The History of the Mormon Church and Black People

Objective and factual information about Blacks in Mormonism the Priesthood ban.
This video chronicles the history of Black people in the Mormon Church. It describes how Black people have been significant members of the church from its inception, how they were marginalized by the leadership of the church for a period, and how the leadership of the church returned to its roots of welcoming all of God’s children to enjoy the blessings that Mormons believe covenants offer.
Mormonism Explained is a team made up of researchers consults experts and primary sources to present factual information on a variety of topics relevant to the Mormon Church.
For more information on additional topics relating to Mormonism including 'Mormon Temple Garments' and 'Joseph Smith Polygamy', visit mormonismexpla....

[@marcusmcreynolds9592]

Great video. I love the object take on the subject. Most videos on the mormon church are either sanitized or have an anti-slant. Please make more videos!

[@Mormonismexplained]

Thank you!

[@AkompliceData]

Very informative and well done video. I didnt know most of this. Thank you

[@Mormonismexplained]

Thank you!

[@RichF245]

Very well done. Great background.

[@Ferg-hz6ux]

I thought this was very balanced. Will you be making more of these kinds of videos?

[@BenjaminGriffin]

Thanks for the objective take on this hot button topic.

[@batboy12394]

Thank you for a fair approach to this topic. One suggestion...your introduction might be adjusted slightly. I think it could be "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church" the nickname could be the "aka". But that's a small suggestion. I really appreciate your work!

[@cornercanyon6th39]

Great context in this video. Thank you

[@audreymyers7600]

This is not what I was taught at the Mormon church as a child. I had friends that were Morman, we went to church with them alot. What they taught back then is that the Black people sinned and were smoot by God. That their hands and feet were still white because the feet were in sand and hands were praying for mercy. I love how time changes their stories.

[@Mormonismexplained]

Your friends definitely got it wrong. No Mormon church leaders ever taught that publicly or privately. If your friends were taught that at church, it was based on the uniformed opinion of the teacher and not on church doctrine or what any church leader (past or present) has ever said. For a detailed and thorough look at everything Mormon church leaders actually said (both positive and negative) regarding the topics of Blacks in Mormonism, Race and the Priesthood, etc and questions like "Are Mormons Racist" "Is the Book of Mormon Racist", etc please visit mormonismexplained.org/blacks-in-mormonism.

[@danielkaranja7978]

​@Mormonismexplained If this was never taught privately or publicly (meaning it was never in the official curriculum)what about those numerous pronouncement on the matter from Q12? I believe at least one of these pronouncement was official and it stated that the restriction was "doctrine". During the recent "be one" celebrations, the apostle who used to be a judge stated in so many words that the restriction came from God.

[@Mormonismexplained]

@@danielkaranja7978 You might be confusing issues. We were replying to @audreymyers7600. You seem to be speaking on the topic as a whole.

[@stevedawson256]

I was also told that by my ex wife, who was and still is member of the lds for many years, so who's lying

[@PeteJohnsMusic]

😳

[@RB-qy5ju]

6:52 Can you provide statements from Joseph Smith to support your statement that he "was in in favor of full Black African inclusion in the church"? I would think if such a statement existed, or if you could prove such a thing, then the LDS church wouldn't have taken another 100+ years to make that happen. It's a logical leap to assume that because JS opposed slavery politically, that he believed in full full acceptance of black members into the highest priesthoods of the church.

[@Mormonismexplained]

Joseph Smith never made any statements about full Black African inclusion in the church that we know of. However, Joseph Smith ordained Black men to the priesthood and, as you stated, had a progressive political policy about Black people in the U.S. We, like, all historians do, took these facts, and drew a logical conclusion that Joseph Smith believed in the same doctrine written in the Book of Mormon -which is, that God does not deny anyone to “come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female,” including in the ordaining of Black men to the priesthood.

[@RB-qy5ju]

7:44 The apologetic explanation that BY embraced slavery only as a political move to gain Utah statehood, does not explain the LDS church's continuation of the policy. Indeed, the LDS church held fast to the exclusion policy long after the US civil rights movement in the early 1960's.

[@Mormonismexplained]

You’re correct, the continuation of the policy falls on the shoulders of the subsequent leadership of the Mormon Church. The intent, and the point of this section of the video, was to contextualize, not justify, the beginning of the priesthood policy. Thanks for watching!

[@JSandLDS]

The context would be more pertinent to the subject if this was just a political issue, and not arising from a book that was claimed to be coming from God. Either God did put a curse on people to turn skin dark or not. If not then the books are wrong, Or rather, reflect the context from Joseph Smiths era, which makes sense if you think of them as a 19th century creation and not the word of God. One could also say that the creation story reflected the views of the time, or that the flood story reflected the views of the time and that now we know better, but that's not how religion works.

[@Mormonismexplained]

Thank you for your comment. Mormon scripture does not teach that dark skin is a curse. It teaches that disobedient people were curse by being cut off from the spirit of God. A mark was given to distinguish those who had the spirit of God and those that didn't (see Mormon scripture/the Book of Mormon in the book of 2 Nephi chapter 5 verses 20-24). What exactly the mark was isnt clear. When people "repented", the curse was taken away and the spirit of the Lord came back into their their lives (See the Book of Mormon book of Alma chapter 23 verses 15-18). Additionally, context is generally quite important as religion is not practiced in a vacuum by imperfect people who are living within the context of the world and their own lives. Most Christians believe that context is important enough that God gives them prophets who can offer wisdom on the context for their day.

[@JSandLDS]

@@Mormonismexplained Is this following not Mormon Scripture? I would say its hard to argue that it's not referring to skin tone. FROM THE BOOK of MORMON 1 Nephi 11:13 (Mary): “She was exceedingly fair and white.” 1 Nephi 12:23 (prophecy of the Lamanites): “Became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations.” 1 Nephi 13:15 (Gentiles): “They were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people [Nephites] before they were slain.” 2 Nephi 5:21: “A sore cursing … as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.” 2 Nephi 30:6 (prophecy to the Lamanites if they repented): “Scales of darkness shall begin to fall … they shall be a white and delightsome people” (“white and delightsome” was changed to “pure and delightsome” in 1981). Jacob 3:5 (Lamanites cursed): “Whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins.” Jacob 3:8-9: “Their skins will be whiter than yours … revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins.” Alma 3:6: “And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion.” Alma 3:9: “Whosoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites did bring the same curse upon his seed.” Alma 3:14 (Lamanites cursed): “Set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed.” Alma 23:18: “[Lamanites] did open a correspondence with them [Nephites] and the curse of God did no more follow them.” 3 Nephi 2:14-16: “Lamanites who had united with the Nephites were numbered among the Nephites; And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites and … became exceedingly fair.” 3 Nephi 19:25, 30 (Disciples): “They were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness … nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof … and behold they were white, even as Jesus.” Mormon 5:15 (prophecy about the Lamanites): “For this people shall be scattered, and shall become a dark, a filthy, and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us.” From the Pearl of Great Price Moses 7:8: “A blackness came upon all the children of Canaan.” Moses 7:12: “Enoch continued to call upon all the people, save it were [i.e., except] the people of Canaan, to repent.” Moses 7:22: “For the seed of Cain were black and had not place among them.” Abraham 1:21: “King of Egypt [Pharaoh] was a descendant from the loins of Ham, and was a partaker of the blood of the Canaanites by birth.” Abraham 1:27: “Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood.”

[@batboy12394]

@@JSandLDS I would say there are plenty of ways these could be interpreted outside of skin color. Color is symbolic in almost all of scripture. White has been linked with purity and cleanliness in the Bible as well. There are also passages in the BoM that indicate that the differing feature between Nephites and Lamanites was not skin color. Scriptures are often interpreted through the lenses we bring, and we can use them to justify plenty of ideas when looking at isolated passages.

[@mysidianrabite7826]

@@batboy12394 "I would say there are plenty of ways these could be interpreted outside of skin color." Even when many of them are directly referencing skin?

[@wasigrupoinmobiliario7765]

What about the black woman that was sealed to Joseph Smith a servant for eternety?

[@Mormonismexplained]

Thank you for your comment. You are referring to Jane Manning James. She requested to be adopted into, and sealed to the Smith family. But because of the priesthood ban, she was sealed as a "servitor." This was unsettling to both James and the Quroum of the Twelve Apostles and this type of sealing was never performed again. For more on Jane Manning James, visit mormonismexplained.org/blacks-in-mormonism/ scroll down to the timeline section and view the "1894 entry" on Jane Manning James. Or you can visit this link from the U of U website: "A Century of Black Mormons" exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of-black-mormons/page/james-jane-elizabeth-manning#?xywh=-4083%2C-112%2C10225%2C3511