Early
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of ...
had a range of doctrines related to race with regards to black people of African descent. References to black people, their social condition during the 19th and 20th centuries, and their spiritual place in Western Christianity as well as in Mormon scripture were complicated.
From the beginning, black people have been members of Mormon congregations and Mormon congregations have always been interracial. When the
Mormons migrated to
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, they encountered the pro-slavery sentiments of their neighbors.
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
upheld the laws regarding slaves and slaveholders, and affirmed the
curse of Ham
The curse of Ham is described in the Book of Genesis as imposed by the patriarch Noah upon Ham's son Canaan. It occurs in the context of Noah's drunkenness and is provoked by a shameful act perpetrated by Noah's son Ham, who "saw the nakedness o ...
as placing his descendants into slavery, "to the shame and confusion of all who have cried out against the South." After the Mormons were expelled from Missouri, Smith took an increasingly strong anti-slavery position, and several black men were ordained to the LDS
priesthood.
New York era (1820s and early 1830s)
The first reference to dark skin as a curse and mark from God in
Latter Day Saint
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...
writings can be found in the
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...
, published in 1830. It refers to a group of people called the
Lamanites and states that when they rebelled against God they were cursed with "a skin of blackness" ().
The mark of blackness was placed upon the Lamanites so the Nephites "might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction" (). The Book of Mormon records the Lord as forbidding
miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
between Lamanites and Nephites () and saying they were to stay "separated from thee and thy seed
ephites from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them" ().
However, states: "
he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come, black and white, bond and free, male and female...and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." Although the Lamanites are labelled as wicked, they actually became more righteous than the Nephites as time passed ().
Throughout the Book of Mormon narrative, several groups of Lamanites did repent and lose the curse. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies or
Ammonites
Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttl ...
"open
da correspondence with them
ephites and the curse of God did no more follow them" (). There is no reference to their skin color being changed. Later, the Book of Mormon records that an additional group of Lamanites converted and that "their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites… and they were numbered among the Nephites, and were called Nephites" ().
The curse was also put on others who rebelled. One group of Nephites, called
Amlicites "had come out in open rebellion against God; therefore it was expedient that the curse should fall upon them". () The Amlicites then put a mark upon themselves. At this point, the author stops the narrative to say "I would that ye should see that they brought upon themselves the curse; and even so doth every man that is cursed bring upon himself his own condemnation."() Eventually, the Lamanites "had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith." ()
The ''Book of Mormon'' did not countenance any form of curse-based discrimination. It stated that the Lord "denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile". (). In fact, prejudice against people of dark skin was condemned more than once, as in this example:
O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness... ().
Missouri era (early 1830s to 1838)
In the summer of 1833
W. W. Phelps published an article in the church's newspaper, seeming to invite free black people into the state to become Mormons, and reflecting "in connection with the wonderful events of this age, much is doing towards abolishing slavery, and colonizing the blacks, in Africa." Outrage followed Phelps' comments, (Roberts
9301965, p. 378.) and he was forced to reverse his position, which he claimed was "misunderstood", but this reversal did not end the controversy, and the Mormons were violently expelled from Jackson County, Missouri five months later in December 1833.
In 1835, the Church issued an official statement indicating that because the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
government allowed slavery, the Church would not "interfere with bond-servants, neither preach the gospel to, nor baptize them contrary to the will and wish of their masters, nor meddle with or influence them in the least to cause them to be dissatisfied with their situations in this life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men." (D&C ).
On February 6, 1835, an assistant president of the church, W. W. Phelps, wrote a letter theorizing that the
curse of Cain
The curse of Cain and the mark of Cain are phrases that originated in the story of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis. In the stories, if someone harmed Cain, the damage would come back sevenfold. Some interpretations view this as a physica ...
survived the deluge by passing through the wife of
Ham, son of Noah
Ham (in ), according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was the second son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan.
Ham's descendants are interpreted by Flavius Josephus and others as having populated Africa and ad ...
, who according to Phelps was a descendant of
Cain. (Messenger and Advocate 1:82) In addition, Phelps introduced the idea of a third curse upon Ham ''himself'' for "marrying a black wife". (Messenger and Advocate 1:82) This black wife, according to Phelps, was not just a descendant of
Cain, but one of the pre-flood "people of Canaan", not directly related to the Biblical
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
ites after the flood.
In 1836, the rules established by the church for governing assemblies in the Kirtland Temple included attendees who were "bond or free, black or white." (History of the Church, Vol. 2, Ch. 26, p. 368)
Writing for the ''Messenger and Advocate'' newspaper on the subject of slavery, Joseph Smith states:
In April 1836, Smith said:
In 1836,
Warren Parrish (Smith's secretary) wrote regarding the sentiments of the people of Kirtland:
The Church never denied membership based on race (although slaves had to have their master's permission to be baptized), and several black men were ordained to the priesthood during Joseph Smith's lifetime. The first known black
Latter-day Saint
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
was "Black Pete", who joined the Church in
Kirtland, Ohio
Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,937 at the 2020 census. Kirtland is known for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement from 1831 to 1837 and is the site of the movement's first t ...
, and there is evidence that he held the priesthood.
[Bringhurst, Newell G]
Chapter 4: Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism
Bush & Mauss 1984. Other African Americans, including
Elijah Abel in 1832,
Joseph T. Ball in 1835 or 1836 (who also presided over the Boston Branch from 1844–1845), and
Walker Lewis
Kwaku Walker Lewis (August 3, 1798 – October 26, 1856), was an early African-American abolitionist, Freemason, and Mormon elder from Massachusetts. He was an active member of the Underground Railroad and the anti-slavery movement.
Family and ...
in 1843 (and probably his son,
Enoch Lovejoy Lewis
Enoch () ''Henṓkh''; ar, أَخْنُوخ ', Qur'ān.html"_;"title="ommonly_in_Qur'ān">ommonly_in_Qur'ānic_literature__'_is_a_biblical_figure_and_Patriarchs_(Bible).html" "title="Qur'ānic_literature.html" ;"title="Qur'ān.html" ;"title="o ...
), were ordained to the
priesthood during Smith's lifetime.
William McCary Warner "William" McCary (c. 1811 – after 1854) was an African American convert to Mormonism who was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1847 for claiming to be a prophet. Some researchers have sugges ...
was
ordained
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
in
Nauvoo in 1846 by Apostle Orson Hyde.
Two of the descendants of Elijah Abel were also ordained
Elders, and two other black men,
Samuel Chambers and
Edward Leggroan, were ordained
Deacons
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
.
Early black members in the Church were admitted to the
temple in Kirtland, Ohio, where Elijah Abel received the
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
of
washing and anointing
Washing and anointing (also called the initiatory) is a temple ordinance practiced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Mormon fundamentalists as part of the faith's endowment ceremony. It is a sacred ordinance for ...
(see ''Journal of
Zebedee Coltrin
Zebedee Coltrin (September 7, 1804 – July 21, 1887) was a Mormon pioneer and a general authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1835 to 1837. He served in later years as a patriarch in the church, from 1873 until his d ...
'' ). Abel also participated in at least two baptisms for the dead in Nauvoo, Illinois, as did Elder Joseph T. Ball.
Nauvoo era prior to Smith's death (1838 to 1844)
In 1838, Joseph Smith had the following conversation:
In 1838, and throughout the 19th century the term "species" was borrowed and commonly used to imply that the black population was inferior. The biological use of the term species was first defined in 1686.
In 1838, Joseph Smith answered the following question while en route from Kirtland to Missouri, as follows: "Are the Mormons abolitionists? No ... we do not believe in setting the Negroes free." (Smith 1977, p. 120)
By 1839 there were about a dozen black members in the Church. Nauvoo, Illinois was reported to have 22 black members, including free and slave, between 1839–1843 (''Late Persecution of the Church of Latter-day Saints'', 1840).
Beginning in 1842, Smith made known his increasingly strong anti-slavery position. In March 1842, he began studying some abolitionist literature, and stated, "it makes my blood boil within me to reflect upon the injustice, cruelty, and oppression of the rulers of the people. When will these things cease to be, and the Constitution and the laws again bear rule?" (History of the Church, 4:544).
On February 7, 1844, Joseph Smith wrote his views as a candidate for president of the United States. The anti-slavery plank of his platform called for a gradual end to slavery by the year 1850 . His plan called for the government to buy the freedom of slaves using money from the sale of public lands.
Notable Black members of the early LDS movement
Elijah Abel
Although Joseph Smith is not known to have made any statements regarding blacks and the priesthood, he was aware of the ordination of at least one black man to the office of
elder. Elijah Abel was ordained on 3 March 1836 by Zebedee Coltrin. Six months later, he was ordained to the office of
seventy
70 (seventy) is the natural number following 69 and preceding 71.
In mathematics
70 is:
* a sphenic number because it factors as 3 distinct primes.
* a Pell number.
* the seventh pentagonal number.
* the fourth tridecagonal number.
* the fif ...
and was called to serve in the Third Quorum of the Seventy. Abel served his first
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
for the church to
New York and
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
. In 1836, he moved from Kirtland to Nauvoo,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, where he participated in the temple ordinance of
baptism for the dead
Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism today commonly refers to the religious practice of baptizing a person on behalf of one who is dead—a living person receiving the rite on behalf of a deceased person.
Baptism for the dea ...
. In 1843, a traveling
high council visited Cincinnati, where Abel lived, but refused to recognize Abel for the sake of public appearance and called him to his second mission to the "colored population" of Cincinnati.
Abel joined the other Latter-day Saints in
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...
in 1853. By then, Brigham Young had formalized church's policies against black people. However, no attempt was made to remove Abel's priesthood or drop him from the Third Quorum of the Seventy. He remained active in the Quorum until his death.
Green Flake
Born in 1829
Green Flake
Green Flake (January 6, 1828 – October 20, 1903) was an early African-American member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and was one of the three enslaved African-American Latter-day Saint pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Val ...
, the slave of James Madison Flake, a convert to the LDS Church, was baptized at the age of 16 on April 7, 1844 by John Brown. He accompanied the Flake family to Nauvoo, Illinois. Green remained a slave but was a member of the church throughout his life. From family diaries and the memory of a grandson, it is believed that it was Green who drove the carriage and team that brought President Brigham Young into the Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young freed Flake in 1854.
Green Flake
BlackLDS.org
Walker Lewis
Walker Lewis was another free black man who held the Mormon priesthood prior to the death of Joseph Smith. A prominent radical abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
, Episcopalian, and Most Worshipful Grand Master of Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
from Lowell and Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, Lewis became a Latter Day Saint about 1842. In the summer of 1843, he was ordained an elder in the Melchizedek priesthood. His son, Enoch Lovejoy Lewis, also joined the Latter Day Saints 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. It has been speculated that Enoch led Young to instigate the ban against black men holding Mormon priesthood when Enoch L. Lewis married a white Mormon woman, Mary Matilda Webster, in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
on September 18, 1846 . On December 3, 1847, Young told the Quorum of the Twelve at Winter Quarters that "if they noch and Matildawere far away from the Gentiles they wod. ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames.
Notable p ...
all be killed – when they mingle seed it is death to all." (Quorum of the Twelve Minutes, December 3, 1847, pp. 6–7, LDS Archives.)
See also
* Mormonism and slavery
* 1978 Revelation on Priesthood
*Black Mormons
Since Mormonism’s foundation, Black people have been members, however the church placed restrictions on proselytization efforts among black people. Before 1978, black membership was small. It has since grown, and in 1997, there were approximatel ...
* Black people in Mormon doctrine
*Christian views on slavery
Christian views on slavery are varied regionally, historically and spiritually. Slavery in various forms has been a part of the social environment for much of Christianity's history, spanning well over eighteen centuries. In the early years of ...
*Genesis Group
The Genesis Group is an auxiliary organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church) for African-American members and their families.
History
LDS Church leaders Thomas Monson, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Boyd K. Packer estab ...
*Biddy Mason
Biddy Mason (August 15, 1818 – January 15, 1891) was an African-American nurse and a Californian real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was one of the founders of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, Calif ...
*Mormonism and Pacific Islanders
Relations between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the natives of the Pacific Island groups of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and surrounding island groups are quite complex.
History
The Pacific islands were one ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*{{cite web, title=Race and the Priesthood, url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng, website=churchofjesuschrist.org, publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, access-date=9 May 2017, date=December 2013, quote=one of the Gospel Topics essays
External links
BlackLDS.org
A Web Site Dedicated to Black Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Authoritative Statements on the Status of Blacks, and Chronological Bibliography on the Negro Doctrine
from Signature Books at signaturebookslibrary.org
Essay on Latter-day Saint views on OD-2
by Julie M. Smith at timesandseasons.org
published by John Hajicek at strangite.org
LDS Racial History
by Christopher Nicholson at christopherrandallnicholson.webs.com
People of African descent
History of the Latter Day Saint movement
Mormonism and race