Excerpt from a New York Times Opinion article published August 18, 2012, ‘Why Race Is Still a Problem for Mormons’: 1 The church could begin leaving those problems behind if its leaders explained that their predecessors had confused their own racist views with God’s will and that the priesthood ban resulted from human error and … Read more
Statement of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, August 17, 1949, Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City. Note: The image above is designed to resemble the family proclamation. August 17, 1949 The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it … Read more
Image: George Albert Smith, President of the LDS Church, May 21, 1945 – April 4, 1951 1 Excerpt from ‘Statement of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’, August 17, 1949 “The attitude of the Church with reference to the Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a … Read more
Image: Joseph Smith Jr. – Mormon Prophet Views of Joseph Smith Jr. regarding race, from The History of the Church:1 The Prophet’s View of the Negro Race. At five went to Mr. Sollars’ with Elders Hyde and Richards. Elder Hyde inquired the situation of the negro. I replied, they came into the world slaves mentally and physically. … Read more
Image: Joseph Fielding Smith Excerpt from a 1963 Look Magazine interview with Joseph Fielding Smith:1 “I would not want you to believe that we bear any animosity toward the Negro. ‘Darkies’ are a wonderful people, and they have their place in our church.” Crash Course: Blacks and the Priesthood – Mormon Think Black people in Mormon … Read more
Excerpt from Historian D. Michael Quinn’s article on ‘Utah Mormon discrimination against the Blacks’:1 “Even after federal emancipation of America’s slaves in the 1860s, LDS church president Brigham Young referred to African-American slavery as a religious necessity. Earlier, as both church president and governor, he had instructed the Utah legislature in 1852 to legalize the … Read more
Image: Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Activist From an address by Ezra Taft Benson in the April 1965 General Conference:1 What are we doing to fight it? Before I left for Europe I warned how the communists were using the civil rights movement to promote revolution and eventual takeover of this country. When are … Read more
Image: Apostle LeGrand Richards In a 1978 interview Apostle LeGrand Richards spoke on the topic of ‘giving the priesthood to the Negro’:1 WALTERS (Interviewer): Is there still a tendency to feel that people are born with black skin because of some previous situation, or do we consider that black skin is no sign anymore of anything … Read more