Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History
The Lamanite Curse in the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon ostensibly records the history of ancient Israelites who traveled across the ocean, settled somewhere in the Americas (probably in Mesoamerica), and became ancestors of today's Native Americans. In its narrative, the prophet Nephi's brothers Laman and Lemuel rejected the commandments of the Lord and tried to murder him despite the miracles they had witnessed. They and their followers and descendants, the Lamanites, were consequently cursed by being cut off from the presence of the Lord, and became "a dark, filthy and loathsome people". The book also says that "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." It promises, however, that they would become "white and delightsome" when they converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Modern notions of "race" are an artificial social construct dating only to the late eighteenth century in Western Europe, when it was formulated by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who later repudiated it. It was certainly foreign to ancient Hebrew or Mesoamerican culture. (They were familiar to Joseph Smith, of course, but even if he had written the Book of Mormon himself, he knew that it was about Native Americans and wouldn't likely have described them with a word typically reserved for people of African descent.) Rather, "black" is a Hebrew idiom for gloomy, dejected, somber, and so forth, found several times in the Bible. Job 30:30 and Lamentations 5:10 even refer to so-called black skin, like the Book of Mormon, in passages that couldn't possibly be taken literally. There is also evidence of this kind of symbolic language among the Maya in Mesoamerica. Alexandre Tokovinine noted, "Classic Maya narratives’ fascination with extensional meanings... cautions us against automatically linking every instance of basic color terms in writing and imagery with color properties of objects or beings. The actual evidence suggests that, more often than not, this was not the case." Maya art sometimes depicted people with "white" and "black" skin tones.
Modern notions of "race" are an artificial social construct dating only to the late eighteenth century in Western Europe, when it was formulated by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who later repudiated it. It was certainly foreign to ancient Hebrew or Mesoamerican culture. (They were familiar to Joseph Smith, of course, but even if he had written the Book of Mormon himself, he knew that it was about Native Americans and wouldn't likely have described them with a word typically reserved for people of African descent.) Rather, "black" is a Hebrew idiom for gloomy, dejected, somber, and so forth, found several times in the Bible. Job 30:30 and Lamentations 5:10 even refer to so-called black skin, like the Book of Mormon, in passages that couldn't possibly be taken literally. There is also evidence of this kind of symbolic language among the Maya in Mesoamerica. Alexandre Tokovinine noted, "Classic Maya narratives’ fascination with extensional meanings... cautions us against automatically linking every instance of basic color terms in writing and imagery with color properties of objects or beings. The actual evidence suggests that, more often than not, this was not the case." Maya art sometimes depicted people with "white" and "black" skin tones.
Of course, this level of nuance would be overlooked or unknown altogether to nineteenth and twentieth-century American readers, who had their own pervasive cultural understanding of race, skin color and curses, after the Book of Mormon was translated into English in 1830.
Literal Interpretations of the Text
Brigham Young said on October 8, 1859, "You may inquire of the intelligent of the world whether they can tell why the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degredation; and they cannot tell. I can tell you in a few words: They are the seed of Joseph, and belong to the household of God; and he will afflict them in this world, and save every one of them hereafter, even though they previously go to hell. When the Lord has a people, he makes covenants with them and gives unto them promises: then, if they transgress his law, change his ordinances, and break the covenants he has made with them, he will put a mark upon them, as in the case of the Lamanites and other portions of the house of Israel; but by-and-by they will become a white and delightsome people."
In 1861, William W. Phelps wrote down what he claimed was a revelation given by Joseph Smith in 1831: "Part of a revelation by Joseph Smith Jr. given over the boundary, west of Jackson Co. Missouri, on Sunday morning, July 17, 1831, when Seven Elders, viz: Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, Martin Harris, Joseph Coe, Ziba Peterson, and Joshua Lewis united their hearts in prayer, in a private place, to inquire of the Lord who should preach the first sermon to the remnants of the Lamanites and Nephites, and the people of that Section, that should assemble that day in the Indian country, to hear the gospel, and the revelations according to the Book of Mormon. Among the company, there being neither pen, ink or paper, Joseph remarked that the Lord could preserve his words as he had ever done, till the time appointed, and proceeded:
"Verily, verily, saith the Lord your Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, the light and the life of the world, ye can not discerne with your natural eyes, the design and the purpose of your Lord and your God, in bringing you thus far into the wilderness for a trial of your faith, and to be especial witnesses, to bear testimony of this land, upon which the Zion of God shall be built up in the last days, when it is redeemed... [I]t is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites, that their posterity may become white, delightsome, and Just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles. Gird up your loins and be prepared for the mighty work of the Lord to prepare the world for my second coming to meet the tribes of Israel according to the predictions of all the holy prophets since the beginning;... Be patient, therefore, possessing your souls in peace and love, and keep the faith that is now delivered unto you for the gathering of scattered Israel, and lo, I am with you, though ye cannot see me, till I come: even so. Amen."
Brother Phelps added, "About three years after this was given, I asked brother Joseph, privately, how 'we,' that were mentioned in the revelation could take wives of the 'natives' as we were all married men? He replied instantly 'In the same manner that Abraham took Hagar and Keturah; and Jacob took Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah; by revelation—the saints of the Lord are always directed by revelation.'" Nearly a century later, apostate Fawn Brodie claimed that Elder Joseph Fielding Smith had an original copy of this revelation in his possession but would not allow her to see it. Yet none of the Church's early critics and apostates, even when they brought up the polygamy issue, mentioned anything about it involving Native Americans. In 1831 apostate Ezra Booth did claim there was a revelation calling for the formation of a matrimonial alliance with them to gain residency in their territory, but never mentioned polygamy. It also seems doubtful that William W. Phelps could have recalled it from memory so well thirty years after the fact.
In the April 1927 General Conference Elder Eugene J. Neff recalled, "The first missionaries [in 1850] went from this section [of Hawaii] around to another little town on the east side of the island, and there they gathered in a grass hut one hundred people to hear the message of the strange white men. As they all sat around the mat and heard the voice of this missionary from Utah, they were transfigured before George Q. Cannon, and he saw ninety-seven of them become white, and three of them remained dark. He did not understand. He did not know why it was that three of them would remain dark and all the rest should become light. He recieved a partial answer to this manifestation when it was learned that ninety-seven of those people in meeting at this time joined the Church, became devout members, lived and died Latter-day Saints, while three of them never did.
"It is said that they will become a white and delightsome people. They are delightsome at present, and I believe they are going to become white. They are growing whiter from year to year. I have said to myself and some of my intimate friends that I thought the Hawaiian people would become white and delightsome, through intermarriage. I do not know whether that is according to the doctrines of the Church or not, but they have married the oriental races and married white people on the islands to such an extent that today there are more half cast[e]s than there are pure Hawaiians."
In his 1954 book Why I Believe: Fifty-four Evidences of the Divine Calling of Joseph Smith, George Edward Clark wrote: "The writer has been privileged to sit at table with several members of the Catawba tribe of Indians, whose reservation is near the border of South Carolina. That tribe, or most of its people, are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Those Indians, at least as many as I have observed, were white and delightsome, as white and fair as any group of citizens of our country. I know of no prophecy, ancient or modern, that has had a more literal fulfillment."
Elder Spencer W. Kimball said in the October 1960 General Conference, "I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today.... The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as white as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
"At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter we represent, the little member girl - sixteen- sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents - on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated."
In an interview on August 16, 1978, after the lifting of the priesthood and temple ban on people of black African descent, Reverend Wesley P. Walters of the United Presbyterian Church asked Apostle LeGrand Richards, "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 inferior in any sense of the word?"
Elder Richards responded in part, "The Lord has never indicated that black skin came because of being less faithful. Now, the Indian; we know why he was changed, don't we? The Book of Mormon tells us that; and he has a dark skin, but he has a promise there that through faithfulness, that they all again become a white and delightsome people. So we haven't anything like that on the colored thing."
In 1995 Latter Day Designs, a company not affiliated with the Church, was founded and released a line of Book of Mormon action figures. The figures of Laman and Lemuel were depicted getting dark skin after they become wicked, although all the Lamanite figures are dark-skinned regardless of righteousness or lack thereof and Captain Moroni, one of the greatest Nephite heroes, had much darker skin than King Noah, one of the most wicked Nephites. No one complained until 2012, early in Mitt Romney's second presidential campaign, when they created a mild controversy.
In 1861, William W. Phelps wrote down what he claimed was a revelation given by Joseph Smith in 1831: "Part of a revelation by Joseph Smith Jr. given over the boundary, west of Jackson Co. Missouri, on Sunday morning, July 17, 1831, when Seven Elders, viz: Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, Martin Harris, Joseph Coe, Ziba Peterson, and Joshua Lewis united their hearts in prayer, in a private place, to inquire of the Lord who should preach the first sermon to the remnants of the Lamanites and Nephites, and the people of that Section, that should assemble that day in the Indian country, to hear the gospel, and the revelations according to the Book of Mormon. Among the company, there being neither pen, ink or paper, Joseph remarked that the Lord could preserve his words as he had ever done, till the time appointed, and proceeded:
"Verily, verily, saith the Lord your Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, the light and the life of the world, ye can not discerne with your natural eyes, the design and the purpose of your Lord and your God, in bringing you thus far into the wilderness for a trial of your faith, and to be especial witnesses, to bear testimony of this land, upon which the Zion of God shall be built up in the last days, when it is redeemed... [I]t is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites, that their posterity may become white, delightsome, and Just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles. Gird up your loins and be prepared for the mighty work of the Lord to prepare the world for my second coming to meet the tribes of Israel according to the predictions of all the holy prophets since the beginning;... Be patient, therefore, possessing your souls in peace and love, and keep the faith that is now delivered unto you for the gathering of scattered Israel, and lo, I am with you, though ye cannot see me, till I come: even so. Amen."
Brother Phelps added, "About three years after this was given, I asked brother Joseph, privately, how 'we,' that were mentioned in the revelation could take wives of the 'natives' as we were all married men? He replied instantly 'In the same manner that Abraham took Hagar and Keturah; and Jacob took Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah; by revelation—the saints of the Lord are always directed by revelation.'" Nearly a century later, apostate Fawn Brodie claimed that Elder Joseph Fielding Smith had an original copy of this revelation in his possession but would not allow her to see it. Yet none of the Church's early critics and apostates, even when they brought up the polygamy issue, mentioned anything about it involving Native Americans. In 1831 apostate Ezra Booth did claim there was a revelation calling for the formation of a matrimonial alliance with them to gain residency in their territory, but never mentioned polygamy. It also seems doubtful that William W. Phelps could have recalled it from memory so well thirty years after the fact.
In the April 1927 General Conference Elder Eugene J. Neff recalled, "The first missionaries [in 1850] went from this section [of Hawaii] around to another little town on the east side of the island, and there they gathered in a grass hut one hundred people to hear the message of the strange white men. As they all sat around the mat and heard the voice of this missionary from Utah, they were transfigured before George Q. Cannon, and he saw ninety-seven of them become white, and three of them remained dark. He did not understand. He did not know why it was that three of them would remain dark and all the rest should become light. He recieved a partial answer to this manifestation when it was learned that ninety-seven of those people in meeting at this time joined the Church, became devout members, lived and died Latter-day Saints, while three of them never did.
"It is said that they will become a white and delightsome people. They are delightsome at present, and I believe they are going to become white. They are growing whiter from year to year. I have said to myself and some of my intimate friends that I thought the Hawaiian people would become white and delightsome, through intermarriage. I do not know whether that is according to the doctrines of the Church or not, but they have married the oriental races and married white people on the islands to such an extent that today there are more half cast[e]s than there are pure Hawaiians."
In his 1954 book Why I Believe: Fifty-four Evidences of the Divine Calling of Joseph Smith, George Edward Clark wrote: "The writer has been privileged to sit at table with several members of the Catawba tribe of Indians, whose reservation is near the border of South Carolina. That tribe, or most of its people, are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Those Indians, at least as many as I have observed, were white and delightsome, as white and fair as any group of citizens of our country. I know of no prophecy, ancient or modern, that has had a more literal fulfillment."
Elder Spencer W. Kimball said in the October 1960 General Conference, "I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today.... The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as white as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
"At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter we represent, the little member girl - sixteen- sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents - on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated."
In an interview on August 16, 1978, after the lifting of the priesthood and temple ban on people of black African descent, Reverend Wesley P. Walters of the United Presbyterian Church asked Apostle LeGrand Richards, "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 inferior in any sense of the word?"
Elder Richards responded in part, "The Lord has never indicated that black skin came because of being less faithful. Now, the Indian; we know why he was changed, don't we? The Book of Mormon tells us that; and he has a dark skin, but he has a promise there that through faithfulness, that they all again become a white and delightsome people. So we haven't anything like that on the colored thing."
In 1995 Latter Day Designs, a company not affiliated with the Church, was founded and released a line of Book of Mormon action figures. The figures of Laman and Lemuel were depicted getting dark skin after they become wicked, although all the Lamanite figures are dark-skinned regardless of righteousness or lack thereof and Captain Moroni, one of the greatest Nephite heroes, had much darker skin than King Noah, one of the most wicked Nephites. No one complained until 2012, early in Mitt Romney's second presidential campaign, when they created a mild controversy.
However, apologist Kwaku M. El argues that even when the skin color change is interpreted literally, a close reading of the Book of Mormon makes a powerful case against racism.
Figurative Interpretations of the Text
The widespread literal interpretation of the text has slowly fallen out of favor both due to increased racial sensitivity and a closer reading of what the Book of Mormon text actually says without a modern racial lens imposed on it. Probably no one has done more to draw attention to this reading and promote a figurative interpretation than Marvin Perkins and his organization "Blacks in the Scriptures".
In the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith changed 2 Nephi 30:6 from "they shall be a white and delightsome people" to "they shall be a pure and delightsome people". This change was not made in other uses of the phrase and was probably intended to aid readers in understanding, similarly to grammatical changes that he also made. However, he died a few years later and future editions of the Book of Mormon were based on the 1837 edition instead. This change was lost and not restored until the 1981 edition, making it appear reactionary to the repeal of the priesthood ban even though it came 138 years earlier (and several years before the ban started, for that matter).
The 2006 Doubleday edition and Church-wide 2013 edition of the Book of Mormon came with a few relevant changes in the footnotes and chapter headings that leaned toward a more metaphorical understanding of the skin color changes. Neither the footnotes or chapter headings were part of the original translation; they are simply study helps. As this article lists:
*1 Nephi 12:23 - The footnotes for "dark" were removed (Jacob 3:3 and Alma 3:7 (6-19)) and replaced with 2 Nephi 26:33
*2 Nephi 5 - the words in the chapter heading "the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness" were changed to "the Lamanites are cut off from the presence of the Lord, are cursed"
*2 Nephi 5:21 - The footnotes for "curse" (2 Nephi 1:17 and Alma 3:6 (6-19)) were removed and replaced with "TG Curse".
*2 Nephi 5:21 - The word "blackness" has a new footnote which is 2 Ne. 26:33.
*Alma 3:6 - The footnotes for "curse" were changed from 1 Ne. 2:23 and 2 Ne. 5:21(21-24) to 2 Nephi 5:21; 26:33.
*Mormon 5 - Chapter heading replaced "The Lamanites shall be a dark, filthy and loathsome people" with "Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites will be scattered, and the Spirit will cease to strive with them".
*Mormon 5:15 - The footnotes for "become" no longer reference 1 Ne. 2:23 and Alma 3:19(16-19) but are replaced by 2 Nephi 26:33.
*Moses 7:8, 22 - The words "blackness" and "black" both got new footnotes which lead to 2 Nephi 26:33.
None of these changes affect the canonical text itself. However, by altering the context in which it is read, they may subtly change the understanding and interpretation that readers bring to it. Marvin Perkins, who compiled the list, said, "I’d love to hear your thoughts as you prayerfully review the changes asking 'what would the Lord have me understand about these recent changes?'"
In the 2020 Come Follow Me Sunday School manual, the original printed section for 2 Nephi 5:20-21 read, "What is the 'curse' that came upon the Lamanites?
'The dark skin was placed upon the Lamanites so that they could be distinguished from the Nephites and to keep the two peoples from mixing [see 2 Nephi 5:21-23; Alma 3:6-10]. The dark skin was the sign of the curse. The curse was the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord [see 2 Nephi 5:20].... Dark skin... is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse' (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. [1960], 3:122-23)."
Ironically, the ensuing controversy centered almost entirely around black people, even though the people mentioned are indigenous Americans. Church spokeswoman Irene Caso explained to the Salt Lake Tribune, "During the publication of the 'Come, Follow Me' manual for 2020, there was an error that resulted in the printing of material that doesn't reflect the church’s current views on the topic. To correct this, a decision was made to modify the content in the digital version of the lesson."
The digital version and subsequent printed editions read, "In Nephi's day the curse of the Lamanites was that they were 'cut off from [the Lord's] presence... because of their iniquity’ (2 Nephi 5:20–21). This meant the Spirit of the Lord was withdrawn from their lives. When Lamanites later embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, 'the curse of God did no more follow them' (Alma 23:18).
"The Book of Mormon also states that a mark of dark skin came upon the Lamanites after the Nephites separated from them. The nature and appearance of this mark are not fully understood. The mark initially distinguished the Lamanites from the Nephites. Later, as both the Nephites and Lamanites each went through periods of wickedness and righteousness, the mark became irrelevant as an indicator of the Lamanites’ standing before God.
"Prophets affirm in our day that dark skin is not a sign of divine disfavor or cursing. The church embraces Nephi's teaching that the Lord 'denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female' (2 Nephi 26:33). President Russell M. Nelson declared: ‘The Lord has stressed his essential doctrine of equal opportunity for his children.... Differences in culture, language, gender, race, and nationality fade into insignificance as the faithful enter the covenant path and come unto our beloved Redeemer' ("President Nelson Remarks at Worldwide Priesthood Celebration" [June 1, 2018], newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org)."
A figurative interpretation of the skin color change makes sense of Alma 55, in which the Nephite Captain Moroni recruits a Lamanite defector named Laman to lead a group of his men pretending to be Lamanites and trick the real Lamanites guarding the city of Gid. If Laman was black and the Nephites with him were white, this would have been impossible. Differences in linguistics or customs could explain why a native Lamanite was needed to lead the imposters in the first place. There was a mark that distinguished Lamanites from Nephites, which signified the curse and prevented intermarriage between the groups, but it was less than supernatural. When the Amlicites defected from the Nephites and joined the Lamanites, "they set a mark upon themselves, yea, even a mark of red upon their foreheads" (Alma 3:13), while God had said "I will set a mark upon him that fighteth against thee and thy seed" (Alma 3:16) and they "knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves in their foreheads" (Alma 3:18).
This also means, of course, that the verse commonly quoted within the Church to refute racism - 2 Nephi 26:33, which states that "all are alike unto God" including "black and white, bond and free, male and female" - wasn't written to be about race either. "Black and white" is referring to "wicked and righteous", and is translated as such in Alma 1:30 when this list makes a reappearance. The verse does still say unambiguously that "all are alike unto God" and that "he denieth none who come unto him" (emphasis added), so many more categories could be added to the list including modern racial classifications. And despite not reflecting the author's intent, the faulty interpretation has done much good over the years. See for example the story of Abner Howell.
In the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith changed 2 Nephi 30:6 from "they shall be a white and delightsome people" to "they shall be a pure and delightsome people". This change was not made in other uses of the phrase and was probably intended to aid readers in understanding, similarly to grammatical changes that he also made. However, he died a few years later and future editions of the Book of Mormon were based on the 1837 edition instead. This change was lost and not restored until the 1981 edition, making it appear reactionary to the repeal of the priesthood ban even though it came 138 years earlier (and several years before the ban started, for that matter).
The 2006 Doubleday edition and Church-wide 2013 edition of the Book of Mormon came with a few relevant changes in the footnotes and chapter headings that leaned toward a more metaphorical understanding of the skin color changes. Neither the footnotes or chapter headings were part of the original translation; they are simply study helps. As this article lists:
*1 Nephi 12:23 - The footnotes for "dark" were removed (Jacob 3:3 and Alma 3:7 (6-19)) and replaced with 2 Nephi 26:33
*2 Nephi 5 - the words in the chapter heading "the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness" were changed to "the Lamanites are cut off from the presence of the Lord, are cursed"
*2 Nephi 5:21 - The footnotes for "curse" (2 Nephi 1:17 and Alma 3:6 (6-19)) were removed and replaced with "TG Curse".
*2 Nephi 5:21 - The word "blackness" has a new footnote which is 2 Ne. 26:33.
*Alma 3:6 - The footnotes for "curse" were changed from 1 Ne. 2:23 and 2 Ne. 5:21(21-24) to 2 Nephi 5:21; 26:33.
*Mormon 5 - Chapter heading replaced "The Lamanites shall be a dark, filthy and loathsome people" with "Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites will be scattered, and the Spirit will cease to strive with them".
*Mormon 5:15 - The footnotes for "become" no longer reference 1 Ne. 2:23 and Alma 3:19(16-19) but are replaced by 2 Nephi 26:33.
*Moses 7:8, 22 - The words "blackness" and "black" both got new footnotes which lead to 2 Nephi 26:33.
None of these changes affect the canonical text itself. However, by altering the context in which it is read, they may subtly change the understanding and interpretation that readers bring to it. Marvin Perkins, who compiled the list, said, "I’d love to hear your thoughts as you prayerfully review the changes asking 'what would the Lord have me understand about these recent changes?'"
In the 2020 Come Follow Me Sunday School manual, the original printed section for 2 Nephi 5:20-21 read, "What is the 'curse' that came upon the Lamanites?
'The dark skin was placed upon the Lamanites so that they could be distinguished from the Nephites and to keep the two peoples from mixing [see 2 Nephi 5:21-23; Alma 3:6-10]. The dark skin was the sign of the curse. The curse was the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord [see 2 Nephi 5:20].... Dark skin... is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse' (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. [1960], 3:122-23)."
Ironically, the ensuing controversy centered almost entirely around black people, even though the people mentioned are indigenous Americans. Church spokeswoman Irene Caso explained to the Salt Lake Tribune, "During the publication of the 'Come, Follow Me' manual for 2020, there was an error that resulted in the printing of material that doesn't reflect the church’s current views on the topic. To correct this, a decision was made to modify the content in the digital version of the lesson."
The digital version and subsequent printed editions read, "In Nephi's day the curse of the Lamanites was that they were 'cut off from [the Lord's] presence... because of their iniquity’ (2 Nephi 5:20–21). This meant the Spirit of the Lord was withdrawn from their lives. When Lamanites later embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, 'the curse of God did no more follow them' (Alma 23:18).
"The Book of Mormon also states that a mark of dark skin came upon the Lamanites after the Nephites separated from them. The nature and appearance of this mark are not fully understood. The mark initially distinguished the Lamanites from the Nephites. Later, as both the Nephites and Lamanites each went through periods of wickedness and righteousness, the mark became irrelevant as an indicator of the Lamanites’ standing before God.
"Prophets affirm in our day that dark skin is not a sign of divine disfavor or cursing. The church embraces Nephi's teaching that the Lord 'denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female' (2 Nephi 26:33). President Russell M. Nelson declared: ‘The Lord has stressed his essential doctrine of equal opportunity for his children.... Differences in culture, language, gender, race, and nationality fade into insignificance as the faithful enter the covenant path and come unto our beloved Redeemer' ("President Nelson Remarks at Worldwide Priesthood Celebration" [June 1, 2018], newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org)."
A figurative interpretation of the skin color change makes sense of Alma 55, in which the Nephite Captain Moroni recruits a Lamanite defector named Laman to lead a group of his men pretending to be Lamanites and trick the real Lamanites guarding the city of Gid. If Laman was black and the Nephites with him were white, this would have been impossible. Differences in linguistics or customs could explain why a native Lamanite was needed to lead the imposters in the first place. There was a mark that distinguished Lamanites from Nephites, which signified the curse and prevented intermarriage between the groups, but it was less than supernatural. When the Amlicites defected from the Nephites and joined the Lamanites, "they set a mark upon themselves, yea, even a mark of red upon their foreheads" (Alma 3:13), while God had said "I will set a mark upon him that fighteth against thee and thy seed" (Alma 3:16) and they "knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves in their foreheads" (Alma 3:18).
This also means, of course, that the verse commonly quoted within the Church to refute racism - 2 Nephi 26:33, which states that "all are alike unto God" including "black and white, bond and free, male and female" - wasn't written to be about race either. "Black and white" is referring to "wicked and righteous", and is translated as such in Alma 1:30 when this list makes a reappearance. The verse does still say unambiguously that "all are alike unto God" and that "he denieth none who come unto him" (emphasis added), so many more categories could be added to the list including modern racial classifications. And despite not reflecting the author's intent, the faulty interpretation has done much good over the years. See for example the story of Abner Howell.
Who Are the Lamanites Anyway?
The Church has no official stance on where precisely in the Americas the Book of Mormon narrative takes place. For a long time, most members and leaders assumed that it covered the entire western hemisphere. Although a limited geography model had been proposed as early as the 1930s, it was not until the late 1970s that Latter-day Saint scholars began really examining the compelling evidence for it. When all the details of geography from throughout the book are culled out and put together in relation to one another, it becomes apparent that the book almost certainly takes place in Mesoamerica (southern Mexico and northern Central America). Archeological and cultural evidence specific to this area further backs up the theory, and you can spend weeks reading about it on what used to be the Neal A. Maxwell Institute website.
This brought into question the assumption that all Native Americans were descended from Israelites, long before the DNA studies which found that some of them had primarily Asian ancestry, called by some a "Galileo event" for the Church. As early as 1938, a church-endorsed study guide to the Book of Mormon said, "Indian ancestry, at least in part, is attributed by the Nephite record to the Lamanites. However, the Book of Mormon deals only with the history and expansion of three small colonies which came to America and it does not deny or disprove the possibility of other immigrations, which probably would be unknown to its writers. Jewish origin may represent only a part of the total ancestry of the American Indian today."
In the October 1995 General Conference, Elder Ted E. Brewerton remarked, "Many migratory groups came to the Americas, but none was as important as the three mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The blood of these people flows in the veins of the Blackfoot and the Blood Indians of Alberta, Canada; in the Navajo and the Apache of the American Southwest; the Inca of western South America; the Aztec of Mexico; the Maya of Guatemala; and in other Native American groups in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Islands. These choice native people recognize the truth of the Book of Mormon, which was recorded for them by their own ancestors."
After so many centuries, population dynamics would virtually guarantee that all Native Americans, north and south, have the earliest Lamanites in their ancestry somewhere regardless of who else may be there. Similarly, if Abraham was a real person, most people are descended from him in some way and in LDS theology that entitles us to the blessings promised by God to his posterity (those few who have no connection are adopted into it if they join the Church). This principle doubtlessly also applies to the Native Americans when church leaders refer to them collectively as "Lamanites" and speak of the blessings they have been promised. The redefining of Book of Mormon geography and its implications has led many critics to suggest that church doctrine is decided not by church leadership but by its apologists. See also the church's essays on "Book of Mormon and DNA Studies", "Book of Mormon Geography", and "Lamanite Identity".
Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Native Americans
Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History
This brought into question the assumption that all Native Americans were descended from Israelites, long before the DNA studies which found that some of them had primarily Asian ancestry, called by some a "Galileo event" for the Church. As early as 1938, a church-endorsed study guide to the Book of Mormon said, "Indian ancestry, at least in part, is attributed by the Nephite record to the Lamanites. However, the Book of Mormon deals only with the history and expansion of three small colonies which came to America and it does not deny or disprove the possibility of other immigrations, which probably would be unknown to its writers. Jewish origin may represent only a part of the total ancestry of the American Indian today."
In the October 1995 General Conference, Elder Ted E. Brewerton remarked, "Many migratory groups came to the Americas, but none was as important as the three mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The blood of these people flows in the veins of the Blackfoot and the Blood Indians of Alberta, Canada; in the Navajo and the Apache of the American Southwest; the Inca of western South America; the Aztec of Mexico; the Maya of Guatemala; and in other Native American groups in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Islands. These choice native people recognize the truth of the Book of Mormon, which was recorded for them by their own ancestors."
After so many centuries, population dynamics would virtually guarantee that all Native Americans, north and south, have the earliest Lamanites in their ancestry somewhere regardless of who else may be there. Similarly, if Abraham was a real person, most people are descended from him in some way and in LDS theology that entitles us to the blessings promised by God to his posterity (those few who have no connection are adopted into it if they join the Church). This principle doubtlessly also applies to the Native Americans when church leaders refer to them collectively as "Lamanites" and speak of the blessings they have been promised. The redefining of Book of Mormon geography and its implications has led many critics to suggest that church doctrine is decided not by church leadership but by its apologists. See also the church's essays on "Book of Mormon and DNA Studies", "Book of Mormon Geography", and "Lamanite Identity".
Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Native Americans
Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History