This session explores the concepts of race and lineage—especially that of African Americans—through the lens of LDS Church manuals and patriarchal blessings. The analysis utilizes never-before-seen documents from the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency. Matt Harris, Stirling Adams, Newell Bringhurst
Speaker: Stirling Adams
Joseph Smith, William Miller, Ellen G. White, And Mary Baker Eddy: Four American Prophets’ Perspectives On Slavery, Race, And Ethnicity
This presentation compares and contrasts Joseph Smith’s views and practices on the issues of slavery, race, and ethnicity with those of others, who, like Smith, were founders/prophetic leaders of major indigenous American religious denominations. Why did Smith’s views diverge from those of these other New England-born leaders, whose views were generally abolitionist and comparatively more …
Taking Out the Trash: Eliminating Racial Folk Teachings Within Today’s Church
New linguistic and historical scholarship sheds significant light on how and when the stories of Cain and Ham were first used to justify enslavement and then segregation of blacks. The resultant racial speculations of nineteenth-century American Protestants continue to be prominently distributed among Latter-day Saints today. Why is that, especially given our emphasis on continuing …