Articles/Essays – Volume 12, No. 2

Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism

1979: Newell G. Bringhurst,  “Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol 12 No. 2(1979): 22–36.

Elijah Abel, a black man ordained to the priesthood, was restricted in his church participation starting in 1843, even though he was well respected by both members and leaders. Newell G. Bringhurst discusses why the priesthood and temple ban might have occured. One of the reasons was when the pioneers were crossing the plains, a man by the name of William McCary, who had Native American and African American ancestry, caused a lot of grief and trouble for both saints and the leaders of the Church.