Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Encyclopedia
From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) had a policy against ordaining black
men of African descent to the priesthood
. Whereas other churches usually have full-time salaried clergy of whom individual members are often the chief minister to several families, in the LDS Church virtually all male head-of-household church members are part of the priesthood. Under the pre-1978 policy, black men of African descent could not hold the priesthood in this way, and were also prohibited from participating in the temple
Endowment
and sealings, ordinances that the church teaches are necessary for the highest degree of salvation. However, the LDS Church has always had an open membership policy for all races, and black people who were aware of the racial policy did join the church. In 1978, church leaders ceased the racial restriction policy for black men, declaring that they had received a revelation
instructing them to do so. Today's church opposes racial discrimination and racism
.
In 1997, there were approximately 500,000 black members of the LDS Church, accounting for about 5% of the total membership; most black members live in Africa, Brazil
and the Caribbean. Since 1997, the black membership has grown substantially, especially in West Africa
, where two temples have been built.
and Walker Lewis
.
In 1852, while addressing the Utah Territorial Legislature, Young stated, "Any man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] ... in him cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spoke it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and others know it."
in Winter Quarters, Nebraska
led to Brigham Young's decision to adopt the priesthood ban in the LDS Church. McCary was a half-African American convert who, after his baptism and ordination to the priesthood, began to claim to be a prophet
and the possessor of other supernatural gifts. He was excommunicated for apostasy in March 1847 and expelled from Winter Quarters. After his excommunication, McCary began attracting Latter Day Saint followers and instituted plural marriage
among his group, and he had himself sealed to several white
wives.
McCary's behavior angered many of the Latter Day Saints in Winter Quarters. Researchers have stated that his marriages to his white wives "played an important role in pushing the Mormon leadership into an anti-Black position" and may have prompted Young to institute the priesthood and temple ban on black people. A statement from Young to McCary in March 1847 suggested that race had nothing to do with priesthood eligibility and the earliest known statement about the priesthood restriction from any Mormon leader (including the implication that skin color might be relevant) was made by Apostle Parley P. Pratt
a month after McCary was expelled from Winter Quarters. Speaking of McCary, Pratt stated that he "was a black man with the blood of Ham in him which lineage was cursed as regards the priesthood".
On another occasion, Young said, "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind …. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race—that they should be the ‘servant of servants’; and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree."
Brigham Young said this despite the LDS scripture verses that state people may be cursed unto the 3rd and 4th generation, but if any were to repent and make restitution they would be forgiven and the curse lifted. This is reiterated in Doctrine and Covenants
124:50&52 as well as Mosiah 13:13,14 and Deut 5:9,10.
has stories of slavery, and gives rules and regulations on how to treat slaves. The New Testament
tells slaves not to revolt against their masters. It was a commonly held belief in the South that the Bible permitted slavery. However, the Doctrine and Covenants condemns slavery, teaching "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another." The Book of Mormon heralds righteous kings who did not allow slavery, and righteous men who fought against slavery . The Book of Mormon also describes an ideal society that lived around AD 34-200, in which it teaches the people "had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift" . The Pearl of Great Price describes a similar society, in which "they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them" . Mormons believed they too, were commanded by the Lord to "be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine" . For a short time, Mormons lived in a society with no divisions under the United Order
.
In 1851, Apostle Orson Hyde
said:
allowed California
into the Union as a free state while permitting Utah and New Mexico
territories the option of deciding the issue by "popular sovereignty". In 1852 the Utah Territorial Legislature officially sanctioned slavery in Utah Territory. At that time, Brigham Young was governor, and the Utah Territorial Legislature
was dominated by church leaders. The Utah slavery law stipulated that slaves would be freed if their masters had sex with them; attempted to take them from the territory against their will; or neglected to feed, clothe, or provide shelter to them. In addition, the law stipulated that slaves must receive schooling. There are conflicting accounts of whether or not slaves could end their bondage by their own choice.
Utah was the only western state or territory that had slaves in 1850. In 1860, the census showed that 29 of the 59 black people in Utah Territory were slaves. When the American Civil War
broke out in 1861, Utah sided with the Union
, and slavery ended in 1862 when the United States Congress
abolished slavery in the Utah Territory.
. Black people were permitted to be members of the church, and participate in other temple ordinances, such as baptism for the dead
.
The racial restriction policy was applied to black Africans, persons of black African descent, and any one with mixed race that included any black African ancestry. The policy was not applied to Native Americans
, Hispanics, Melanesians
or Polynesians.
priesthood and all worthy male members may receive the priesthood. Young men are generally admitted to the Aaronic priesthood at age 12, and it is a significant rite of passage
. Virtually all white adult male members of the church held the priesthood. Holders of the priesthood officiate at church meetings, perform blessings of healing, and manage church affairs. Excluding black people from the priesthood meant that they could not hold significant church leadership roles or participate in certain spiritual events.
Don Harwell, a black LDS Church member, said, "I remember being in a Sacrament meeting, pre-1978, and the sacrament was being passed and there was special care taken by this person that not only did I not officiate, but I didn't touch the sacrament tray. They made sure that I could take the sacrament, but that I did not touch the tray and it was passed around me. That was awfully hard, considering that often those who were officiating were young men in their early teens, and they had that priesthood. I valued that priesthood, but it wasn't available."
Mormons believe that marriages that are sealed in a celestial marriage would bind the family together forever, whereas those that are not sealed were terminated upon death. President David McKay taught that black people "need not worry, as those who receive the testimony of the Restored Gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation."
Once black people were allowed to have a celestial marriage, their ancestors would also be allowed to have a temple marriage. Brigham Young taught that "When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that will be erected, [children] will be sealed to their [parents], and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be done...until we shall form a perfect chain from Father Adam down to the closing up scene."
within the celestial kingdom. The Doctrine and Covenants reads "In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it." The righteous who do not have a celestial marriage would still make it into heaven, and live eternally with God, but they would be "appointed angel
s in heaven, which angels are ministering servants."
Some interpreted this to mean black people would be treated as unmarried whites, being confined to only ever live in God's presence as a ministering servant. In 1954, Apostle Mark E. Petersen told BYU students: "If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection." Apostle George F. Richards in a talk at General Conference similarly taught: "[t]he Negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom."
Several leaders, including Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff
, George Albert Smith
, David O. McKay
, Joseph Fielding Smith
, Harold B. Lee
, and Spencer W. Kimball
, taught that black people would eventually be able to receive a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom.
When the priesthood ban was discussed in 1978, apostle Bruce McConkie argued for its change using the Mormon scripture
and the Articles of Faith
. The Third Article states that "all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." From the Book of Mormon he quoted "And even unto the great and last day, when all people, and all kindreds, and all nations and tongues shall stand before God, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil— If they be good, to the resurrection of everlasting life; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of damnation. The Book of Abraham
in the Pearl of Great Price
states that Abraham
's seed "shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." According to his son, Joseph F. McConkie, these scriptures played a great part in changing the policy.
describes a black family that tried to join the LDS church: "[some white church members] went to the Branch President, and said that either the [black] family must leave, or they would all leave. The Branch President ruled that [the black family] could not come to church meetings. It broke their hearts." Until the 1970s hospitals with connections to the LDS church, including LDS Hospital, Primary Children's and Cottonwood Hospitals in Salt Lake City, McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, and Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, kept separate the blood donated by blacks and whites.
The declaration goes on to state that the conditions in which people are born are affected by their conduct in a premortal existence, although the details of the principle are said not to be known. It then says that the privilege of mortal existence is so great that spirits were willing to come to earth even though they would not be able to possess the priesthood. It concludes by stating, "Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes."
Mark E. Petersen (an apostle
) addressed the issue of race and Priesthood in his address to a 1954 Convention of Teachers of Religion at the College Level at Brigham Young University. He said:
Petersen held that male descendants of a mixed-marriage could not become a Mormon priest, even if they had a lone ancestor with African blood dating back many generations. However, he did hold out hope for African Americans, in that a black person baptized into the Mormon faith and who accepted Joseph Smith as a Prophet of God could attain the highest form of salvation
known to Mormons, the Celestial Kingdom. Petersen said, "If that negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the Celestial Kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."
The NAACP attempted to get the LDS church to support civil rights legislation and to reverse its discriminating practices during the Civil Rights era
in the 1960s. In 1963 NAACP leadership tried to arrange meetings with church leadership, but the church refused to meet with them. In 1965, the church leadership did meet with the NAACP, and agreed to publish an editorial in church-owned newspaper The Deseret News, which would support civil rights legislation pending in the Utah legislature. The church failed to follow-through on the commitment, and church Apostle N. Eldon Tanner explained "We have decided to remain silent". In March 1965, the NAACP led an anti-discrimination march in Salt Lake City, protesting church policies. In 1966, the NAACP issued a statement criticizing the church, saying the church "has maintained a rigid and continuous segregation stand" and that "the church has made "no effort to conteract the widespread discriminatory practices in education, in housing, in employment, and other areas of life"
During the 1960s and 1970s, Mormons in the West were close to the national averages in racial attitudes. In 1966, Armand Mauss
surveyed Mormons on racial attitudes and discriminatory practices. He found that "Mormons resembled the rather "moderate" denominations (such as Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopalian), rather than the "fundamentalists" or the sects." Negative racial attitudes within Mormonism varied inversely with education, occupation, community size of origin, and youth, reflecting the national trend. Urban Mormons with a more orthodox view of Mormonism tended to be more tolerant.
. In 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King, black members of the UTEP track team approached their coach and expressed their desire not to compete against BYU in an upcoming meet. When the coach disregarded the athletes' complaint, the athletes boycotted the meet. In 1969, 14 members of the University of Wyoming
football team were removed from the team for planning to protest the policies of the LDS church. In November 1969, Stanford University President Kenneth Pitzer suspended athletic relations with BYU.
ing troop. Some LDS troops permitted black youths to join, but an LDS policy required that the troop leader to be the deacon quorum president (a priesthood office held by 12 and 13 year old non-black church members), thus excluding black children from that role. The NAACP filed a federal lawsuit in 1974 challenging this racist practice, and soon thereafter the LDS church reversed its policy.
on the road, holding area and regional conferences all over the world. He also announced many new temples to be built both in the United States and abroad, including one temple in São Paulo, Brazil
. The problem of determining priesthood eligibility in Brazil was thought to be nearly impossible due to the mixing of the races in that country. When the temple was announced, church leaders realized the difficulty of restricting persons with African descent from attending the temple in Brazil.
Finally, on June 8, 1978, the First Presidency
released to the press an official declaration, now a part of the standard works of the church, which contained the following statement:
According to first-person accounts, after much discussion among the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on this matter, they engaged the Lord in prayer. According to the writing of one of those present, "It was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost
and at the Kirtland Temple
. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fullness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord." Immediately after the receipt of this new revelation, an official announcement of the revelation was prepared, and sent out to all of the various leaders of the Church. It was then read to, approved by and accepted as the word and will of the Lord, by a General Conference of the Church in October 1978. Succeeding editions of the Doctrine and Covenants were printed with this announcement canonized and entitled "Official Declaration—2
".
Gordon B. Hinckley
(a participant in the meetings to reverse the ban), in a churchwide fireside said, "Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church been quite the same. All of us knew that the time had come for a change and that the decision had come from the heavens. The answer was clear. There was perfect unity among us in our experience and in our understanding."
Later in 1978, McConkie said:
, Brazil.
LDS Apostle Mark E. Petersen said in 1954: "I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it."
In a 1965 address to BYU students, President Kimball told BYU students: "Now, the brethren feel that it is not the wisest thing to cross racial lines in dating and marrying. There is no condemnation. We have had some of our fine young people who have crossed the lines. We hope they will be very happy, but experience of the brethren through a hundred years has proved to us that marriage is a very difficult thing under any circumstances and the difficulty increases in interrace marriages."
– printed an article in entitled "Interracial marriage discouraged". This article was printed on June 17, 1978, in the same issue that announced the policy reversal.
There was no written church policy on interracial marriages, which had been permitted since before the 1978 reversal. In 1978, church spokesman Don LeFevre said "So there is no ban on interracial marriage. If a black partner contemplating marriage is worthy of going to the Temple, nobody's going to stop him... if he's ready to go to the Temple, obviously he may go with the blessings of the church."
On the LDS Church website, Dr. Robert Millet writes: "[T]he Church Handbook of Instructions... is the guide for all Church leaders on doctrine and practice. There is, in fact, no mention whatsoever in this handbook concerning interracial marriages. In addition, having served as a Church leader for almost 30 years, I can also certify that I have never received official verbal instructions condemning marriages between black and white members."
A church lesson manual for adolescent boys that is in use in 2011 contains a 1976 quote from Spencer W. Kimball that says "We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question".
Since the Revelation on the Priesthood in 1978, the church has made no distinctions in policy for black people, but it remains an issue for many black members of the church. Alvin Jackson, a black Bishop, puts his focus on "moving forward rather than looking back." In an interview with Mormon Century, Jason Smith expresses his viewpoint that the membership of the church was not ready for black people to have the Priesthood at the time of the Restoration, because of prejudice and slavery. He draws analogies to the Bible where only the Israelites have the gospel. Officially the church also uses Biblical history to justify the prior ban:
The church opposes racism among its membership. It is currently working to reach out to black people, and has several predominantly black wards inside the United States. They teach that all are welcome to come unto Christ, and speak against those who harbor ill feelings towards another race. Gordon B. Hinckley, the President of the LDS church, stated:
In the July 1992 edition of the New Era
, the church published a MormonAd
promoting racial equality in the church. The photo contained several youth of a variety of ethic backgrounds with the words "Family Photo" in large print. Underneath the picture are the words "God created the races—but not racism. We are all children of the same Father. Violence and hatred have no place in His family. (See Acts 10:34.)"
Black LDS church member Darron Smith wrote in 2003: "Even though the priesthood ban was repealed in 1978, the discourse that constructs what blackness means is still very much intact today. Under the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball, the First Presidency and the Twelve removed the policy that denied black people the priesthood but did very little to disrupt the multiple discourses that had fostered the policy in the first place. Hence there are Church members today who continue to summon and teach at every level of Church education the racial discourse that black people are descendants of Cain, that they merited lesser earthly privilege because they were "fence-sitters" in the War in Heaven, and that, science and climatic factors aside, there is a link between skin color and righteousness"
Journalist and church member Peggy Fletcher Stack
in 2007 wrote "Today, many black Mormons report subtle differences in the way they are treated, as if they are not full members but a separate group. A few even have been called 'the n-word' at church and in the hallowed halls of the temple. They look in vain at photos of Mormon general authorities, hoping to see their own faces reflected there.
White church member Eugene England
, a professor at Brigham Young University, wrote in 1998:
In an interview for the PBS
documentary The Mormons, Jeffrey R. Holland
, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, specifically denounced the perpetuation of folklore
suggesting that race was in any way an indication of how faithful a person had been in the pre-existence
.
The church leadership did not issue a repudiation, and so in 1997 Jackson, aided by other church members including Armand Mauss, sent a second request to church leaders, which stated that white Mormons felt that the 1978 revelation resolved everything, but that black Mormons react differently when they learn the details. He said that many black Mormons become discouraged and leave the church or become inactive. "When they find out about this, they exit... You end up with the passive African Americans in the church".
Other black church members think giving an apology would be a "detriment" to church work and a catalyst to further racial misunderstanding. African-American church member Bryan E. Powell says "There is no pleasure in old news, and this news is old." Gladys Newkirk agrees, stating "I've never experienced any problems in this church. I don't need an apology. . . . We're the result of an apology." The large majority of black Mormons say they are willing to look beyond the racist teachings and cleave to the church in part because of its powerful, detailed teachings on life after death.
Hinckley, then church president, told the Los Angeles Times "The 1978 declaration speaks for itself ... I don't see anything further that we need to do". Church leadership did not issue a repudiation. Church apostle Dallin H. Oaks
said: "It's not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we're on our own. Some people put reasons to [the ban] and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that.... The lesson I've drawn from that, I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it... I'm referring to reasons given by general authorities and reasons elaborated upon [those reasons] by others. The whole set of reasons seemed to me to be unnecessary risk taking... Let's [not] make the mistake that's been made in the past, here and in other areas, trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that's where safety lies."
bestowed the First Presidency with the organization's highest financial support honor, the American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarians award. The church has also been involved in humanitarian aid in Africa by sending food boxes, digging wells to provide clean water, distributing wheelchairs, fighting AIDS, providing Neonatal Resuscitation Training, and setting up employment resources service centers.
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
men of African descent to the priesthood
Priesthood (LDS Church)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the priesthood is the power and authority to act in the name of God for the salvation of humankind...
. Whereas other churches usually have full-time salaried clergy of whom individual members are often the chief minister to several families, in the LDS Church virtually all male head-of-household church members are part of the priesthood. Under the pre-1978 policy, black men of African descent could not hold the priesthood in this way, and were also prohibited from participating in the temple
Temple (LDS Church)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...
Endowment
Endowment (Latter Day Saints)
In the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, an endowment refers to a gift of "power from on high", typically associated with Latter Day Saint temples. The purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during the life of movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr...
and sealings, ordinances that the church teaches are necessary for the highest degree of salvation. However, the LDS Church has always had an open membership policy for all races, and black people who were aware of the racial policy did join the church. In 1978, church leaders ceased the racial restriction policy for black men, declaring that they had received a revelation
1978 Revelation on Priesthood
The 1978 Revelation on Priesthood was a revelation to the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which reversed a long-standing policy excluding men of black African descent from the priesthood.-Background:...
instructing them to do so. Today's church opposes racial discrimination and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
.
In 1997, there were approximately 500,000 black members of the LDS Church, accounting for about 5% of the total membership; most black members live in Africa, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and the Caribbean. Since 1997, the black membership has grown substantially, especially in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, where two temples have been built.
Before 1847
During the early years of the LDS movement, blacks were admitted to the church, and at least two black men became priests, Elijah AbelElijah Abel
Elijah Abel was the first black elder and seventy in the Latter Day Saint movement, and one of the few black members in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to receive the priesthood.-Life:...
and Walker Lewis
Walker Lewis
Walker Lewis was an early African American abolitionist, Freemason, and Mormon elder from Massachusetts.-Family and personal history:Lewis was born Friday, August 3, 1798 in Barre, Massachusetts to Peter P. Lewis and Minor Walker Lewis. His full name was Kwaku Walker Lewis, named after his...
.
Racial policy under Brigham Young
Under the leadership of Joseph Smith, several African-Americans, including Elijah Abel were admitted to the priesthood. But that policy changed sometime before 1852, because in that year, church president Brigham Young made a pronouncement to the Utah Territorial Legislature stating that African-Americans "cannot hold the Priesthood."Racial restriction policy under Brigham Young
An early statement by Young about a priesthood ban in the LDS Church was made on February 13, 1849. The statement — which refers to the Curse of Cain as the reason for the policy — was given in response to the question, "What chance is there for the redemption of the Negro?" Young responded, "The Lord had cursed Cain's seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood."In 1852, while addressing the Utah Territorial Legislature, Young stated, "Any man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] ... in him cannot hold the Priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spoke it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and others know it."
William McCary
Some researchers have suggested that the actions of William McCaryWilliam McCary
Warner "William" McCary was an African American convert to Mormonism who was expelled from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847 for claiming to be a prophet...
in Winter Quarters, Nebraska
Winter Quarters, Nebraska
Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. The...
led to Brigham Young's decision to adopt the priesthood ban in the LDS Church. McCary was a half-African American convert who, after his baptism and ordination to the priesthood, began to claim to be a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
and the possessor of other supernatural gifts. He was excommunicated for apostasy in March 1847 and expelled from Winter Quarters. After his excommunication, McCary began attracting Latter Day Saint followers and instituted plural marriage
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
among his group, and he had himself sealed to several white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
wives.
McCary's behavior angered many of the Latter Day Saints in Winter Quarters. Researchers have stated that his marriages to his white wives "played an important role in pushing the Mormon leadership into an anti-Black position" and may have prompted Young to institute the priesthood and temple ban on black people. A statement from Young to McCary in March 1847 suggested that race had nothing to do with priesthood eligibility and the earliest known statement about the priesthood restriction from any Mormon leader (including the implication that skin color might be relevant) was made by Apostle Parley P. Pratt
Parley P. Pratt
Parley Parker Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt...
a month after McCary was expelled from Winter Quarters. Speaking of McCary, Pratt stated that he "was a black man with the blood of Ham in him which lineage was cursed as regards the priesthood".
Young's personal views
When asked "if the spirits of Negroes were neutral in Heaven," Young is reported in a journal entry to have responded, "No, they were not, there were no neutral [spirits] in Heaven at the time of the rebellion, all took sides …. All spirits are pure that came from the presence of God." Prior to learning about Enoch Lewis's marriage to a woman of European descent (December 1847) and subsequently enacting a ban on Negroes in the priesthood, Brigham Young considered Walker Lewis "one of the best Elders."On another occasion, Young said, "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind …. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race—that they should be the ‘servant of servants’; and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree."
Brigham Young said this despite the LDS scripture verses that state people may be cursed unto the 3rd and 4th generation, but if any were to repent and make restitution they would be forgiven and the curse lifted. This is reiterated in Doctrine and Covenants
Doctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...
124:50&52 as well as Mosiah 13:13,14 and Deut 5:9,10.
Slavery scripture
LDS scripture has various views on slavery. The Old TestamentOld Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
has stories of slavery, and gives rules and regulations on how to treat slaves. The New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
tells slaves not to revolt against their masters. It was a commonly held belief in the South that the Bible permitted slavery. However, the Doctrine and Covenants condemns slavery, teaching "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another." The Book of Mormon heralds righteous kings who did not allow slavery, and righteous men who fought against slavery . The Book of Mormon also describes an ideal society that lived around AD 34-200, in which it teaches the people "had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift" . The Pearl of Great Price describes a similar society, in which "they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them" . Mormons believed they too, were commanded by the Lord to "be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine" . For a short time, Mormons lived in a society with no divisions under the United Order
United Order
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the United Order was one of several 19th century church collectivist programs. Early versions of the Order beginning in 1831 attempted to implement the Law of Consecration, a form of Christian communism, modeled after the New Testament church which had "all things...
.
Statements from church leaders
During a sermon criticizing the federal government, Young said, "If the Government of the United States, in Congress assembled, had the right to pass an anti-polygamy bill, they had also the right to pass a law that slaves should not be abused as they have been; they had also a right to make a law that negroes should be used like human beings, and not worse than dumb brutes. For their abuse of that race, the whites will be cursed, unless they repent."In 1851, Apostle Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde
Orson Hyde was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...
said:
Utah sanctions slavery
The Great Compromise of 1850Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War...
allowed California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
into the Union as a free state while permitting Utah and New Mexico
New Mexico Territory
thumb|right|240px|Proposed boundaries for State of New Mexico, 1850The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of...
territories the option of deciding the issue by "popular sovereignty". In 1852 the Utah Territorial Legislature officially sanctioned slavery in Utah Territory. At that time, Brigham Young was governor, and the Utah Territorial Legislature
1st Utah Territorial Legislature
The 1st Utah Territorial Legislature convened on September 22, 1851 and ended on March 6, 1852.-Sessions:* General Session: September 22, 1851 - February 18, 1852* Special Session: February 19, 1852 - March 6, 1852-Members:...
was dominated by church leaders. The Utah slavery law stipulated that slaves would be freed if their masters had sex with them; attempted to take them from the territory against their will; or neglected to feed, clothe, or provide shelter to them. In addition, the law stipulated that slaves must receive schooling. There are conflicting accounts of whether or not slaves could end their bondage by their own choice.
Utah was the only western state or territory that had slaves in 1850. In 1860, the census showed that 29 of the 59 black people in Utah Territory were slaves. When the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
broke out in 1861, Utah sided with the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
, and slavery ended in 1862 when the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
abolished slavery in the Utah Territory.
Racial restriction policy
Under the racial restrictions that lasted from the presidency of Brigham Young until 1978, persons with any black African ancestry could not hold the priesthood in the LDS Church and could not participate in some temple ordinances, such as the Endowment and celestial marriageCelestial marriage
Celestial marriage is a doctrine of Mormonism, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and branches of Mormon fundamentalism.Within Mormonism, celestial marriage is an ordinance associated with a covenant that always...
. Black people were permitted to be members of the church, and participate in other temple ordinances, such as baptism for the dead
Baptism for the dead
Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is the religious practice of baptizing a living person on behalf of one who is dead, with the living person acting as the deceased person's proxy...
.
The racial restriction policy was applied to black Africans, persons of black African descent, and any one with mixed race that included any black African ancestry. The policy was not applied to Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, Hispanics, Melanesians
Melanesians
Melanesians are an ethnic group in Melanesia. The original inhabitants of the group of islands now named Melanesia were likely the ancestors of the present-day Papuan-speaking people...
or Polynesians.
Priesthood
The priesthood restriction was particularly limiting, because the LDS Church has a layLaity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
priesthood and all worthy male members may receive the priesthood. Young men are generally admitted to the Aaronic priesthood at age 12, and it is a significant rite of passage
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
. Virtually all white adult male members of the church held the priesthood. Holders of the priesthood officiate at church meetings, perform blessings of healing, and manage church affairs. Excluding black people from the priesthood meant that they could not hold significant church leadership roles or participate in certain spiritual events.
Don Harwell, a black LDS Church member, said, "I remember being in a Sacrament meeting, pre-1978, and the sacrament was being passed and there was special care taken by this person that not only did I not officiate, but I didn't touch the sacrament tray. They made sure that I could take the sacrament, but that I did not touch the tray and it was passed around me. That was awfully hard, considering that often those who were officiating were young men in their early teens, and they had that priesthood. I valued that priesthood, but it wasn't available."
Temple marriages
Most black people were not permitted to participate in ordinances performed in the LDS Church temples, such as the endowment ritual and temple marriages and family sealings. Denying them the opportunity to participate in these ordinances meant that they could not enjoy the full privileges enjoyed by other Latter-day Saints.Mormons believe that marriages that are sealed in a celestial marriage would bind the family together forever, whereas those that are not sealed were terminated upon death. President David McKay taught that black people "need not worry, as those who receive the testimony of the Restored Gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation."
Once black people were allowed to have a celestial marriage, their ancestors would also be allowed to have a temple marriage. Brigham Young taught that "When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that will be erected, [children] will be sealed to their [parents], and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be done...until we shall form a perfect chain from Father Adam down to the closing up scene."
Entrance to the highest heaven
A celestial marriage was not required to get into the celestial kingdom, but was required to obtain a fullness of gloryDegrees of glory
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' theology, there are three degrees of glory which are the ultimate, eternal dwelling place for nearly all who lived on earth after the Spirit world.Joseph Smith, Jr...
within the celestial kingdom. The Doctrine and Covenants reads "In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it." The righteous who do not have a celestial marriage would still make it into heaven, and live eternally with God, but they would be "appointed angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s in heaven, which angels are ministering servants."
Some interpreted this to mean black people would be treated as unmarried whites, being confined to only ever live in God's presence as a ministering servant. In 1954, Apostle Mark E. Petersen told BYU students: "If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection." Apostle George F. Richards in a talk at General Conference similarly taught: "[t]he Negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple, necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom."
Several leaders, including Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
, George Albert Smith
George Albert Smith
George Albert Smith, Sr. was the eighth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .-Early life:...
, David O. McKay
David O. McKay
David Oman McKay was the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , serving from 1951 until his death. Ordained an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1906, McKay was a general authority for nearly 64 years, longer than anyone else in LDS Church...
, Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr. was the tenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 until his death. He was the son of Joseph F. Smith, who was the sixth president of the LDS Church...
, Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee
Harold Bingham Lee was eleventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from July 1972 until his death.- Early life :...
, and Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer Woolley Kimball was the twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1973 until his death in 1985.-Ancestry:...
, taught that black people would eventually be able to receive a fullness of glory in the celestial kingdom.
When the priesthood ban was discussed in 1978, apostle Bruce McConkie argued for its change using the Mormon scripture
Standard Works
The Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon.* The Holy Bible * The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ...
and the Articles of Faith
Articles of Faith
Articles of faith are sets of beliefs usually found in creeds, sometimes numbered, and often beginning with "We believe...", which attempt to more or less define the fundamental theology of a given religion, and especially in the Christian Church....
. The Third Article states that "all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." From the Book of Mormon he quoted "And even unto the great and last day, when all people, and all kindreds, and all nations and tongues shall stand before God, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil— If they be good, to the resurrection of everlasting life; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of damnation. The Book of Abraham
Book of Abraham
The Book of Abraham is a 1835 work by Joseph Smith, Jr. that he said was based on Egyptian papyri purchased from a traveling mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the book was "a translation of some ancient records....purporting to be the writings of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book...
in the Pearl of Great Price
Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)
The Pearl of Great Price is part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and some other Latter Day Saint denominations....
states that Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
's seed "shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." According to his son, Joseph F. McConkie, these scriptures played a great part in changing the policy.
Racial discrimination other than racial restriction policy
The exclusion from the priesthood was not the only discrimination practiced by church members. In the late 1800s blacks living in Cache Valley were forcibly relocated to Ogden and Salt Lake City. In the 1950s, the San Francisco mission office took legal action to prevent black families from moving into the church neighborhood. In 1965, a black man living in Salt Lake City, Daily Oliver, described how – as a boy – he was excluded from an LDS-led boy scout troop because they did not want blacks in their building. Mormon apostle Mark E. PetersenMark E. Petersen
Mark Edward Petersen was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1944 until his death. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, he filled the vacancy caused by the excommunication of Richard R. Lyman...
describes a black family that tried to join the LDS church: "[some white church members] went to the Branch President, and said that either the [black] family must leave, or they would all leave. The Branch President ruled that [the black family] could not come to church meetings. It broke their hearts." Until the 1970s hospitals with connections to the LDS church, including LDS Hospital, Primary Children's and Cottonwood Hospitals in Salt Lake City, McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, and Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, kept separate the blood donated by blacks and whites.
Racial policy under John Taylor
Under John Taylor's presidency, there was confusion regarding the origin of the racial policy. Abel was living, breathing proof that an African American was ordained to the Priesthood in the days of Joseph Smith. His son, Enoch Abel, had also been conferred the Priesthood. Joseph F. Smith said that Abel's Priesthood had been declared null and void by Joseph Smith himself, though this seems to conflict with Joseph F. Smith's teachings that the Priesthood could not be removed from any man without removing that man from the church. From this point on Joseph Smith was repeatedly referred to as the author of many statements, which had actually been made by Brigham Young, on the subject of Priesthood restriction.Exceptions
Several black men received the priesthood after the racial restriction policy was put in place, including Elijah Abel's son Enoch Abel, who was ordained an elder on Nov. 10, 1900. Enoch's son and Elijah Abel's grandson — who was also named Elijah Abel — received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of priest on July 5, 1934. The younger Elijah Abel also received the Melchizedek priesthood and was ordained to the office of elder on Sept. 29, 1935. One commentator has pointed out that these incidents illustrate the "ambiguities, contradictions, and paradoxes" of the issue during the twentieth century.The "Negro Question" Declaration
In 1949, the First Presidency under the direction of George Albert Smith made a declaration which included the statement that the priesthood restriction was divinely commanded and not a matter of church policy. It stated:
The attitude of the Church with reference to the Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the Priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: "Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to."
The declaration goes on to state that the conditions in which people are born are affected by their conduct in a premortal existence, although the details of the principle are said not to be known. It then says that the privilege of mortal existence is so great that spirits were willing to come to earth even though they would not be able to possess the priesthood. It concludes by stating, "Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes."
Racial policy 1951-1977
In 1954, Church President David O. McKay taught: "There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. We believe that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that's all there is to it.’Mark E. Petersen (an apostle
Apostle (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, an Apostle is a "special witness of the name of Jesus Christ who is sent to teach the principles of salvation to others." In many Latter Day Saint churches, an Apostle is a priesthood office of high authority within the church hierarchy. In many churches, apostles...
) addressed the issue of race and Priesthood in his address to a 1954 Convention of Teachers of Religion at the College Level at Brigham Young University. He said:
The reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. 'No person having the least particle of negro blood can hold the priesthood' (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the priesthood marries a negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a negro is to forfeit a 'nation of priesthood holders'....
Petersen held that male descendants of a mixed-marriage could not become a Mormon priest, even if they had a lone ancestor with African blood dating back many generations. However, he did hold out hope for African Americans, in that a black person baptized into the Mormon faith and who accepted Joseph Smith as a Prophet of God could attain the highest form of salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
known to Mormons, the Celestial Kingdom. Petersen said, "If that negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the Celestial Kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."
Apostle Harold B. Lee blocks policy change
In 1969 church apostle Harold B. Lee blocked the LDS Church from rescinding the racial restriction policy. Church leaders voted to rescind the policy at a meeting in 1969. Lee was absent from the meeting due to travels. When Lee returned he called for a re-vote, arguing that the policy could not be changed without a revelation.Church president statement in 1972
Harold B. Lee, president of the church, stated in 1972: "For those who don't believe in modern revelation there is no adequate explanation. Those who do understand revelation stand by and wait until the Lord speaks...It's only a matter of time before the black achieves full status in the Church. We must believe in the justice of God. The black will achieve full status, we’re just waiting for that time."Church and the Civil Rights movement
In 1958, Joseph Fielding Smith published Answers to Gospel Questions which stated "No church or other organization is more insistent than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the negroes should receive all the rights and privileges that can possibly be given to any other in the true sense of equality as declared in the Declaration of Independence." He continues to say they should not be barred from any type of employment or education, and should be free "to make their lives as happy as it is possible without interference from white men, labor unions or from any other source." In the 1963 General Conference, Hugh B. Brown stated: "it is a moral evil for any person or group of persons to deny any human being the rights to gainful employment, to full educational opportunity, and to every privilege of citizenship". He continued: "We call upon all men everywhere, both within and outside the church, to commit themselves to the establishment of full civil equality for all of God's children. Anything less than this defeats our high ideal of the brotherhood of man."The NAACP attempted to get the LDS church to support civil rights legislation and to reverse its discriminating practices during the Civil Rights era
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
in the 1960s. In 1963 NAACP leadership tried to arrange meetings with church leadership, but the church refused to meet with them. In 1965, the church leadership did meet with the NAACP, and agreed to publish an editorial in church-owned newspaper The Deseret News, which would support civil rights legislation pending in the Utah legislature. The church failed to follow-through on the commitment, and church Apostle N. Eldon Tanner explained "We have decided to remain silent". In March 1965, the NAACP led an anti-discrimination march in Salt Lake City, protesting church policies. In 1966, the NAACP issued a statement criticizing the church, saying the church "has maintained a rigid and continuous segregation stand" and that "the church has made "no effort to conteract the widespread discriminatory practices in education, in housing, in employment, and other areas of life"
During the 1960s and 1970s, Mormons in the West were close to the national averages in racial attitudes. In 1966, Armand Mauss
Armand Mauss
Armand Lind Mauss is an American sociologist specializing in the sociology of religion. He is professor emeritus of Sociology and Religious Studies at Washington State University, is the most often published sociologist in the twentieth century of works on the Mormons, and is broadly recognized...
surveyed Mormons on racial attitudes and discriminatory practices. He found that "Mormons resembled the rather "moderate" denominations (such as Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopalian), rather than the "fundamentalists" or the sects." Negative racial attitudes within Mormonism varied inversely with education, occupation, community size of origin, and youth, reflecting the national trend. Urban Mormons with a more orthodox view of Mormonism tended to be more tolerant.
Sports boycotts of BYU
African-American athletes protested against LDS policies by boycotting several sporting events with Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. In 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King, black members of the UTEP track team approached their coach and expressed their desire not to compete against BYU in an upcoming meet. When the coach disregarded the athletes' complaint, the athletes boycotted the meet. In 1969, 14 members of the University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
football team were removed from the team for planning to protest the policies of the LDS church. In November 1969, Stanford University President Kenneth Pitzer suspended athletic relations with BYU.
Boy Scout leaders
Since the early part of the 20th century, each LDS ward has organized its own Boy ScoutBoy Scout
A Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
ing troop. Some LDS troops permitted black youths to join, but an LDS policy required that the troop leader to be the deacon quorum president (a priesthood office held by 12 and 13 year old non-black church members), thus excluding black children from that role. The NAACP filed a federal lawsuit in 1974 challenging this racist practice, and soon thereafter the LDS church reversed its policy.
Spencer W. Kimball denounces racism
Spencer W. Kimball, LDS apostle and future president of the church taught against racism. In 1972, he said: "Intolerance by Church members is despicable. A special problem exists with respect to black people because they may not now receive the priesthood. Some members of the Church would justify their own un-Christian discrimination against black people because of that rule with respect to the priesthood, but while this restriction has been imposed by the Lord, it is not for us to add burdens upon the shoulders of our black brethren. They who have received Christ in faith through authoritative baptism are heirs to the celestial kingdom along with men of all other races. And those who remain faithful to the end may expect that God may finally grant them all blessings they have merited through their righteousness. Such matters are in the Lord's hands. It is for us to extend our love to all."Retaliation against Mormon anti-discrimination activists
There were some LDS church members who protested against the church's discriminatory practices. Two LDS church members, Douglas A. Wallace and Byron Merchant, were excommunicated by the LDS church (1976 and 1977 respectively) after criticizing the church's discrimatory practices. LDS church member Grant Syphers objected to the church's racial policies and, as a consequence, his stake president refused to give Sypher permission to enter the temple. The president said, "Anyone who could not accept the Church's stand on Negroes ... could not go to the temple".Racial policy ends in 1978
LDS church president Spencer W. Kimball (president 1973-1985) took general conferenceGeneral Conference (LDS Church)
General Conference is a semiannual world conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in April and October, where members gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to instruction from Church leaders...
on the road, holding area and regional conferences all over the world. He also announced many new temples to be built both in the United States and abroad, including one temple in São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo Brazil Temple
The São Paulo Brazil Temple is the 19th constructed and 17th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, it was the first LDS temple built in South America, and also the first temple to use the single story, single spire design...
. The problem of determining priesthood eligibility in Brazil was thought to be nearly impossible due to the mixing of the races in that country. When the temple was announced, church leaders realized the difficulty of restricting persons with African descent from attending the temple in Brazil.
Finally, on June 8, 1978, the First Presidency
First Presidency
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...
released to the press an official declaration, now a part of the standard works of the church, which contained the following statement:
He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the Holy Priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that follows there from, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.
According to first-person accounts, after much discussion among the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on this matter, they engaged the Lord in prayer. According to the writing of one of those present, "It was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
and at the Kirtland Temple
Kirtland Temple
The Kirtland Temple is a National Historic Landmark in Kirtland, Ohio, USA, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Owned and operated by the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , the house of worship was the first temple to be...
. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fullness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord." Immediately after the receipt of this new revelation, an official announcement of the revelation was prepared, and sent out to all of the various leaders of the Church. It was then read to, approved by and accepted as the word and will of the Lord, by a General Conference of the Church in October 1978. Succeeding editions of the Doctrine and Covenants were printed with this announcement canonized and entitled "Official Declaration—2
Official Declaration—2
"Official Declaration—2" is the formal 1978 announcement by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the church's priesthood would no longer be subject to restrictions based on race or skin color...
".
Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...
(a participant in the meetings to reverse the ban), in a churchwide fireside said, "Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church been quite the same. All of us knew that the time had come for a change and that the decision had come from the heavens. The answer was clear. There was perfect unity among us in our experience and in our understanding."
Later in 1978, McConkie said:
There are statements in our literature by the early brethren which we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, "You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?" And all I can say to that is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.... We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter any more.... It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year.
Critics question motivation of policy reversal
Critics of the LDS church claim that the church's 1978 reversal of the racial restriction policy was not divinely inspired as the church claimed, but simply a matter of political convenience. Critics point out that this reversal of policy occurred as the LDS church began to expand outside the United States into countries such as Brazil that have ethnically mixed populations, and that the policy reversal was announced just a few months before the church opened its new temple in São PauloSão Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil.
Critics claim that 1978 revelation undermines prophets
Critics of the LDS church point out that the 1978 revelation undermines the church's claim that its presidents are prophets of God and that their proclamations are God's word, because Brigham Young stated in 1852 that blacks would not receive the preisthood "until the last of the posterity of Able [sic] had received the priesthood, until the redemtion of the earth." Mormon apologists reply that revelation is a continuing process and that newer revelations supersede older revelations .Pre-1978
During a sermon criticizing the federal government, Church president Brigham Young said "If the White man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain (those with dark skin), the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."LDS Apostle Mark E. Petersen said in 1954: "I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it."
In a 1965 address to BYU students, President Kimball told BYU students: "Now, the brethren feel that it is not the wisest thing to cross racial lines in dating and marrying. There is no condemnation. We have had some of our fine young people who have crossed the lines. We hope they will be very happy, but experience of the brethren through a hundred years has proved to us that marriage is a very difficult thing under any circumstances and the difficulty increases in interrace marriages."
Post-1978
The official newspaper of the LDS Church – the Church NewsChurch News
The Church News is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the Deseret News and the MormonTimes , a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
– printed an article in entitled "Interracial marriage discouraged". This article was printed on June 17, 1978, in the same issue that announced the policy reversal.
There was no written church policy on interracial marriages, which had been permitted since before the 1978 reversal. In 1978, church spokesman Don LeFevre said "So there is no ban on interracial marriage. If a black partner contemplating marriage is worthy of going to the Temple, nobody's going to stop him... if he's ready to go to the Temple, obviously he may go with the blessings of the church."
On the LDS Church website, Dr. Robert Millet writes: "[T]he Church Handbook of Instructions... is the guide for all Church leaders on doctrine and practice. There is, in fact, no mention whatsoever in this handbook concerning interracial marriages. In addition, having served as a Church leader for almost 30 years, I can also certify that I have never received official verbal instructions condemning marriages between black and white members."
A church lesson manual for adolescent boys that is in use in 2011 contains a 1976 quote from Spencer W. Kimball that says "We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question".
1985 to present
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- Ever since biblical times, the Lord has designated through His prophets who could receive the priesthood and other blessings of the gospel. Among the tribes of Israel, for example, only men of the tribe of Levi were given the priesthood and allowed to officiate in certain ordinances. Likewise, during the Savior's earthly ministry, gospel blessings were restricted to the Jews. Only after a revelation to the Apostle Peter were the gospel and priesthood extended to others (see Acts 10:1–33; 14:23; 15:6–8).
The church opposes racism among its membership. It is currently working to reach out to black people, and has several predominantly black wards inside the United States. They teach that all are welcome to come unto Christ, and speak against those who harbor ill feelings towards another race. Gordon B. Hinckley, the President of the LDS church, stated:
In the July 1992 edition of the New Era
New Era (magazine)
New Era is an official magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. First published in January 1971 along with the Ensign and the Friend, the New Era's intended audience has always been the youth of the Church...
, the church published a MormonAd
MormonAd
A Mormonad is a poster which appears in each issue of the New Era, a magazine published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They first appeared in the 1970s....
promoting racial equality in the church. The photo contained several youth of a variety of ethic backgrounds with the words "Family Photo" in large print. Underneath the picture are the words "God created the races—but not racism. We are all children of the same Father. Violence and hatred have no place in His family. (See Acts 10:34.)"
Instances of discrimination after 1978 revelation
LDS historian Wayne J. Embry interviewed several black LDS church members in 1987 and reported "All of the interviewees reported incidents of aloofness on the part of white members, a reluctance or a refusal to shake hands with them or sit by them, and racist comments made to them." Embry further reported that one black church member "was amazingly persistent in attending Mormon services for three years when, by her report, no one would speak to her." Embry reports that "she [the same black church member] had to write directly to the president of the LDS Church to find out how to be baptized" because none of her fellow church members would tell her.Black LDS church member Darron Smith wrote in 2003: "Even though the priesthood ban was repealed in 1978, the discourse that constructs what blackness means is still very much intact today. Under the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball, the First Presidency and the Twelve removed the policy that denied black people the priesthood but did very little to disrupt the multiple discourses that had fostered the policy in the first place. Hence there are Church members today who continue to summon and teach at every level of Church education the racial discourse that black people are descendants of Cain, that they merited lesser earthly privilege because they were "fence-sitters" in the War in Heaven, and that, science and climatic factors aside, there is a link between skin color and righteousness"
Journalist and church member Peggy Fletcher Stack
Peggy Fletcher Stack
Peggy Fletcher Stack is an American journalist, editor, and author. Stack has been the religion writer for the Salt Lake Tribune since 1991.- Biography :...
in 2007 wrote "Today, many black Mormons report subtle differences in the way they are treated, as if they are not full members but a separate group. A few even have been called 'the n-word' at church and in the hallowed halls of the temple. They look in vain at photos of Mormon general authorities, hoping to see their own faces reflected there.
White church member Eugene England
Eugene England
George Eugene England, Jr. , usually credited as Eugene England, was a Mormon writer, teacher, and scholar. He founded Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the oldest independent journal in Mormon Studies, with G. Wesley Johnson in 1966 and cofounded the Association for Mormon Letters in 1976...
, a professor at Brigham Young University, wrote in 1998:
This is a good time to remind ourselves that most Mormons are still in denial about the ban, unwilling to talk in Church settings about it, and that some Mormons still believe that Blacks were cursed by descent from Cain through Ham. Even more believe that Blacks, as well as other non-white people, come color-coded into the world, their lineage and even their class a direct indication of failures in a previous life.... I check occasionally in classes at BYU and find that still, twenty years after the revelation, a majority of bright, well-educated Mormon students say they believe that Blacks are descendants of Cain and Ham and thereby cursed and that skin color is an indication of righteousness in the pre-mortal life. They tell me these ideas came from their parents or Seminary and Sunday School teachers, and they have never questioned them. They seem largely untroubled by the implicit contradiction to basic gospel teachings.
In an interview for the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
documentary The Mormons, Jeffrey R. Holland
Jeffrey R. Holland
Jeffrey Roy Holland is an American educator and religious leader. He served as the ninth President of Brigham Young University and is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Holland is accepted by...
, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, specifically denounced the perpetuation of folklore
Mormon folklore
Mormon folklore is a body of expressive culture unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. It includes tales, oral history, popular beliefs, customs, music, jokes, and other traditions....
suggesting that race was in any way an indication of how faithful a person had been in the pre-existence
Pre-existence
Pre-existence , beforelife, or pre-mortal existence refers to the belief that each individual human soul existed before conception, and at conception one of these pre-existent souls enters, or is placed by God, in the body...
.
Church asked to repudiate past racist declarations
In 1995, black church member A. David Jackson asked church leaders to issue a declaration repudiating past doctrines that treated black people as inferior. In particular, Jackson asked the church to disavow the 1949 "Negro Question" declaration from the church Presidency which stated "The attitude of the church with reference to negroes ... is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord ... to the effect that negroes ... are not entitled to the priesthood...".The church leadership did not issue a repudiation, and so in 1997 Jackson, aided by other church members including Armand Mauss, sent a second request to church leaders, which stated that white Mormons felt that the 1978 revelation resolved everything, but that black Mormons react differently when they learn the details. He said that many black Mormons become discouraged and leave the church or become inactive. "When they find out about this, they exit... You end up with the passive African Americans in the church".
Other black church members think giving an apology would be a "detriment" to church work and a catalyst to further racial misunderstanding. African-American church member Bryan E. Powell says "There is no pleasure in old news, and this news is old." Gladys Newkirk agrees, stating "I've never experienced any problems in this church. I don't need an apology. . . . We're the result of an apology." The large majority of black Mormons say they are willing to look beyond the racist teachings and cleave to the church in part because of its powerful, detailed teachings on life after death.
Hinckley, then church president, told the Los Angeles Times "The 1978 declaration speaks for itself ... I don't see anything further that we need to do". Church leadership did not issue a repudiation. Church apostle Dallin H. Oaks
Dallin H. Oaks
Dallin Harris Oaks is an American attorney, jurist, author, professor, public speaker, and religious leader. Since 1984, he has been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
said: "It's not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we're on our own. Some people put reasons to [the ban] and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that.... The lesson I've drawn from that, I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it... I'm referring to reasons given by general authorities and reasons elaborated upon [those reasons] by others. The whole set of reasons seemed to me to be unnecessary risk taking... Let's [not] make the mistake that's been made in the past, here and in other areas, trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that's where safety lies."
Humanitarian aid in Africa
The church has been involved in several humanitarian aid projects in Africa. On January 27, 1985, members across the world joined together in a fast for "the victims of famine and other causes resulting in hunger and privation among people of Africa." They also donated the money that would have been used for food during the fast to help those victims, regardless of church membership. Together with other organizations such as UNICEF and the American Red Cross, the church is working towards eradicating measles. Since 1999, there has been a 60 percent drop in deaths from measles in Africa. Due to their efforts, the American Red CrossAmerican Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
bestowed the First Presidency with the organization's highest financial support honor, the American Red Cross Circle of Humanitarians award. The church has also been involved in humanitarian aid in Africa by sending food boxes, digging wells to provide clean water, distributing wheelchairs, fighting AIDS, providing Neonatal Resuscitation Training, and setting up employment resources service centers.
Black membership
The church has never kept official records on the race of its membership, so exact numbers are unknown. Black people have been members of Mormon congregations since its foundation, but before 1978 its black membership was small. It has since grown, and in 1997, there were approximately 500,000 black members of the church (about 5% of the total membership), mostly in Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean. Black membership has continued to grow substantially, especially in West Africa, where two temples have been built.See also
- Black people in Mormon doctrineBlack people in Mormon doctrineFrom 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy against ordaining black men to the priesthood, and forbidding black men and women from taking part in ceremonies in Mormon temples...
- Blacks and the Latter Day Saint movement
- Joseph Freeman (Mormon)
- Genesis GroupGenesis GroupThe Genesis Group is a social organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for African American members and their families. It was first organized in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1971 to provide members an organization where they could affiliate with fellow African American members. ...
Secondary sources
..- O'Donovan, Connell, "The Mormon Priesthood Ban and Elder Q. Walker Lewis", John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (Independence, Missouri, 2006), pp. 47–99.
- Black Mormons and the Priesthood Ban by Darrick T. Evenson (SKU 4935190)
- Setting the Record Straight: Blacks and the Mormon Priesthood by Marcus Helvécio T. A. Martins (SKU 4995993)
- Stewart, John J. Mormonism and the Negro Salt Lake City, Utah:1960 Bookmark Complete text of the 1960 book Mormonism and the Negro by John J. Stewart, a defense of the former LDS policy of denying the Mormon Priesthood to people of African ancestry:
External links
- A Peculiar Place for the Peculiar Institution: Slavery and Sovereignty in Early Territorial Utah, Ricks, Nathaniel R., Master Thesis, Brigham Young University, 2007.
- black lds.org an indpendent (not owned or operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) site maintained by some black and some white Latter-day Saints.
- Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. MaussArmand MaussArmand Lind Mauss is an American sociologist specializing in the sociology of religion. He is professor emeritus of Sociology and Religious Studies at Washington State University, is the most often published sociologist in the twentieth century of works on the Mormons, and is broadly recognized...
, eds., Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church, Signature BooksSignature BooksSignature Books is a press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D...
, 1984