Race
Recommended
Responses and Perspectives: The Best Possible Test
Responding to Bush, Hugh Nibley argues that it is God who chooses who he wants to ordain and who should be denied due to various reasons, hence the scripture “Many are called, but few are…
Responses and Perspectives: Lester Bush’s Historical Overview: Other Perspectives
Responding to Bush, Thomasson wrote in response to Lester Bush’s Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Review which that article caused him to reflect on what he believes and so it became to be very valuable…
Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview
Lester Bush’s landmark article tells the most comprehensive history of the church’s teachings on race and priesthood, destabilizing the idea that it originated with Joseph Smith or had been consistently taught.
Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism
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…
Saint Without Priesthood: The Collected Testimonies of Ex-Slave Samuel D. Chambers
The editors of Dialogue in 1979 compiled the testimonies of a former slave, Samuel Chambers, who was a member of the church.
The Fading of the Pharaoh’s Curse: The Decline and Fall of the Priesthood Ban Against Blacks
Mauss situates the 1978 revelation on the priesthood in modern American historical context. Everything changed for the Church during the Civil Rights Movement when people both inside and outside the Church were harshly critcizing the…
Religious Accommodation in the Land of Racial Democracy
Brazil, with a high concentration of African heritage, was a difficult place for the Church (because of the Church’s racial policy) to make headway among native members. Due to the high risk of Brazilians potentially…
From Calcutta to Kaysville: Is Righteousness Color-coded?
A personal account of a racist statement a bishop made about people from India, while author’s adopted daughter was from India.
The Mormon Priesthood Revelation and the Sao Paulo, Brazil Temple
Few Brazilian members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints will forget 1978, the year when two events significantly changedthe Church in this South American country.
Separate but Equal?: Black Brothers, Genesis Groups, or Integrated Wards?
A history of Black LDS social groups and organizations. The Genesis Group gave African Americans a better chance to connect with fellow African Americans through frequent socials. The first group was founded in Salt Lake…