In a previous post, I documented Early Black Mormons, and gave a brief history of some of them. William McCary is a little-known black Mormon from the early days of the church. He was ordained an Elder by Apostle Orson Hyde in October 1846 and was known as the “black prophet.” McCary claimed to be part-Indian, though historian Connel O’ Donovan said in my previous post that Read more…
You may think that we know all there is to know about polygamy in the LDS church. However, historians continue to debate the issue. A press release from Signature Books a few days ago let me know about some interesting developments. In 2008, George D Smith released a book called Nauvoo Polygamy – …but we called it Celestial Marriage. Apparently, the 2nd edition was just released with new charts and corrections.
As I understand it, the 2008 book caused a few waves among the Foundation or Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS–now known as the Neal A Maxwell Center). According to the release, FARMS reviewer “Gregory L. Smith criticized Nauvoo Polygamy for assuming the founder had sex with his plural wives.” The release notes the irony that “the reviewer then admitted Joseph Smith did had sex with at least nine women.” Signature has hailed the review as the “landmark 2008 review [that] constituted the first-ever admission in an LDS publication that Smith was sexually active with his wives.”
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I just began reading Newell Bringhurst’s book Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism. It was printed in 1981, and is a hard book to find on the cheap. Used copies are around $30 on Amazon, and the local booksellers tell me it is a highly requested book. I wanted to share a few impressions from the first few chapters.
During the Q&A session at the MHA meetings last year for the film Trouble in Zion, a few scholars took issue with the original narration that indicated that early Mormons in Missouri were abolitionists. They said the Mormons weren’t in favor of slavery, but they weren’t abolitionists either. Bringhurst expands on this topic. Read more…
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know I really enjoy Mormon History, yet for some reason, I haven’t taken the time to become acquainted with the Martin and Willie Handcart disasters. I don’t have a good reason for that; I guess it is because other topics have more interest for me.
I was pleased to be invited to a screening of the film 17 Miracles (click the link to see a trailer). I had seen the billboards on my way into Salt Lake City every day, yet I really didn’t know what the movie was about. I could tell it looked like a pioneer movie, but really had no idea what to expect from the movie. I went with my wife and some friends Tuesday night and I wanted to give a review. It was interesting to get their reactions to the film as well. (If you want no spoilers, you should stop reading now.)
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