Since today is MLK day, I thought it might be nice to talk about the first Black Mormon leader. In his book on The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations, Mark Staker spends a surprising amount of time discussing the first Black Mormon Convert–a former slave known as Black Pete, and notes that he was an early leader in Kirtland.
Read more…
Dimensions of Faith:A Mormon Studies reader is a collection of essays on varying topics in Mormon studies. I previously discussed Wilford Woodruff’s vision of the Founding Fathers. One of the most entertaining essays was titled “A Mormon Bigfoot” by Matthew Bowman. In the essay, Bowman discusses how Cain seems to have morphed into Bigfoot.
Read more…
I’ve really enjoyed reading Newell Bringhurst’s book Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism. The epilogue has some really interesting events in the 1960s and 1970s. There were some people inside the church that were more confrontational in their approach to the priesthood ban. Bringhurst notes on page 185,
Read more…
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…
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…
A few months ago, I received an advance copy of a new book by Philip Lindholm called Latter-day Dissent: At the Crossroads of Intellectual Inquiry and Ecclesiastical Authority. The book is supposed to be released on Friday by Greg Kofford Books. Lindholm interviews 5 of the “September Six”, as well as 3 others.
The September Six refer to a group of 6 intellectuals that were disciplined by the church in 1993. Read more…
Alma Allred wrote a chapter in the book titled Black and Mormon. On page 37, he states:
I don’t believe that LDS scripture allows for a restriction against blacks’ holding the priesthood. Nor do I think that LDS theology can reasonably maintain that today’s blacks are descendants of Cain or that ancient intermarriage with Canaanites perpetuated any racial curse. Too many scriptures collide with those ideas for them to be valid.
I found this perspective intriguing and had to learn more. Read more…
The Priesthood ban for black members of the church is a pet topic of mine. I have previously discussed Early Black Mormons who held the priesthood, as well as a long 10,000 word article discussing events leading to the ban. Newell Bringhurst and Darron Smith have put together a list of 9 essays highlighting different studies about black members of the church in their book titled Black and Mormon. Besides Bringhurst and Smith, contributors include Alma Allred, Ronald Coleman, Darius Gray, Jessie Embry, Armaund Mauss, Cardell Jacobsen, and Ken Driggs. Racial issues in the church have long held my interest, and I thought it might be nice to discuss the book over a few posts.
Read more…
I’ve always believed the church has a right to make a public stand on political issues. In protest of the church’s position on Prop 8, gay marriage proponents have floated a proposal that the church should stay out of politics, and should lose their tax-exempt status. Now that LDS Presiding Bishop David Burton has come out in favor of a guest worker program in Utah (ultra-conservatives call “amnesty”), at least one ultra-conservative is calling for the church to lose tax-exempt status too. According to Paul Rolly at the Salt Lake Tribune, Read more…
In the past, I’ve talked about racism, bigotry, and prejudice. Some of these issues have dealt with the mosque at Ground Zero, immigration, or statements made by church leaders about the priesthood ban for African Americans. Prejudice, bigotry, and racism are often used interchangeably, and there can be a lot of overlap. (In fact, one of the dictionary definition for “bigotry” is “prejudice.”) Some people object when the terms racist and bigot are thrown around too loosely.
Read more…
US President Eisenhower with Ezra Taft Benson, Secretary of Agriculture
I’m not sure why President Benson is so popular lately. Will at Wheat and Tares asked, Were President Benson’s Words Prophetic? In Sunday’s Salt Lake Tribune, FBI files shed light on Ezra Taft Benson, Ike and the Birch Society. In July, I promised to talk about President Benson’s politics, and I guess the timing is right; I’m finally getting back to that post.
Read more…
I just finished reading a book by Marcus Martins called Setting the Record Straight: Blacks and the Priesthood. It was an interesting perspective. Marcus is the son of Helvicio Martins, the first black general authority that I blogged about previously. ”Setting the record straight” is a bit of an exaggeration. Marcus does a good job of showing forgiveness, and he tries to address some of the common folklore. He approaches the subject from a spiritual perspective more than a historical one. So, if you’re looking for history, you’re going to be a bit disappointed. But there were a few things I found interesting.
Read more…
Mark L Grover gave a fascinating biography on Helvecio Martins, the first black general authority in the LDS church in the latest issue of the Journal of Mormon History (Summer 2010.) Elder Martins was ordained to the Second Quorum of Seventy in 1990 under President Ezra Taft Benson. In 1995 he was released, and he passed away in 2005
Martins joined the LDS church in 1972 with his wife Ruda and son Marcus. Grover describes in detail race relations in Brazil. From page 36, Read more…
Recent Comments