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The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1931-1946

The Way to Perfection

George McCready Price was a Seventh-day Adventist and self-trained "geologist" who rejected evolution as antithetical to God and became the father of modern creation science. In The Phantom of Organic Evolution, based on the writings of Adventist prophetess Ellen G. White, Mr. Price claimed that mixing between humans and animals had produced "degenerate or hybridized men" such as Negroes, Mongolians, and apes. God had sent Noah's flood to wipe these hybrids out and leave only the pure humans and animals, but after the Tower of Babel the cross-breeding began to occur again. Mr. Price achieved widespread notice when his theories were used by William Jennings Bryan during the Scopes Trial in 1925, and Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, also an adamant young-earth creationist, was enthralled with his work (though Elder James E. Talmage, a geologist, was not). In 1931, Elder Smith self-published his own book The Way to Perfection: Short Discourses on Gospel Themes. On the priesthood ban, he wrote:

​"We have learned through the word of the Lord to Abraham that spirits in the pre-existence were graded. That is, some were more intelligent than others, some more faithful, while some actually rebelled and lost their standing and the privilege of receiving the second estate... Among those who fell there must have been some superior intelligences. Lucifer, himself, was of this kind, and it was because of this that he was able to influence so many of his fellow spirits. How many were almost persuaded, were indifferent, and who sympathized with Lucifer, we do not know. The scriptures are silent on this point. It is a reasonable conclusion however, that there were many who did not stand valiantly with Michael in the great battle for the protection of the free agency and the plan for the merited exaltation of mankind, although they may not have openly rebelled. We may justify ourselves in this conclusion by several passages of scripture which seem to have a bearing on this thought. Man had his agency and because of it one-third of the hosts rebelled. 

"We naturally conclude that others among the two-thirds did not show the loyalty to their Redeemer that they should. Their sin was not one that merited the extreme punishment which was inflicted on the devil and his angels. They were not denied the privilege of receiving the second estate, but were permitted to come to the earth-life with some restrictions placed upon them. That the Negro race, for instance, have been placed under restrictions because of their attitude in the world of spirits, few will doubt. It cannot be looked upon as just that they should be deprived of the power of the Priesthood without it being a punishment for some act, or acts, performed before they were born. Yet, like all other spirits who come into this world, they come innocent before God so far as mortal existence is concerned, and here, under certain restrictions, they may work out their second estate. If they prove faithful in this estate, without doubt, our Eternal Father, who is just and true, will reward them accordingly and there will be in store for them some blessings of exaltation...

"The saddest story in all history is the story of Cain. Born heir to an everlasting inheritance in righteousness, with the promise of a crown of glory that would never fade away, and that too, in the morning of creation when all things were new - and he threw it all away!...

"And the scriptures say, 'And Cain loved Satan more than God. And Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord.' So we see it was not because the Lord had commanded him that prompted Cain to make his offering, but because Satan had commanded him. Naturally, then, we expect that the Lord would have respect for the offering of righteous Abel, but would have no respect for the offering of Cain.... 

"Cain chose knowingly, but not intelligently. He killed his brother, not so much for his flocks as for the glory of being Master Mahan. Not so much with the expectancy of obtaining his brother’s worldly possessions, but to cut off without posterity that righteous brother, and, because Satan commanded him!...

"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world with black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain. Moreover, they have been made to feel their inferiority and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning. Enoch saw the people of Canaan, descendants of Cain, and he says, 'and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people'... In justice it should be said that there have been among the seed of Cain many who have been honorable and who have lived according to the best light they had in this second estate. Let us pray that the Lord may bless them with some blessings of exaltation, if not the fullness, for their integrity here.

"But what a contrast! The sons of Seth, Enoch and Noah honored by the blessings and rights of Priesthood! The sons of Abraham made rightful heirs to all the blessings of the fathers! And the sons of Cain, denied the Priesthood; not privileged to receive the covenants of glory in the kingdom of God! What could be more sad than this?... In the spirit of sympathy, mercy and faith, we will hope that blessings may eventually be given to our Negro brethren, for they are our brethren - children of God - notwithstanding their black covering emblematic of eternal darkness....

"The question has been asked, 'what evidence do we have that the negro of the present day is the descendant of Cain, and why is it he cannot have the Priesthood?' There is no definite information on this question in the Bible, and profane history is not able to solve it. From the Pearl of Great Price and the teachings of Joseph Smith and the early elders of the Church who were associated with him, we do obtain some definite instruction in regard to this matter....

"It is generally believed that the curse place on Cain was continued in his posterity and that through the seed of Ham this curse was brought through the flood. Since Ham was the son of Noah, we must conclude that it was not Ham who had the black skin and was a descendant of Cain. However, there is in the Church the general belief that Ham married a woman who was a descendant of Cain, and in this way the curse of Cain was continued after the flood in Ham’s posterity. Some of the brethren who were associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith have declared that he taught this doctrine...

"It was well understood by the early elders of the Church that the mark which was placed on Cain and which his posterity inherited was the black skin. The Book of Moses informs us that Cain and his descendants were black. Enoch taught the Gospel among all the people everywhere, except the people of Canaan. The people of Canaan lived before the flood, and were descendants of Cain. Is it not probable that Ham named his son Canaan after Cain or one of the descendants of Cain, who gave his name to the land in which the posterity of Cain lived before the flood?...

"From these references we discover that the children of Cain were in all respects very much like the children of Ham. The Canaanites before the flood preserved the curse in the land; the gospel was not taken to them, and no other people would associate with them. The Canaanites after the flood also preserved the curse in the land and were denied the rights of Priesthood. Abraham informs us that through Egyptus, daughter of Ham - who evidently bore the same name as her mother - Egypt was inhabited and named, and that her sons could not hold the Priesthood...

"The name of Ham is also rather significant, for it means 'swarthy' or 'black'. It is possible that this is an appellation given to the third son of Noah because of the part he played in preserving through his lineage - and that most likely, as we have tried to show, through his wife Egyptus - the race of blacks upon whom the curse was placed. Piecing together the evidence as we discover it in holy writ and in tradition, we are brought to the conclusion that Ham, through Egyptus, continued the curse which was placed upon the seed of Cain. Because of that curse this dark race was separated and isolated from all the rest of Adam's posterity before the flood, and since that time the same condition has continued, and they have been 'despised among all people'. 

"This doctrine did not originate with President Brigham Young but was taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith...

"Joseph Smith has left very little on record in his own words outside of the Pearl of Great Price.... But we all know it is due to his teachings that the Negro today is barred from the Priesthood. The negro may be baptized and enter the Church; and some of these unfortunate people have been baptized and have proved their faithfulness and worthiness before the Lord, in this their second estate, setting examples in righteouseness which many of the sons of Shem and Japheth could emulate with everlasting profit. Surely the Lord will remember their faithfulness and reward them accordingly."

The Seed of Abel

Elijah Ables, son of Enoch Ables and grandson of the first Elijah Ables, was ordained a Priest on July 5, 1934 by J.C. Hogenson and an Elder on September 29, 1935 by Ruben S. Hill of the Logan Utah 10th Ward, continuing a family legacy of black priesthood holders. It is believed that many of Elijah Ables' descendants, already relatively light-skinned, married into white families and and lost their blackness over the generations. It may be a testament to God's sense of humor that while early church leaders believed that the "seed of Abel" would need to receive the priesthood before the "curse of Cain" could be lifted, the descendants of a man named Abel (though his original surname was "Ables", it was misspelled by virtually everyone) were among the very few black men to receive the priesthood between 1847 and 1978.

Mary

June Neilson Adamson recalled, "Through the years I continued to see Mary at school, to talk with her. True, our lines of communication became more and more limited. I squinted over daily violin practice and was playing in the school orchestra. I squinted on the junior high school ball field too, trying with myopic eyes to focus on the ball in time to catch it. Mary could always catch it, could always run to home base before being tagged. She was popular in the girls' gym class, and was always the first to be chosen by the team captain. I was always the last. Then she would look at me with her large brown eyes and smile a smile that I came to dread out on that field. It was Mary who comforted me, though, when a ball I hadn't seen soon enough caused a severe nosebleed and prompted jeering from the other girls as I ran from them to the protection of the lavatory. The tears that streamed down my face were more from the hurt of the jeers than from the ball. Mary helped me stop the bleeding with paper towels soaked in cold water. And she understood.

"I saw Mary at Sunday school too. Sometimes we were even in the same class. I often wondered how she could sit there in church and listen. And how could her father, who must know more than Mary, sit there with the other men on the polished third row oak bench and listen to what was said from the pulpit - that people of dark skin had made the wrong choice in the spirit world, in the pre-existence that Mormon theology affirms. We, the latest of the chosen peoples of the earth, had followed Jesus. These black people, to whom Mary belonged, had turned away from Christ and must suffer. They, the progeny of Ham, had been further cursed by God and like the old pharaoh of Egypt were not entitled to the right of priesthood. My mother, knowing a little of what I felt about Mary, drew on the Mormon doctrine relating to the Indians as told in the Book of Mormon to tell me that someday the curse could end and that Mary and her people could become 'white and delightsome.' But my father was a member of the church priesthood. Mary's father could never be. My father and mother participated in temple work. Mary's parents weren't allowed inside that sacred edifice. We could reach the highest Kingdom of Glory - the celestial plane of what I later came to regard as the Mormon 'split-level' heaven. They could not.

"Yet Mary and her father did sit calmly and listen. It seemed that they didn't notice as some of us, no doubt motivated by guilt feeings as well as curiosity, peered at them beneath lowered eyelids. Mary's father, a rather stately looking gray-haired man, would smile benignly and talk with the other men at the end of the service as if he didn't really mind not being able to go to the highest Kingdom - as if he found it easy to accept a lesser fate, a lesser responsibility."

Second Italo-Ethiopian War

On October 3, 1935, Italian forces led by General Emilio de Bono invaded Ethiopia and began the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. In that month's General Conference, Elder David O. McKay said, "What a different world this would be if men would accumulate wealth, for example, not as an end but as a means of blessing human beings and improving human relations. A Christian conception of the right and value of a human soul, even though his skin be dark, would have prevented the slaughter that is at this moment being perpetuated in Ethiopia."

The poorly equipped Ethiopian armies were quickly defeated and their country was annexed, though guerrilla warfare continued.​

Len and Mary Hope

In 1954 Elder Mark E. Petersen recalled, "Some years ago, back in 1936 to be exact, I became acquainted with a Negro family in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was back there for three months in connection with a newspaper assignment [for the Deseret News]. I went to Church there and became acquainted with the family of a Negro man named Len Hope. Accidentally he had found some of our tracts when he lived down in Mississippi. He read them and became interested. He wrote to the mission headquarters for a Book of Mormon, and by his own study, converted himself.  Later he met the Elders and joined the Church [on June 22, 1919]. Then he joined the army in the first World War. When he came back, having carried a Book of Mormon with him all through the war and studied it carefully he converted his Negro sweetheart whom he married and she was baptized [on September 15, 1925]. Then they moved up to Cincinnati to escape the 'Jim Crow' law.

​"Up in Cincinnati, some of the members of the Church became extremely prejudiced against this Negro family. They met in a group, decided what to do and went to the Branch President, and said that either the Hope family must leave or they would all leave. The Branch President ruled that Brother Hope and his family could not come to Church meetings. It broke their hearts. But, the missionaries went out to the Hope home and there conducted Sunday School every Sunday, and served them the Sacrament."

Loran Stephenson, Mary Hope's bishop at the time of her death, recalled her story about the branch president during this incident. "I don't know anything about him other than the fact that she called him Brother Anderson. Brother Anderson was red-eyed; he was just crying. He told them that this was the hardest visit that he had ever to anybody in his life. He would rather give up his right arm than to have to make this call, but there were objections in the branch to them attending church because they were black." When asked if they had been forbidden from attending church Elder Marion D. Hanks, who had served a mission in the area and known the family, said "No, I think it was more subtle than that. It was just understood. It had been made known to them that they were not to be there."

Elder Petersen's story continued, "I had the privilege of visiting with the Hope family. I was in their home. I saw how their song book had been literally worn out and likewise their Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon. As soon as I got to my hotel that Sunday afternoon, I wrote home to my wife and had her send them a supply of books.

​"They were very faithful people. Brother Hope died just a little while ago. He was a man who was as thoroughly converted to the Gospel as any one I know. He was a full tithe payer all through the depression. He earned the most meager kind of living, but he never failed to pay his tithing. The Branch President showed me the tithing records, and all through the depression Brother Hope paid $1.50 a week. It was a full tithing. Sometimes Brother Hope didn't even have that, so he went into the hills and picked berries and sold them on the streets of Cincinnati to get enough money to pay that $1.50 tithing.

"And then Brother Hope told me, as a testimony, that in the Negro area of Cincinnati where he lived, during the depression he didn't know of one man who had a job. But he said, 'I had a job. I paid my tithing and during that whole depression, I didn't lose one day's work. Sometimes I didn't make much money on that day, and I did have to go out into the hills and get berries, but I always had an income.'

"Brother Hope asked me if it would be possible for him to have baptisms for the dead done in the temple on behalf of members of his family who had passed on. I went to President [Joseph Fielding] Smith and he said, 'Yes, you get their records and we will take them over to the temple and have the baptisms done for them.' I did, and we performed vicarious baptisms for these Negroes. Only the baptisms and confirmations - nothing else, but we did that much. [Evidently by this time the policy of allowing black people to perform baptisms for the dead had been reversed.] Again I thought of the great mercy of Almighty God, and how He is willing to lift people up if they do their part."

Abner Howell Works for the Church of Jesus Christ

Abner Howell's letter to Kate B. Carter continues, "I did not go to church much until I was married and my first child was old enough to be baptized. My wife and I were baptized [on February 26, 1921] and then was when I became active in the Church and have been ever since.

"I knew President Grant since I was a boy, and always liked him because he used to let me in the baseball games when he used to play 2nd base on the team. Then in 1902 he took 50 missionaries to organize the Japanese Mission. I was the porter on the car that took them to Portland, Oregon. When he left me there he told me about living a good straight life and then our paths did not cross anymore until 1936 when he was President of the Church, and had started the church welfare plan and I began to work for the Church. I helped build all the buildings in the welfare center. I did other work for the Church; I tore down the last of the old tithing office. It was while working there that he gave me this letter that I will copy:

'Dear Brother Howell, The Presidency has been delighted with the splendid work that you have done in tearing down the old tithing office building, and in order to express a little appreciation I am giving myself the pleasure of handing you a copy of the little pamphlet that I issued during the holiday entitled "Treasures I would Share."

'I am also handing you a copy of a book entitled 'The Power of Truth.' While I was in England I purchased 4500 copies of the book and the copyright. I consider the first, second, and last paragraphs of the first article in this book as fine as almost anything I have read.

'Wishing you abundant success in the battle of life, I remain,
Heber J. Grant.'

​"This has always increased my faith, to think that such a man would think of me as one of his 4500 friends. I have not the time to write just what he wanted me to read, but it is the best of advice. That was in 1936-1939 when I spent those happy days working for the Church."

Death of William Paul Daniels

The October 1936 issue of Cumorah's Southern Messenger, the South African church newsletter, said, "A pang of sorrow at the parting will be in the hearts of many that read of the passing of that noble soul, William P. Daniels, who died at Stellenbosch, Cape, on the 13th of October, in his 72nd year. A very fitting tribute was paid to his memory in the service held at 'Cumorah,' on the 14th, and his Elders carried him for the last time from 'Cumorah,' the place that he loved so well. In order to satisfy his own mind and conscience when Brother Daniels first came in contact with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he determined to go to Utah and obtain first-hand knowledge of the claims of this Church. His visit to Utah resulted in his baptism into the Church on the and he returned to his home in Cape Town with a sincere testimony of the truth of the Gospel.

"His life since his return to his native country has been an attempt to put into practice what he accepted with heart and soul as the Truth. He has been an example of faith, love and devotion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His home has always been a shrine of hospitality and the new missionaries' introduction into the missionary work was started with one of those famous Daniels' dinners, including the 'Penguin eggs.' Scores of missionaries have been in his home to partake of the sweet spirit which won for the little branch the name, 'The Branch of Love.' Peace be to his soul! He welcomed the opportunity of passing on to his new estate. When the books are opened it will be found that he merits a rich reward. May the comforting influence of the Holy Spirit be with his dear wife and his family and may they continue worthy of the blessings that he pronounced upon their heads as he quietly passed to the spirit world. - B. "

The Council Minutes of October 29, 1936 relate: "Letter read from President W. Francis Bailey of the Hawaiian Mission stating that Brother William Pakale, a priest, and Brother John L. Pea, who have recently been discovered to be one-eighth negro, have heretofore officiated in some baptisms and other ordinances. President Bailey asks for a ruling as to what should be done in such cases.

​"After some discussion of the matter, Elder Stephen L. Richards moved that the matter be referred to Elder George Albert Smith, who will attend the approaching Oahu Stake Conference, with instructions that in the event he should find that a considerable number of people are involved, we assuming the authority was given to those brethren to officiate in these ordinances, that ratification of their acts be authorized. In the event he should discover that there are only one or two affected, and that the matter can be readily taken care of, it may be advisable to have re-baptism performed.

"Motion seconded by Brother [Melvin J.] Ballard and unanimously approved."

Mary

June Neilson Adamson recalled, "It was years before I could untangle the confused theology that I heard from that pulpit and from my mother. I learned that it is a fact that the 2 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church allegedly 'restored' to earth by Joseph Smith and more commonly known as 'Mormon,' admits Negroes to its membership but not to its priesthood. This policy is based primarily on a brief passage in a document known as the Book of Abraham, a translation by Smith of the hieroglyphics on an Egyptian papyrus scroll which came into the Mormon prophet's hands several years after the Book of Mormon was published. Interpreting black skin as a mark of disfavor, that passage is the only real basis for denying the priesthood to Negroes. However, legend and the fact of a lay ministry had served to add on other misconceptions - misconceptions which are still perpetuated.

"Mary? After a few years she, along with her mother, stopped coming to Sunday school even though her father still sometimes attended. There was no explanation. None of us really tried to find out why, though we sometimes wondered aloud about her. Mary didn't finish high school either, though her brother had graduated and entered the state university on an athletic scholarship - a track star at a time when scholarships were scarcer than now [1970].

"I met Mary once during those high school years and noted that her arms and legs were longer and thinner than ever and that her eyes seemed even larger. The braids were gone, though; and her hair, cut very short, seemed less kinky.

'I heard you've been sick,' I said to her after we had chatted for a while. I told her about school and all the fun to be had there. She listened, commenting quietly whenever I stopped for breath. When I pressed her about whether she would ever come back to school, she hesitated, beginning a noncommital reply. Then something made her lash out at me. 'No, I'll never be back and I'll tell you why if you really want to know. I am sick - very sick still. My periods have stopped and I have to take insulin every day with a needle and sometimes I almost die.'

"Less than a year after this encounter, my guilt over Mary increased when I learned that she had died following an insulin coma - perhaps self-induced, perhaps an accident. Who would ever know? Again there was speculation about this lonely girl.

"My mother observed, 'Perhaps in heaven Mary has become white and delightsome' - again using that phrase mistakenly borrowed from her implicit faith in the doctrine she interpreted from her Mormon training.

"I was not allowed to go to the funeral, but in truth this was a relief and I did not argue. I knew I had not been a friend to Mary. I had failed her even as everyone else had failed her. The church had failed her too.

"My mother tried to soften the blow. 'Her own kind will be there,' she said to me.

"It must have made a sorry gathering, the funeral procession that day: Mary's parents, her brother and a few relatives from far away to see her depart into a better world.

​"I hoped she had become 'white and delightsome.'

George F. Richards

On April 7, 1939, Elder George F. Richards said in General Conference, "The negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin.

"But that is 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.

"What is the reason for this condition, we ask, and I find it to my satisfaction to think that as spirit children of our Eternal Father they were not valiant in the fight. We are told that Michael and his angels fought, and we understand that we stood with Christ our Lord, on the platform, 'Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever'. I cannot conceive our Father consigning his children to a condition such as that of the negro race, if they had been valiant in the spirit world in that war in heaven. Neither could they have been a part of those who rebelled and were cast down, for the latter had not the privilege of tabernacling in the flesh. Somewhere along the line were these spirits, indifferent perhaps, and possibly neutral in the war. We have no definite knowledge concerning this. But I learn this lesson from it, brothers and sisters, and I believe we all should, that it does not pay in religious matters, matters that concern our eternal salvation, to be indifferent, neutral, or lukewarm."

On August 18, 1939, President J. Reuben Clark Jr. recorded in his office diary, "A case had been referred to us in which a woman whose father and mother had been through the Temple was applying to go through the Temple herself. She was from the Southern States Mission, and the Church records showed that opposite her name someone had placed the endorsement, 'negro blood.' Brother McKay talked with me yesterday or the day before about it, and I suggested that he get her patriarchal blessing and see what the patriarch said her lineage was. Brother McKay did that, and found the blessing had been given by Elder George F. Richards, that he had told her she was of the lineage of Israel through Joseph and Ephraim. We decided that under those circumstances she could not be denied admission to the Temple."

Attempted Segregation in Salt Lake City

On November 2, the Salt Lake Telegram reported, "Action was being taken Thursday to protest officially a proposal for creation of a special residential district for negroes in the area from Sixth South to Ninth South streets and Main to Fifth East streets, following a mass meeting of more than 1000 property owners of the district Wednesday night at Sumner school.

"At the meeting [Democratic majority leader and Latter-day Saint bishop] Sheldon R. Brewster was authorized to appoint a seven-man committee headed by himself to appear before the city commission and other interested groups and oppose the suggested zoning.

"The committee was also authorized to study the problem and attempt to help in creation of a special negro zone elsewhere in the city.

"Although there are only 1108 Utah negroes, according to 1930 census figures, Mr. Brewster said an influx of members of the race is expected soon and that certain interests are attempting to buy and rent a group of houses for them."

Mary Lucille Bankhead recalled, "​I remember best the time, in 1939, when the Legislature was in session and a Utah senator was suggesting that all blacks from where we were and from Seventh South form a black district elsewhere in the city. He even had a black man, dead now, helping him. Probably gave him a lot of money to do it. Well, at that time, I belonged to the Camilla Art and Craft Club, and when several other women and I discussed this, we thought it was a ridiculous idea. So I hitched up the horse and wagon and we rode up to the Capitol.

"We sat up there in the Legislature all day. And of course we told them what we wanted and that we was not going to move - that what we really wanted was our land and we had no intention of selling. That was the first time we ever been up to the Legislature, but we just sat there waiting to be heard. Most of the ladies were dressed pretty good, but there was Mrs. Leggroan with her big, white apron on and wearing a white dust cap. And I was nursing my baby and had a basket for him to sleep in. We brought our lunch and ate it up there. The newspaper got on it and wrote quite a bit about it. And we stayed till we knew the Legislature realized what they had to do. Then we went home. I guess the people at the Legislature was glad to see us go. I have to laugh about it now."

On November 21, the Salt Lake Telegram reported, "Segregation because of racial or cultural differences between Salt Lake citizens was condemned Tuesday before city commissioners as that body considered a petition purportedly signed by 100 citizens in the area bounded by Fifth South, Ninth South, Main and Fifth East streets.

"The petition asked abatement of a club at Seventh South and Second East streets and official steps to halt a reported influx of negroes within the described area.

"Although unscheduled as a public hearing, approximately 75 negroes appeared to ask formally that the 'invasion' petition be dismissed and expunged from records of the city.

"After hearing briefly from both sides, commissioners referred the matter to the legal department for study.

"Sheldon R. Brewster, 849 Second East street, led a small group of men and women in support of the petition.

"Miss Helen L. Dennis, chairman of the executive committee, Utah Conference for Human Relations, filed a formal resolution adopted by that body. She was accompanied by Hector L. Lee of the University of Utah department of English and E. R. Smith of the university anthropology and sociology department.

"The resolution 'condemned the principle of segregation of any portion of our population because of racial or cultural prejudices because: It would violate democratic rights of citizens living under a democratic government, sociological and anthropological findings do not uphold segregation and such segregation is unethical and unscientific.'

Armand Mauss and William Graves

Armand Mauss recalled in various sources, "Growing up before the rise of the national civil rights movement, I internalized the demeaning notions about black people that were common in my Oakland, California, surroundings. The few encounters I had with them at school, or at my summer job in a downtown shoe store, seemed friendly enough, but I generally stayed out of the 'Negro' part of town, and the 'Negroes' rarely ventured above a certain street (about Fourteenth Street, as I recall). I understood clearly that these people were 'the Other.' Yet my boyhood experiences included some confusing anomalies."

"In that ward lived an elderly black couple named Graves, who regularly attended sacrament meeting but (as far as I can remember) had no other part in Church activities. Everyone in the ward seemed to treat them with cordial distance, and periodically Brother Graves would bear his fervent testimony on Fast Sunday. I could never get a clear understanding from my parents about what (besides color) made them 'different,' given their obvious faithfulness. It was just something no one talked about, but I could sense their marginality. They died while I was still a child, and I recall feeling a little sad that I had not known them better." Marie Graves died in 1930 when Brother Mauss was one or two years old, so William Graves must have been accompanied by another woman.

"I’m sure that [William Graves] stood to bear his testimony at least a few times during the few years that I knew him (though I couldn’t tell you much of what he said). I remember being impressed at least once by an account of his conversion, which I think began with a street meeting in Oakland at which he happened to drop by while LDS missionaries were preaching. He was always in his seat early, before the sacrament meeting started at 10, and he always sat next to an aisle, most of the way toward the back, as I recall. I often greeted him before the meeting began, and he always returned a pleasant response. He was a lovely and gracious old man! How I would love to talk with him now!"

"When I was a teenager in the same ward, a white family joined the Church with a boy about my age (named Richard) and a very beautiful older sister. Before the boy could be given the Aaronic Priesthood, a discovery was somehow made that the family might have had a remote black ancestor - seemingly unbelievable at the time, given the fair hair and blue eyes common in the family. This discovery nevertheless had a longterm effect on the children, for Richard was never able to share priesthood activities with the rest of the boys in the ward, serve a mission when the rest of us did so, or aspire to a temple marriage. Despite what I recall as a warm and genuine social acceptance of Richard by all of us in the local LDS youth network, he gradually drifted away from the Church as that network dispersed into adult life and could no longer give him the social support that had kept him in the Church as a teenager."

"His older sister married into a devout Utah Mormon family, but their marriage could not be sealed in a temple for another quarter of a century, after several children had been born.... After writing this article, I learned by contacting the sister in question that her sealing did not occur by special arrangement at the time of her marriage, as I had erroneously remembered, but only in 1973, when the general race policy was already on the verge of being overturned in preparation for the building of an LDS temple in Brazil."

Conundrum in Brazil

After the Church's arrival in Brazil, it mostly proselyted among Germans and other immigrants rather than the native Portuguese-speaking population. One probable reason for this was that Native American, European, and African lineages were so intertwined as to make determining priesthood eligibility a difficult and time-consuming process. However, when World War II broke out the Brazilian government outlawed German-based organizations, and the missionaries were forced to turn their attention to the Portuguese-speakers who would provide a foundation for much greater growth in the future. A special lesson was adopted in addition to the standard ones, which discussed priesthood eligibility in a doctrinal and historical context, and missionaries often helped prospective converts look through family photo albums for evidence of African ancestry.

Mission presidents had great autonomy from the General Authorities, both in applying the priesthood ban on a case-by-case basis and in dealing with the inevitable errors when they were discovered. Approaches varied widely. Some cases were ignored or procrastinated indefinitely, while others had their priesthood suspended. An intermediate solution was to suspend a man's priesthood for formal ecclesiastical functions, but continue allowing him to exercise it within his own home.

The Council Minutes of January 25, 1940, record that "Attention was brought to a postscript on a letter from President Roscoe C. Cox of the Hawaiian Mission, calling attention to a recommendation he had received for ordination of two boys to the office of Deacon, the mother of these boys having some Negro blood in her veins.

​"President Clark explained that this matter has come up at various times in the past, that is the question of what should be done with those people who are faithful in the Church who are supposed to have some Negro blood in their veins.

"President Clark said at his request the clerk of the Council had copied from the old records of the Council discussions that have been had in the past on this subject. He said that he was positive that it was impossible with reference to the Brazilians to tell those who have Negro blood and those who have not, and we are baptizing these people into the Church. The question also arises pertaining to the people in South Africa where we are doing missionary work, and in the Southern States, also in the islands of the Pacific.

​"President Clark suggested that this matter be referred to the Twelve who might appoint a sub-committee to go into the matter with great care and make some ruling or re-affirm whatever ruling has been made on this question in the past as to whether or not one drop of negro blood deprives a man of the right to receive the priesthood.

"Brother [John A.] Widtsoe moved the adoption of President Clark's suggestion. Motion seconded and unanimously approved."

In November 1940, the vulnerability of Britain's overseas holdings and the recent Japanese occupation of French Indochina motivated the First Presidency to reassign all foreign missionaries in the South Pacific and South Africa. South African Mission President Richard E. Folland and his family were allowed to stay, however, as were the few local missionaries. They traveled the country as much as wartime restrictions would allow and made sure the local church organizations remained staffed and functioning. Proselyting continued but was severely curtailed.

Len and Mary Hope

The Hopes with young missionary Marion D. Hanks.

By the early 1940s the Hope family, though still unwelcome in their Cincinnati branch, were allowed to attend district conferences. Elder Marion D. Hanks, then a local missionary who brought them the sacrament and stayed in their home while he was sick, recalled that some members avoided greeting the Hopes because they "were not advanced in their sense of the value of other human beings but geared that to their own sense of ethnic purity and color." At the time he "felt some defensiveness. I used to go stand by them while the guests arrived with other missionaries... I was not able to accommodate other people's sense of propriety in trying to keep black people away.​

"One interesting thing about the Hopes not being accepted at the normal worship service in the Cincinnati, Ohio, branch of the one true church was they held a meeting at the Hope home every first Sunday of the month. There would be a testimony meeting and an instruction period followed by a meal which the Hopes would prepare for those who came... When I learned of that, I began attending immediately. For nearly a year in Cincinnati, I spent my first Sunday afternoons at the Hope home. They would bear testimony in order from Len, Mary, Rose, down to Vernon who could barely talk."

Mary Hope's last bishop before her death, Loran Stephenson, said that "I never sensed any kind of frustration, impatience, or resentment of any kind" about the years of being cut off from the congregation, although "I could tell from Sister Hope's expression that she was disappointed that they could not attend church. They would have loved to have been Latter-day Saints in a full sense."

Colored Sisters in D.C.

On June 23, 1942, the First Presidency wrote to President Ezra Taft Benson of the Washington D.C. Stake, "Dear President Benson: Through the General Board of the Relief Society, who reported to the Presiding Bishopric, and they to us, it comes to us that you have in the Capitol Ward in Washington two colored sisters [Eva Lena Sargent Pendleton and Novella Frances Sargent Gibson] who apparently are faithful members of the Church.

"The report comes to us that prior to a meeting which was to be held between the Relief Societies of the Washington Ward and the Capitol Ward, Bishop Brossard of the Washington Ward called up the President of the Relief Society of the Capitol Ward and told her that these two colored sisters should not be permitted to attend because the President of the Capitol Ward Relief Society failed to carry out the request made of her by the Bishop of the other ward.

"We can appreciate that the situation may present a problem in Washington, but President Clark recalls that in the Catholic churches in Washington at the time he lived there, colored and white communicants used the same church at the same time. He never entered the church to see how the matter was carried out, but he knew that the facts were as stated.
​
"From this fact we are assuming that there is not in Washington any such feeling as exists in the South where the colored people are apparently not permitted by their white brethren and sisters to come into the meeting houses and worship with them. We feel that we cannot refuse baptism to a colored person who is otherwise worthy, and we feel that we cannot refuse to permit these people to come into our meeting houses and worship once we baptize them.

"It seems to us that it ought to be possible to work this situation out without causing any feelings on the part of anybody. If the white sisters feel that they may not sit with them or near them, we feel very sure that if the colored sisters were discreetly approached, they would be happy to sit at one side in the rear or somewhere where they would not wound the sensibilities of the complaining sisters. We will rely upon your tact and discretion to work this out so as not to hurt the feelings on the part of anyone.

​"Of course, probably each one of the sisters who can afford it, has a colored maid in her house to do the work and to do the cooking for her, and it would seem that under these circumstances they should be willing to let them sit in Church and worship with them.

"Faithfully your brethren,

Heber J. Grant
J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
David O. McKay"

In 1943, in an article in the Saints' Herald, the Presiding Patriarch of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day [sic] Saints (later Community of Christ) called for improved race relations in the United States. Nonetheless, he continued the church's policy of conceding to the inevitability of segregation, writing "If and when we make a real effort to proselyte among colored people we will find it wiser to keep congregations separated according to their color until there comes better general adjustment."

One day during World War II, several white American soldiers were talking and eating in the mess hall when a black man walked in. All of them got up and left, with the exception of a Latter-day Saint from Idaho named Russell Jensen. Brother Jensen bought the man a soda and sat and talked with him for a while. Later, when Brother Jensen's ankle was sprained and a cruel superior officer was making him carry heavy loads anyway, the man showed up and helped him out. This story will not be found in any history book but I know it and share it because Russell Jensen was my great-grandfather.

M. Lynn Bennion recalled that also during the war, "As a member of the USO [United Services Organizations] Council I asked President McKay if the Church-owned Deseret Gymnasium could be opened to the soldiers just as the YMCAs all over the country had opened their doors. President McKay's quick response was: 'Yes, their uniform will be their entrance ticket.' At the next Council meeting I was informed that some of our soldiers had been turned away by the gymnasium authorities. President McKay inquired and was told that they were negro soldiers and that business men in town, who used the gym would not tolerate swimming with negroes. He asked me to try to 'smooth the matter over', a painful task for me. At the time black soldiers had their own USO location in Salt Lake City. I was disappointed in President McKay's not taking a stronger stand."

Joseph Fielding Smith

Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington later wrote in his diary, "When [T.] Ed[gar] Lyon was a regular in the Institute of Religion at the University of Utah, a young fellow came in to see him about a private matter. He was tall, blond, and blue eyed and everybody recognized him as a son of prominent converts from Holland. He apparently came to see Brother Lyon on this matter because Brother Lyon had been president of the Dutch mission [1933-37] and had a special interest in immigrants from Holland. Brother Lyon knew that this was the youngest son of the immigrants and that his older brothers had been very active in the Church. One was a Stake President, another was a High Councilor, another in a Bishopric.

"The boy explained to Brother Lyon that he had just discovered as the result of some genealogical research that one of his ancestors was a Negro. His great-grandfather had apparently gone to the West Indies and married a native woman who was half Negro and half Indian so that he was either one-64th or one-128th Negro. The boy was about to be married, and he wanted Brother Lyon to tell him whether he should tell the girl and the bishop, since almost certainly he would not be allowed to go to the Temple to be married. Brother Lyon told the boy, 'Let me think about it a little.' He explained that Brother Spencer W. Kimball was coming to give a talk to Institute leaders on the Negro issue. 'I'll ask him what he thinks,' he said. When Brother Lyon went to Brother Kimball, Brother Kimball said, 'I prefer not to say one thing about it. I think you should talk to Brother Joseph Fielding Smith.' Joseph Fielding met with the same group of Institute leaders to respond to their questions about doctrine, so Brother Lyon got the microphone and asked Brother Joseph Fielding Smith to respond to the question. He mentioned the details except the name and asked Joseph Fielding for his opinion as to whether the boy should tell the girl and the Bishop. Brother Joseph Fielding gave an immediate and stern response, saying 'He is part Negro. Of course, he should tell the girl; of course, he should tell the Biship; of course, he should not be married in the Temple. Our doctrine is very clear on that.'

"When they were singing the final song, Brother Joseph F. motioned to Brother Lyon to come up. Brother Lyon walekd up to him and Joseph Fielding whispered to him, 'I have been thinking about that problem you raised. I have [done] some thinking of all of the complications in the lives of that young brother's family - the Stake President, the High Councilor, the member of the Bishopric, and so on. All of these have been married in the Temple and have participated in Church ordinances. This would ruin their lives. I think it best, Brother Lyon, if you advise the young Brother to keep this matter to himself. He should not tell his fiancee nor his Bishop. This is something between him and the Lord, and if the Lord ratifies the sealing in the Temple, who are we to question it?'

Harold B. Lee's Radio Address

​In the first half of 1945, Elder Harold B. Lee gave a series of talks as part of Radio Station KSL's weekly Sunday Evening Radio Hour program conducted by the Church Radio and Publicity Committee. They were adapted into his book Youth and the Church later that year. The book version of one such talk read, "We have heard much during the last twenty years about so-called master races . The feeling of superiority in the minds of the leaders of these self-acclaimed superior groups who have campaigned for world domination has plunged the world into mighty and terrible world conflicts. The mystery of their fancied superiority has now been very largely exploded by the force of arms of the opposing nations they sought to conquer. The arrogance assumed by these master races, so called, has engendered the most bitter race prejudice in the world’s history. There are other forces sweeping this and other countries that would break down all social barriers as between races and that would nullify existing laws prohibiting legal marriage between certain races. There are still others who place apparently erroneous interpretations on the declaration to be found in the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence to the effect that 'All men are created equal.' It is well that you as the youth of our land have from the fountain of unfailing truth, the Church of Jesus Christ, the truths of the scriptures concerning these important problems that involve the relationship of human beings to each other and to God, our Heavenly Father.

"How many races are there? Most scientists have divided humanity into five groups: The white, the black, the brown, the yellow and the red races. Others have grouped the brown, yellow and red races as 'sub-groups' of a single race. The scriptures have taught us that God, our Heavenly Father, is the 'Father of the spirits of all men' and that when we pass from this life our spirits 'whether they be good or evil, are taken home to God who gave (us) life.' (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Alma 40:11) Thus, by the teachings of the scriptures, all mankind are made one great family. Furthermore, we are given to understand that all who live in mortality, if they would perfect their genealogical research, could trace their ancestry back to Adam and Eve, our first earthly parents in the Garden of Eden, through Noah and his family, who were the only living persons on the earth after the flood. Very few researchers in the genealogical field go far in their work until they find widely separated persons of varying nationalities with the same ancestors on the genealogical chart. All of this points unmistakably to the correctness of the scriptural teachings....

​"There is no truth more plainly taught in the Gospel than that our condition in the next world will depend upon the kind of lives we live here. 'All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done evil, onto the resurrection of damnation.' (John 5:28-29) Is it not just as reasonable to suppose that the conditions in which we now live have been determined by the kind of lives we live in the pre-existent world of spirits? That the apostles understood this principle is indicated by their questions to the Master when the man who was blind from his birth was healed of his blindness, 'Master, who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?' (John 9:2) Now perhaps you will have a partial answer to some of your questions as to why, if God is a just Father, that some of his children are born of an enlightened race and in a time when the Gospel is upon the earth, while others are born of heathen parentage in a benighted, backward country; and still others are born to parents who have the mark of a black skin with which the seed of Cain were cursed and whose descendants were to be denied the rights of the priesthood of God.

"​The privilege of obtaining a mortal body on this earth is seemingly so priceless that those in the spirit world, even though unfaithful or not valiant, were undoubtedly permitted to take mortal bodies although under penalty of racial or physical or nationalistic limitations. Between the extremes of the 'noble and the great' spirits, whom God would make his rulers, and the disobedient and the rebellious, who were cast out with Satan, there were obviously many spirits with varying degrees of faithfulness. May we not assume from these teachings that the progress and development we made as spirits have brought privileges and blessings here according to the faithfulness in the spirit world? Now don’t be too hasty in your conclusions as to what conditions in mortality constitute the greater privileges. That condition in life which gives the greatest experience and opportunity for development is the one to be most desired and anyone so privileged is most favored of God. It has been said that 'a smooth sea never made a skillful mariner, neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify for usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like those of the ocean, rouse the faculties and excite the invention, prudence, skill and fortitude of the voyager. The mariners of ancient times, in bracing their minds to outward calamities, acquired a loftiness of purpose and a moral heroism worth a lifetime of softness and security.'

"All are equal in that they are the spirit children of God, and also equal in their right to free agency, as well as in the fact that all are made innocent of previous wrongs committed as they enter this world through the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has told us that 'every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God'. (D&C 93:38) Who knows but that many of those with seeming inequalities in this life, if they do everything possible with their limited opportunities, may not receive greater blessings than some of those rewarded by having been born to a noble lineage and to superior social and spiritual opportunities who failed to live up to their great privileges! The history of the Lord’s dealings with his children is filled with incidents that indicate that many of those who are the 'elect according to the covenant', or that are the 'chosen' of God to be born through the chosen lineage of the House of Israel or the Lord’s 'chosen' in the preexistent world, will fail of their callings because of their sins....

​"Millions of souls have come into this world with the mark that was put upon Cain’s posterity and have been denied the privileges of the priesthood and the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel. Concerning them one of our leaders has expressed this opinion: 'I believe that race is the one through which it is ordained those spirits that were not valiant in the great rebellion in heaven should come; who, through their indifference or lack of integrity to righteousness, rendered themselves unworthy of the priesthood and its powers, and hence it is withheld from them to this day.' (B. H. Roberts – Contributor, 6:297.) The seed of Cain has been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning, but they are the children of God. They may become Church members without the priesthood, but a promise of hope has been given by a prophet in our day in these words: 'The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.' (Quoted from President Brigham Young in Wilford Woodruff, p. 351.)

"We should manifest kindness and consideration for these our brothers and sisters who have been born into mortal bodies through the lineage of Cain, no doubt due to some disqualifications resulting from their conduct in the preexistence. Some of this race have become members of the Church and are setting examples of faith and devotion that all of us could well pattern after, despite the limitations of their privileges in the Church.

"To impress the grave consequences and the seriousness of intermarriage as between those of different races and particularly with reference to intermarriage with the seed of Cain, President Brigham Young made this remark in an address before the Legislature: '...That mark shall remain upon the seed of Cain until the seed of Abel shall be redeemed, and Cain shall not receive the priesthood until the time of that redemption. Any man having one drop of the seed of Cain in him cannot receive the priesthood...' (Wilford Woodruff, page 351.)

"Surely no one of you who is an heir to a body of more favored lineage would knowingly intermarry with the race that would condemn your posterity to penalties that have been placed upon the seed of Cain by the judgments of God.

"It might not be amiss likewise to urge upon you the most serious consideration of any question of your possible intermarriage with individuals of any other race than your own. No one of you with safety can defy the laws of heredity and the centuries of training that have developed strong racial characteristics and tendencies among the distinctive peoples of the earth and then expect to find a happy, congenial family relationship from such a union. The wisdom of experience fully demonstrates the importance of your marrying those of your own race and those with a similar background of customs and manners.

After broadcasting the radio version, Elder Lee recorded in his diary on May 6, "Pres. Clark thought I was just a little severe in my treatment of the negroes and the curse placed upon them."

George Albert Smith Becomes the Prophet

President Heber J. Grant died on May 14, 1945, of heart failure caused by arteriosclerosis. Elder George Albert Smith was ordained President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 25. Like President Grant, President Smith had never publicly expressed his personal views on black people or the priesthood and temple ban, and did not do so now as the prophet, but it was during his tenure that some Latter-day Saints began questioning the ban (before then, most had never heard of it) and he issued the First Presidency's first statement on the subject (though most never heard of that either).

No Master Race

In the 1946 edition of his book Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, Apostle John A. Widtsoe wrote "The Nazi betrayers of Germany declared that the Germans are a 'master race,' to whom other nations should be subservient. Indeed, the German word herrenvolk, used freely during the late war, connotes a people which has serfs, upon whose toil the herrenvolk live in luxury. This stupid and insolent claim originated in some conceited brain several generations ago. It was not, at first, taken seriously by the German people. But it had such appeal to human vanity that it was fanned into popular favor by several philosophers. At least one of these, the most often quoted (Nietzsche), was of unsound mind. Hitler, himself mentally ill, used the doctrine of German superiority over all other peoples as a bulwark for his incredibly insane, inhuman ideas which threw the whole world into horrible, bloody warfare. The recent military defeat of the axis powers has laid low for the time being, it is hoped forever, the untenable notion of German superiority among the nations.

​"Belief in a 'master race' is an evidence of ignorance of the long history of man on earth. The procession through the ages of Egypt, Babylon, Greece, the various nations of Europe, and many others, refutes the doctrine of the final superiority in any one nation. However, when power came into the hands of these ignorant and mentally oblique proponents of the 'master race' theory, they entered into this unhappy war much as a goat butts its head against a solid wall. Ignorance is blind. Human experience has shown that in all peoples, even in those whom we call semi-civilized or barbarian, lie powers of body, mind, and spirit, which may be developed to match our most 'civilized' attainments. Cultivation of these gifts, under the further influence of environment and heredity, will lift men of every land and clime into greater power. It may take longer with some than with others, because of their stage of development, but the possibility of growth is there. As a mass, in innate qualities, there is little difference among races...

"The 'master race' claims are sheer poppycock, used by characterless men to further their own interests. There has never been a monopoly of mastery in human achievement by any one nation. To claim so is simply to allow the lawless nationalism to run wild... The 'master race' doctrine of the late war was an ugly delusion, conceived by the powers of evil, whose prince is Satan, the devil."

​Though the status of black people in the United States had slowly yet substantially improved through the decades since the Civil War, World War II served as a wakeup call that drastically accelerated the process. First, the atrocities of Nazi Germany against Jews and other minorities forced Americans to recognize the consequences of racism taken to its extreme, and by extension to take notice of the more subtle consequences of racism in their own nation. Second, black men in the military - particularly the fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen - had once again proven that their bravery and valor in combat could equal or exceed that of their white comrades.

On June 8, 1946 President J. Reuben Clark gave a speech called "Plain Talk to Girls", later reported in the Improvement Era, and said, "We should hate nobody, and having said that, I wish to urge a word of caution, particularly to you young girls. It is sought today in certain quarters to break down all race prejudice, and at the end of the road, which they who urge this see, is intermarriage. This is what it finally comes to. Now, you should hate nobody; you should give to every man and every woman, no matter what the color of his or her skin may be, full civil rights. You should treat them as brothers and sisters, but do not ever let that wicked virus get into your systems that brotherhood either permits or entitles you to mix races which are inconsistent. Biologically, it is wrong; spiritually, it is wrong."

Interest from Nigeria

The Council Minutes of October 24, 1946 record "Letter read from June B. Sharp of the South African Mission regarding a letter that has been forwarded to him by the office of the First Presidency and the correspondence that President Sharp had had with O.J. Umondak of Afaha Ofiong, Mbiaso Post Office, Uyo District, Nigeria, in which Mr. Umondak pleads for missionaries to be sent to Nigeria and also asks for literature regarding the Church. These people are Africans of the black race. President Sharp asks if he should comply with [the] man's request to send literature to him.

"After some discussion regarding our responsibility in proclaiming the Gospel to the world, Council decided to give the matter further consideration before making reply."

​This was the first known instance of someone in West Africa learning about the Church and requesting its establishment in his country. D. Dmitri Hurlbut noted, "Although the arrival of a letter from Nigeria petitioning for church affiliation may have seemed like a peculiar event to the leaders of the LDS Church, indigenous religious groups in Nigeria regularly sought out affiliation with churches from abroad following the Second World War. In this period of burgeoning nationalism, many churches rejected colonial ecclesiastical authority and paved new paths for themselves. As Robert Bruce Yoder has shown, in the 1950s, the American Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (MBMC) also received letters from various local churches in the Uyo hinterlands, where Mormonism established itself, seeking affiliation, financial assistance, and requests for missionaries". For a few years Umondak's letter was the only such instance, but soon the requests for missionaries and literature would deluge church headquarters and demand a response.

Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1947
​Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History