individuals in places like South Africa. And finally, McKay declared all peoples of the Pacific Islands eligible to receive the priesthood regardless of their color, for they were believed to be descended of the Lamanites rather than the Africans.

He himself, felt that the policy was just a policy and would require no special revelation to reverse it, but he also expressed some sadness in not having felt pressed upon by the spirit to make that change. The most significant statement made by McKay on this issue is contained in a First Presidency message explaining the policy:

From the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith and all succeeding presidents of the church have taught that negroes, while spirit children of a common Father, and the progeny of our earthly parents Adam and Eve, were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man.

Nowhere did it mention the curse of Ham, the curse and mark of Cain or the war in heaven.

Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights movement began to have full swing during McKay's leadership. In 1958, Joseph Fielding Smith published Answers to Gospel Questions which stated "No church or other organization is more insistent than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the negroes should receive all the rights and privileges that can possibly be given to any other in the true sense of equality as declared in the Declaration of Independence." He continues to say they should not be barred from any type of employment or education, and should be free "to make their lives as happy as it is possible without interference from white men, labor unions or from any other source." In the 1963 General Conference, Hugh B. Brown stated: "it is a moral evil for any person or group of persons to deny any human being the rights to gainful employment, to full educational opportunity, and to every privilege of citizenship". He continued: "We call upon all men everywhere, both within and outside the church, to commit themselves to the establishment of full civil equality for all of God's children. Anything less than this defeats our high ideal of the brotherhood of man." This was a rare move for the church, which is usually silent on political issues.

Wynetta Willis Martin

In 1970, Wynetta Willis Martin gained the distinction of being the first African American member of the faculty at Brigham Young University. She was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in a very racist environment. She had been greatly dissatisfied with her religious upbringing and always sought spiritual fulfillment. Her family participated in a rich musical tradition and she developed a voice talent. Some time after her first marriage failed, she met a Mormon mother in the hospital after having a minor surgery on her leg. She requested that church missionaries visit her, and she prepared for baptism. She had many wonderful spiritual experiences while investigating the church and had this to say about the Priesthood restriction:

These two things: baptism and the Holy Ghost are the only requirements, contrary to popular belief, for entering the Celestial Kingdom and being with God for eternity if one is worthy. Therefore, the Priesthood covenants of the Temple which we are not allowed at this point are not really so crucial as popular belief dictates.

(Note: This is a correct statement of church doctrine. The ordinances of the temple, including marriage, are required to attain the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom called Exaltation but not required to enter the Celestial Kingdom itself).

After being baptized, her greatest desire was to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so she moved with her two daughters to Salt Lake City and auditioned. She greatly enjoyed her role as one of the first. She accepted it as her personal mission to prove to the world that there were in fact African American Mormons and that the Mormons were not racist. She toured with the choir for two years before accepting her appointment on the faculty at BYU. She was employed in the training of nurses and tried to help them become more culturally aware.

Racial restriction policy reversed in 1978

Main article: Spencer W. Kimball

LDS church president Spencer W. Kimball (president 1973 - 1985) was especially interested in the international aspect of church growth. He took general conference on the road, holding area and regional conferences all over the world. He also announced many new temples to be built both in the United States and abroad. If there was a point of no return concerning the demise of the church's African American policy, it was the announcement of the temple in São Paulo, Brazil. The problem of determining priesthood eligibility in Brazil was nearly impossible due to the mixing of the races in that country. When the temple was announced, church leaders realized the impossibility of restricting temple attendance from persons of African descent.

However, Kimball was also painfully aware of the discord a change of this policy would create, even among his own Quorum of the Twelve. Bruce R. McConkie had published in his Mormon Doctrine that African Americans would not receive the priesthood until the millennium. Kimball reportedly worried about revealing the change in policy to the point in which his wife Camilla actually worried about his health. Finally, on June 8, 1978, the First Presidency released to the press an official declaration, now a part of the standard works of the church, which contained the following statement:

He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the Holy Priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that follows there from, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.

Gordon B. Hinkley (a participant in the meetings to reverse the ban), in a churchwide fireside said, "Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church been quite the same. All of us knew that the time had come for a change and that the decision had come from the heavens. The answer was clear. There was perfect unity among us in our experience and in our understanding."

Reactions to the declaration were mixed. Most were elated; some were confused; a few were outraged. African Americans who joined the church after 1978 were seldom taught about the previous policy concerning them, indicating a general discomfort with it among the membership. When they did learn of it, it was sometimes difficult to come to terms with, but not always. When Cleolivia Lyons was interviewed in 1988, she had this to say on the subject,

I never did give that too much thought because I figured the church was being organized. When people are being organized, there's a lot they don't understand. It's a lot of what I call 'brainwashed.' A lot of whites have been brainwashed to think that Heavenly Father doesn't want a certain race of people to do a certain thing."

Critics question motivation of policy reversal

Church critics claim that the church's 1978 reversal of the policy of not allowing blacks to hold the priesthood was not divinely inspired as the church claimed, but simply a matter of political convenience. One critic points out that this reversal of policy occurred as the LDS church began to expand outside the United States into countries such as Brazil that have large, ethnically mixed populations and as the church prepared to open a new temple in São Paulo, Brazil. Church critic Richard Abanes claims that one of the church's motivations for reversing the policy was to increase the wealth of the church, by collecting tithes from the additional black church members.

Critics claim that 1978 revelation undermines prophets

Crtiics of the LDS church point out that the 1978 revelation undermines the church's claim that its presidents are prophets of God and that their proclamations are God's word. Critics cite statements by LDS president Joseph Fielding Smith that "He [Cain] become the father of an inferior race." (The Way of Perfection, p. 101), which is now contradicted by modern church leaders. Jerald and Sandra Tanner point out that Brigham Young believed it would be a sin for the church to give blacks the priesthood before the "last of the posterity of Able" had received it, and that Young said that if the church gave "all the blessings of God" to the blacks prematurely, the priesthood would be taken away and the church would go to destruction.

Church apologists point out that revelations from God, through the church leadership, are a continual process.

Blacks not represented in church leadership

All 12 LDS apostles are white, and all past apostles were white. No member of the LDS General Authority is black. There has been only one black member of the General Authority, Brazilian Helvécio Martins, who served from 1990 to 1995. There has never been an African-American member of the General Authority.

Helvécio Martins: only black general authority

Helvécio Martins became the first black General Authority in 1990

Main article: Helvécio Martins

Helvécio Martins was the first and only person of African descent to be called as a general authority of the church. Martins was born in Brazil to parents descended from African slaves. He had found success in his professional life but felt unfulfilled with the religious life he was pursuing. The missionaries visited his home in 1972 while he was going through a difficult spiritual crisis. The missionaries visited his home late one night and were worried about how to teach an African since the church had not yet reversed its policy. Indeed, Martins' first question upon inviting the missionaries into his home concerned the church's attitude toward race. The spiritual experiences that the Martins family had while investigating the church superseded their concerns for the racial policy of priesthood restriction, and they were baptized. They experienced much resistance from members of their extended family and former church friends, but eventually found peace with them. Martins served in his ward as a sunday school teacher. He was not troubled by the priesthood restriction, but others were. Often, members of the ward would ask him how he could remain a member of the church without the priesthood. It was never an issue for him. He had resolved the issue in his own mind and never expected to receive the priesthood.

When the announcement came, he describes his reaction and that of his wife as unbelieving. It was something for which they had not dared to hope. Martins then served as a member of a stake presidency, as a bishop, a mission president, and finally as a seventy. His son was one of the first three Africans to serve a full-time mission for the church in nearly 100 years.

Reaction of black church member Mary Lucille Bankhead

Bankhead's parents were black LDS church members, and she was born into the LDS church. She was baptized at the age of eight and remained faithful to the church all her life. When asked about her feelings concerning the Priesthood restriction, she commented that she knew the restriction would someday be lifted, but when the announcement was actually made, she was astonished. Although she was very happy about the change, she also recognized that lifting the Priesthood restriction would not cure racism and that many members were heading for difficult times if they would someday have to accept an African American Bishop.

Expansion in West Africa: 1940 to present

The church began receiving letters from West Africa requesting information about the church in the 1940s. As the church began sending back literature, two LDS bookstores were formed. Because the Africans could not receive the priesthood, leaders hesitated sending missionaries. In 1960, David O. McKay sent Glen G. Fisher on a fact-finding mission to Africa, where he found thousands of people waiting for him. McKay decided to send missionaries, but the Nigerian government refused to issue the necessary visas. Five months after the 1978 revelation, the first missionaries arrived in Nigeria. Anthony Obinna was one of the first to be baptized. Within one year there were more than 1,700 members in 35 branches in West Africa. In 2005, the church had some 120,000 members in West Africa, and two temples, the Aba Nigeria Temple and the Accra Ghana Temple.

Modern LDS Church: 1985 to present

Since the Revelation on the Priesthood in 1978, the church has made no distinctions in policy for blacks, but it remains an issue for many black members of the church. Alvin Jackson, a black Bishop, puts his focus on "moving forward rather than looking back." In an interview with Mormon Century, Jason Smith expresses his viewpoint that the membership of the church was not ready for blacks to have the Priesthood at the time of the Restoration, because of prejudice and slavery. He draws analogies to the Bible where only the Israelites have the gospel. Officially the church also uses Biblical history to justify the prior ban:

Ever since biblical times, the Lord has designated through His prophets who could receive the priesthood and other blessings of the gospel. Among the tribes of Israel, for example, only men of the tribe of Levi were given the priesthood and allowed to officiate in certain ordinances. Likewise, during the Savior’s earthly ministry, gospel blessings were restricted to the Jews. Only after a revelation to the Apostle Peter were the gospel and priesthood extended to others (see Acts 10:1–33; 14:23; 15:6–8).

The church is currently working to reach out to blacks, and has several predominantly black wards inside the United States.

The church today opposes racism among its membership. They teach that all are welcome to come unto Christ, and speak against those who harbor ill feelings towards another race. Gordon B. Hinckley, the President of the LDS church, stated:

I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ. Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His children."

Attitudes of non-LDS black community towards LDS church

African-Americans have often viewed the LDS church in a negative light, primarily because of the church's pre-1978 racial restriction policy. African-American journalist Earl Ofari Hutchinson calls the LDS church's pre-1978 racial restriction policy "blatant racial bigotry". African-American minister and activist Al Sharpton said "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation."

Critics claim church hides racist past

Church critic R. Ostling claims that the LDS church takes steps to hide details of the discriminatory practices of the past. Ostling cites the example of a textbook published by the Church Educational System on the subject of Church History, that has no mention of the racial restriction policy, and only 10 words devoted to the 1978 revelation. And he gives an example of LDS missionaries in New Jersey who, when distributing childrens books in predominantly black neighborhoods, removed pages from the books that mentioned the "curse of dark skin".

Racism after the 1978 revelation

Historian J. Embry interviewed several black LDS church members in 1987 and reported "All of the interviewees reported incidents of aloofness on the part of white members, a reluctance or a refusal to shake hands with them or sit by them, and racist comments made to them." Embry further reported that one black church member "was amazingly persistent in attending Mormon services for three years when, by her report, no one would speak to her." Embry reports that "she [the same black church member] had to write directly to the president of the LDS Church to find out how to be baptized" because none of her fellow church members would tell her.

Black LDS church member Darron Smith wrote in 2003: "Even though the priesthood ban was repealed in 1978, the discourse that constructs what blackness means is still very much intact today. Under the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball, the First Presidency and the Twelve removed the policy that denied blacks the priesthood but did very little to disrupt the multiple discourses that had fostered the policy in the first place. Hence there are Church members today who continue to summon and teach at every level of Church education the racial discourse that blacks are descendants of Cain, that they merited lesser earthly privilege because they were "fence-sitters" in the War in Heaven, and that, science and climatic factors aside, there is a link between skin color and righteousness"

Church asked to disavow past doctrines

In 1995, black church member A. David Jackson asked church leaders to issue a declaration repudiating past doctrines that he perceived as discriminatory. In particular, Jackson asked the church to disavow the 1949 "Negro Question" declaration from the church Presidency which stated "The attitude of the church with reference to negroes ... is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord ... to the effect that negroes .. are not entitled to the priesthood...". The church leadership declined to issue a repudiation, and so in 1997 Jackson, aided by other church members including Armand Mauss, sent a second request to church leaders, which stated that white Mormons felt that the 1978 revelation resolved everything, but that black Mormons react differently when they learn the details. Hinckley, then church president, told the Los Angeles Times "The 1978 declaration speaks for itself ... I don't see anything further that we need to do". Church leadership did not issue a repudiation.

Jackson claims that many black Mormons become discouraged and leave the church or become inactive. "When they find out about this, they exit..... You end up with the passive African Americans in the church".

Genesis Group

On October 19, 1971, the Genesis Group was established as an auxiliary unit to the church. Its purpose was to serve the needs of black members, including activating members and welcoming converts. It meets on the first Sunday of each month in Utah. Don Harwell is the current president. When asked about racism in the church, he said "Now, is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints racist? No, never has been. But some of those people within the church have those tendencies. You have to separate the two."

Blacklds.org is an independent website dedicated towards black members of the church.

Humanitarian aid in Africa

The church has been involved in several humanitarian aid projects in Africa. Together with other organizations such as UNICEF and the American Red Cross, the church is working towards eradicating measles. Since 1999, there has been a 60 percent drop in deaths from measles in Africa. Due to their efforts, the American Red Cross bestowed the First Presidency with the organization's highest financial support honor, the American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarians award. The church has also been involved in humanitarian aid in Africa by sending food boxes, digging wells to provide clean water, distributing wheelchairs, fighting AIDS, providing Neonatal Resuscitation Training, and setting up employment resources service centers.

Notable black Mormons

• Thurl Bailey - former professional basketball player in the NBA, whose career spanned from 1983 to 1999 with the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
• Abe Mills - band member in Jericho Road, an LDS music group
• Robert Foster - first black student body president of Brigham Young University, an LDS school.
• Kenneth Andam – ran Olympic track and field for Ghana in 2000 Olympic
• Leonard Myles-Mills – ran Olympic track and field for Ghana in 2000 and 2004

Gladys Knight

Since her baptism in 1997, Gladys Knight has strived to raise awareness of blacks in the LDS church.

Gladys Knight joined the LDS Church in 1997. She has occasionally teased Gordon B. Hinckley that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the LDS choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD entitled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS stake firesides. Knight said:

Since I joined the church, I desire to be more and more obedient to God. As I do so, many people say to me, 'I see a light in you more than ever before. What is it?'...During one performance at Disney world...[a member of the audience asked,] 'Could you please tell us...how you got that light?' The question was direct, so I gave a direct answer: 'I have become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Further Reading

• Black Mormons and the Priesthood Ban by Darrick T. Evenson (SKU 4935190)
• Setting the Record Straight: Blacks and the Mormon Priesthood by Marcus Helvécio T. A. Martins (SKU 4995993)

References

Primary sources

• Cherry, Alan Gerald (1985). "Oral History Interview with Mary Lucille Bankhead". LDS Afto-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• Cherry, Alan Gerald (1986). "Oral History Interview with Gilmore H. Chapel". LDS Afto-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• Cherry, Alan Gerald (1988). "Oral History Interview with Cleolivia Lyons". LDS Afto-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

• Cherry, Alan Gerald (1970). It's You and Me, Lord!. Provo, Utah: Trilogy Arts Publications. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

• Martin, Wynetta Willis (1972). Black Mormon Tells Her Story. Salt Lake City, Utah: Hawks Publications. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Martins, Helvecio (1994). The Autobiography of Elder Helvecio Martins. Salt Lake City, Utah: Aspen Books. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

• Phelps, Willian W. (July 1833). "Free People of Color". Evening and Morning Star. 2 (14). W. W. Phelps & Co.: 109. Retrieved 2006-07-15. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Young, Brigham (February 5 1852), Speech by Gov. Young in Joint Session of the Legeslature [sic], Brigham Young Addresses, Ms d 1234, Box 48, folder 3, LDS Church Historical Department, Salt Lake City, Utah {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: location (link).

Secondary sources

• Allen, James B. (1991), "Would-Be Saints: West Africa before the 1978 Priesthood Revelation", Journal of Mormon History, 17: 207–48.
• Bringhurst, Newel G. (1981). Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism (Contributions to the Study of Religion, No. 4). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-22752-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Brignhurst, Newel G. (1981), "Charles B. Thompson and The Issues of Slavery and Race", Journal of Mormon History, 8.
• Bush, Lester E. Jr (1984). Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-22-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Embry, Jessie (1994). Black Saints in a White Church. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. 1-56085-044-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Hawkins, Chester L. (1985). "Report on Elijah Abel and his Priesthood". Unpublished Manuscript, Special Collections, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• O'Donovan, Connell, "The Mormon Priesthood Ban and Elder Q. Walker Lewis", John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (Independence, Missouri, 2006), pp. 47-99.

External links

• mormoncentury.org Haitian LDS converts share perspective on race & religion
• The Genesis Group - LDS fellowship group organized for black members and those interested in the church
• BlackLDS.org
• Mormonism is a new ethnicity

See Also

• Blacks and the Latter Day Saint movement
• Criticism of Mormonism
• Brigham Young