Elwin Dale LeBaron (October 8, 1934 – December 3, 2009) was a Canadian scholar of the

Latter Day Saint movement 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 Jo ...

and a professor of Church History and Doctrine at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU). He is known for his work on the history of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, where he served as mission president when the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood was announced and compiled hundreds of interviews from African locals.

Biography

LeBaron was born in Taber,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada but grew up in nearby Barnwell, Alberta. As a young man, he served as an

LDS missionary Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and communi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

from 1955 to 1958. Receiving his B.A., M.S., and Ed.D. from BYU, LeBaron worked as a teacher and administrator for the

Church Educational System The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, sec ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. In 1972 he returned to Africa to organize LDS Seminaries and Institutes of Religion in South Africa. Following that assignment he was called as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the South Africa

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Mission from 1976 to 1979. LeBaron was still serving as Mission President when the LDS Church announced the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, which extended the priesthood to

black people Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...

, the missionary work under LeBaron expanded dramatically. LeBaron also took other leadership roles in the LDS church as a bishop, high councilor, and stake president. On 3 December 2009, LeBaron died from injuries after being struck by an automobile not far from his home.

Professional career

Funding was approved through the ''David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies'' at BYU for LeBaron to conduct interviews and collect oral histories and other documentation on the account of Africans in the LDS Church. He collected oral history interviews in about ten countries — South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Zaire, Ciskei, Transkei, Swaziland, and the island nations of Mauritius and Reunion — to preserve knowledge of the beginnings of the LDS Church there. LeBaron collected more than 650 oral histories of African converts from 24 African nations. He gave presentations on the information he gathered and compiled a DVD of his interview experiences entitled ''Pioneers of Africa''. He authored a book, ''All Are Alike Unto God,'' on African conversions. The book contained interviews with 23 black converts from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana and Zaire, which were the first African countries to receive LDS missionaries. After his work in Africa, LeBaron returned to his role as a professor of religion at BYU where he lectured from 1986 until 2001. Besides various publications relating to the LDS Church in Africa, LeBaron has also written a biography of

Benjamin F. Johnson Benjamin Franklin Johnson (July 28, 1818 – November 18, 1905) was an early member of Latter Day Saint Movement, and a member of the Council of Fifty and a formerly private secretary to Joseph Smith. He served fourteen terms in the Utah State Le ...

's life and edited a biography of Glen G. Fisher.

Published works

Articles/Chapters by E. Dale LeBaron. *''Elijah's Mission: His Keys, Powers, and Blessings from the Old Testament to the Latter Days'' from ''Sperry Symposium Classics: The Old Testament.'' *''13. Ether and Mormon: Parallel Prophets of Warning and Witness'' from ''The Book of Mormon: Fourth Nephi Through Moroni, From Zion to Destruction.'' *''23. Official Declaration 2: Revelation on the Priesthood'' from ''Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants.'' *''Preparing for Preaching the Gospel Worldwide since 1945'' from Window of Faith: Latter-day Saint Perspectives on World History *''Revelation on the Priesthood, Thirty-Five Years Later'' from RE 14, no. 3 (2013) *''Perspectives from the Global Expansion of Latter-day Saint Religious Education'' from RE 17, no. 2 (2016) *''African converts without baptism: An inspiring chapter in church history'' (1998) *''All are alike unto God'' (1990) *''Benjamin F. Johnson: Friend to the prophets'' (1997) *''E. Dale Lebaron devotional 1998.'' (1998) *''Elijah's mission: His keys, powers, and blessings from the Old Testament to the latter days.'' (1993) *''E. Dale LeBaron oral history project on Africa'' *''Official Declaration 2: Revelation on the priesthood.'' (1992) *''Register to the African Oral History Project Interviews by E. Dale LeBaron : MSS 1937'' *''Revelation on the priesthood: The dawning of a new day in Africa'' (1989) *''The Book of Mormon: The pattern in preparing a people to meet the Savior.'' (1991) *''The church in Africa'' (2000)

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

E. Dale LeBaron oral history project on Africa
MSS 1937,

L. Tom Perry Special Collections The L. Tom Perry Special Collections is the special collections department of Brigham Young University (BYU)'s Harold B. Lee Library in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1957 with 1,000 books and 50 manuscript collections, as of 2016 the Library's special ...

Harold B. Lee Library The Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Provo, Utah. The library started as a small collection of books in the president's office in 1876 before moving in 1891. The Heber J. Gran ...

African converts without baptism: An inspiring chapter in church history
VC 1501 1998 LeB,

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lebaron, E. Dale 1934 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Mormon missionaries Brigham Young University alumni Brigham Young University faculty Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Canadian Mormon missionaries Church Educational System instructors Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Canadian Latter Day Saint writers Mission presidents (LDS Church) Mormon missionaries in South Africa Mormon missionaries in Zimbabwe People from Taber, Alberta Canadian expatriates in South Africa Canadian expatriates in Zimbabwe 20th-century Canadian historians