The LDS Church and Black People 1890-1899
Abner Howell
Paul Cephas Howell's son, Abner, wrote: "I was born August 9, 1878, in Mansfield, Louisiana. I arrived in Salt Lake City, August 1, 1890. I was the first Negro to go to high school and graduate. During my school days I had many friends, but not many of my own race, because there were not many." In a January 1965 letter to Kate B. Carter he wrote: "Dear Sister Carter, You wanted to know about my conversion to the Church. Well, that was just natural for one seeking to know and learn. I was born just 13 years after the slaves were set free, and grew up just when the black people were having their hardest time to understand what it was to be free. Before I was in my teens I wondered many times why I was a different color to the other boys. Little by little I was told that I was cursed and could not go to heaven when I died, but was doomed to go to hell with the devil and burn forever.
"One day, when the boys were telling me these things, I was so touched that I began to cry. While in this frame of mind, Bro. John Henry Smith [of the Twelve] came along and wanted to know what was wrong and why I was crying. So I told him. He comforted me with a few kind words and took me to his house, a block away. He got the Book of Mormon and turned to the 26th chapter of 2nd Nephi, and last verse. He then said read this, which I did. When I was through reading, a great load was lifted from my heart and mind, and my eyes were opened, and I read more and more. I thought how great that was! The words 'all are alike unto God.' I could not find anything in the Bible that pleased me so much as what I had just read in the Book of Mormon. I never discussed my thoughts with anyone. I just dreamed day after day to myself. I did not tell my mother about this as she did not want to join the Church. The people who owned her in slavery time were Methodist and she always said that was good enough for her. With this background I grew up joining no church but with all Latter-day Saint ideas, ways and thoughts."
"One day, when the boys were telling me these things, I was so touched that I began to cry. While in this frame of mind, Bro. John Henry Smith [of the Twelve] came along and wanted to know what was wrong and why I was crying. So I told him. He comforted me with a few kind words and took me to his house, a block away. He got the Book of Mormon and turned to the 26th chapter of 2nd Nephi, and last verse. He then said read this, which I did. When I was through reading, a great load was lifted from my heart and mind, and my eyes were opened, and I read more and more. I thought how great that was! The words 'all are alike unto God.' I could not find anything in the Bible that pleased me so much as what I had just read in the Book of Mormon. I never discussed my thoughts with anyone. I just dreamed day after day to myself. I did not tell my mother about this as she did not want to join the Church. The people who owned her in slavery time were Methodist and she always said that was good enough for her. With this background I grew up joining no church but with all Latter-day Saint ideas, ways and thoughts."
Jane Manning James
On February 7, 1890, Jane Manning James wrote to Elder Joseph F. Smith, saying, "Dear Brother - Please excuse me taking the Liberty of Writing to you - but be a Brother... by answering my questions - There by satisfying my mind - First, as Brother [Isaac] James has Left me 21 years - And a Coloured Brother, Brother [Walker] Lewis wished me to be sealed to Him, He has been dead 35 or 36 years - can i be sealed to him - parley P Pratt or dained him an Elder. When or how can i ever be sealed to Him." Because black members were no longer allowed to receive temple ordinances, her request was denied.
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After her husband Isaac died in 1891, she reconsidered Emma's offer extended decades ago and decided to be adopted into the Smith family after all. The First Presidency declined to seal her as a child but decided to do a unique ceremony in which she would be sealed to Joseph Smith as a servant. On May 18, 1894, with Joseph F. and Bathsheba Smith acting as proxies, she was "attached as a Servitor for eternity to the prophet Joseph Smith and in this capacity be connected with his family and be obedient to him in all things in the Lord as a faithful Servitor". "Servitor" referred to her status as Joseph's housekeeper. This did not satisfy her and she continued without success to request the adoption ordinance as well as the endowment.
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Jane Manning James at an advanced age with her brother, Isaac (not to be confused with her husband, also named Isaac, who had left her).
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In 1893 she dictated aloud a short autobiography called "My Life Sketch" to her friend Elizabeth J. D. Roundy, much of which has already been quoted. It concluded, "Oh how I suffered of cold and hunger, and the keenest of all was to hear my little ones crying for bread, and I had none to give them; but in all, the Lord was with us and gave us grace and faith to stand at all. I have seen Brother Brigham, Brothers Taylor, Woodruff, and Snow rule this great work and pass on to their rewards, and now Brother Joseph F. Smith. [This indicates a later revision, as Elder Smith did not assume this position until 1901.] I hope the Lord will spare him, if this [is] his holy will, for many years to guide the Gospel ship to a harbor of safety. I have lived right here in Salt Lake City for fifty-two years, and have had the privilege of going into the temple and being baptized for some of my dead.
"I am now over eighty years old and am nearly blind, which is a great trial to me. It is the greatest trial I have ever been called upon to bear, but I hope my eyesight will be spared to me – poor as it is – that I may be able to go to meeting, and to the temple to do more work for my dead. I am a widow; my husband Isaac James died in November 1891. I have seen my husband and all my children but two laid away in the silent tomb. But the Lord protects me and takes good care of me in my helpless condition. And I want to say right here that my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints is as strong today – nay it is if possible stronger – than it was the day I was first baptized. I pay my tithes and offerings, keep the Word of Wisdom. I go to bed early and arise early. I try in my feeble way to set a good example to all. I have had eighteen grandchildren (eight of them are living), also seven great grand children. I live in my little home with my brother Isaac, who is good to me. We are the last two of my mother’s family. This is just a concise but true sketch of my life and experience.
"Yours in truth.
Jane Elizabeth James"
RLDS Segregation
In 1893 Joseph Smith III, President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day [sic] Saints (later Community of Christ), conceded in a Saints' Herald editorial that the Church's non-segregation policy was impractical in the reality of racially divided states. He wrote that the various races "are now unequal in the scale of civilization, and are not equal, socially or morally... Custom and the natural barriers in the way must have their weight... Church privileges and equal access to God's mercy do not necessarily destroy the social distinctions which wisdom and peculiarities of condition impose and make distinctive. Any attempt to urge the unrestrained intercourse of all classes, races, and conditions will stir up strife and contention far more dangerous to the welfare and unity of the church, than the principle contended for will justify."
"I am now over eighty years old and am nearly blind, which is a great trial to me. It is the greatest trial I have ever been called upon to bear, but I hope my eyesight will be spared to me – poor as it is – that I may be able to go to meeting, and to the temple to do more work for my dead. I am a widow; my husband Isaac James died in November 1891. I have seen my husband and all my children but two laid away in the silent tomb. But the Lord protects me and takes good care of me in my helpless condition. And I want to say right here that my faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints is as strong today – nay it is if possible stronger – than it was the day I was first baptized. I pay my tithes and offerings, keep the Word of Wisdom. I go to bed early and arise early. I try in my feeble way to set a good example to all. I have had eighteen grandchildren (eight of them are living), also seven great grand children. I live in my little home with my brother Isaac, who is good to me. We are the last two of my mother’s family. This is just a concise but true sketch of my life and experience.
"Yours in truth.
Jane Elizabeth James"
RLDS Segregation
In 1893 Joseph Smith III, President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day [sic] Saints (later Community of Christ), conceded in a Saints' Herald editorial that the Church's non-segregation policy was impractical in the reality of racially divided states. He wrote that the various races "are now unequal in the scale of civilization, and are not equal, socially or morally... Custom and the natural barriers in the way must have their weight... Church privileges and equal access to God's mercy do not necessarily destroy the social distinctions which wisdom and peculiarities of condition impose and make distinctive. Any attempt to urge the unrestrained intercourse of all classes, races, and conditions will stir up strife and contention far more dangerous to the welfare and unity of the church, than the principle contended for will justify."
Jane Manning James and Mary Smith
On January 15, 1894, Relief Society President Zina D. H. Young wrote to President Joseph F. Smith, "Jane E. James says Sister Emma Smith asked her if she would like to be adopted into Joseph Smith's family as a child, and not understanding her meaning said no. Jane was born Wilton Fairfield, Co. Conn. Jane also asked me to ask if Isaac James and her brother could also be adopted." Wilford Woodruff's journal entry for October 14, 1894 records, "I had several meetings with H[iram] B. Clawson Concerning some of our Affairs in Calafornia [sic]. We had Meeting with several individuals among the rest Black Jane [Manning James] wanted to know if I would not let her have her Endowments in the Temple. This I Could not do as it was against the Law of God. As Cain killed Abel All the seed of Cain would have to wait for redemption untill all the seed that Abel would have had that may Come through other men Can be redeemed."
The Council Minutes of August 22, 1895, report that "President Woodruff informed the Council that Sister Jane James, a negress of long standing in the Church, had asked him for permission to receive her endowments, and that he and his counselors had told her that they could see no way by which they could accede to her wishes; and they asked the brethren present if they had any ideas on the subject favorable to her race. President Joseph F. Smith told of brother Abel having been ordained a Seventy and afterward a High Priest at Kirtland under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith. President Cannon remarked that the Prophet Joseph taught this doctrine: That the seed of Cain could not receive the Priesthood nor act in any of the offices of the Priesthood until the seed of Abel should come forward and take precedence over Cain's offspring; and that any white man who mingled his seed with that of Cain should be killed, and thus prevent any of the seed of Cain's coming into possession of the priesthood.
"Brother George F. Gibbs, the secretary, reminded President Woodruff of a sister [Mary Bowdidge Sojé Berry] Smith, whose first husband was a man named Berry, by whom she had two children - girls - who are now living, and it is held by those who knew Berry that he had negro blood in him. She separated from Berry and married a man named Smith who is not in the Church and by whom she had one child, a boy, that she now desires to be sealed to her second husband for whom her son will stand proxy, but that [Stake] President Angus M. Cannon had refused to sign her recommend to the temple for the reason that she had married a man with negro blood in him and borne him children, and she had appealed to the First Presidency to have President Angus M. Cannon's action overruled, denying at the same time that her first husband was part negro.
"It being understood that Mr. Berry was part negro, President [George Q.] Cannon raised the question: What would become of the girls? One at least of whom was in the Church, as they could not be admitted to the temple, and he thought it would be unfair to admit their mother and deny them this privilege. President Cannon thought too that to let down the bars in the least on this question would only tend to complications, and that it is perhaps better to let all such cases alone, believing, of course that the Lord would deal fairly with them all. President Woodruff assented to this."
The Council Minutes of August 22, 1895, report that "President Woodruff informed the Council that Sister Jane James, a negress of long standing in the Church, had asked him for permission to receive her endowments, and that he and his counselors had told her that they could see no way by which they could accede to her wishes; and they asked the brethren present if they had any ideas on the subject favorable to her race. President Joseph F. Smith told of brother Abel having been ordained a Seventy and afterward a High Priest at Kirtland under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith. President Cannon remarked that the Prophet Joseph taught this doctrine: That the seed of Cain could not receive the Priesthood nor act in any of the offices of the Priesthood until the seed of Abel should come forward and take precedence over Cain's offspring; and that any white man who mingled his seed with that of Cain should be killed, and thus prevent any of the seed of Cain's coming into possession of the priesthood.
"Brother George F. Gibbs, the secretary, reminded President Woodruff of a sister [Mary Bowdidge Sojé Berry] Smith, whose first husband was a man named Berry, by whom she had two children - girls - who are now living, and it is held by those who knew Berry that he had negro blood in him. She separated from Berry and married a man named Smith who is not in the Church and by whom she had one child, a boy, that she now desires to be sealed to her second husband for whom her son will stand proxy, but that [Stake] President Angus M. Cannon had refused to sign her recommend to the temple for the reason that she had married a man with negro blood in him and borne him children, and she had appealed to the First Presidency to have President Angus M. Cannon's action overruled, denying at the same time that her first husband was part negro.
"It being understood that Mr. Berry was part negro, President [George Q.] Cannon raised the question: What would become of the girls? One at least of whom was in the Church, as they could not be admitted to the temple, and he thought it would be unfair to admit their mother and deny them this privilege. President Cannon thought too that to let down the bars in the least on this question would only tend to complications, and that it is perhaps better to let all such cases alone, believing, of course that the Lord would deal fairly with them all. President Woodruff assented to this."
The Twenty-fourth Infantry
In fall 1896 the U.S. Army transferred the Twenty-fourth Infantry, a unit composed almost entirely of black soldiers, to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the first time a black unit had been stationed within a predominantly white population, and reactions were mixed. The soldiers were welcomed with enthusiasm by the small black community in the city, but some of the white inhabitants were less enthusiastic.
In fall 1896 the U.S. Army transferred the Twenty-fourth Infantry, a unit composed almost entirely of black soldiers, to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the first time a black unit had been stationed within a predominantly white population, and reactions were mixed. The soldiers were welcomed with enthusiasm by the small black community in the city, but some of the white inhabitants were less enthusiastic.
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On September 20 the non-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune published a letter to the editor entitled "An Unfortunate Change", which said, "The residence section of Salt Lake is on the way between the main business part of the city and Fort Douglas. When our theatres are running the best people of the city have to take streetcars to get home at night. They do not want to be brought in direct contact with drunken colored soldiers by the way from the city to Fort Douglas. A drunken white soldier naturally shrinks from getting into the car with ladies and gentlemen, whereas the colored soldier will be sure to want to assert himself... We hope that the Secretary of War might send the colored men to some other direction where they would not be a source of apprehension and discomfort to the people of a large city like this."
Green Flake Returns to Utah
In preparation for the 50th Jubilee Pioneer Celebration in Salt Lake City, Spencer Clawson sent out invitations to the aged pioneers who had dispersed throughout the West. Abraham O. Smoot wrote to him, "Dear Sir: There is an old colored man, Alexander Bankhead, living in this City, who came to Utah in September 1848. The old man called upon me this morning and stated he was very anxious to visit the Jubilee as a pioneer, and I assure you I would be glad to have him do so, as he is one of the 'whitest Negroes' living. If you will forward to him the necessary blanks for him to fill out and return, addressing - Alex Bankhead, Spanish Fork, Utah, I will arrange to have them promptly attended to and returned. Very truly yours, A. O. Smoot."
Green Flake, former slave of James M. Flake and then Brigham Young, had moved to Gray's Lake, Idaho following the death of his wife but was invited back to celebration. In response to the invitation he wrote "Mr. Clawson, Dere Frind: I reseved you most kind and wellcom letter an ticket and was glad to reseved it at an I will bee down to the Julilee. Yours truly, Friend Green Flake." On July 19 the Deseret News reported "Two pioneers called at the News office today; one was a colored man named Green Flake, who claims to have been in the first wagon through Emigration Canyon, and moved to Idaho after living in Utah 49 years. He is now 70 years of age." At the celebration on July 24 he received a certificate honoring him as a surviving member of Brigham Young's pioneer company.
Green Flake, former slave of James M. Flake and then Brigham Young, had moved to Gray's Lake, Idaho following the death of his wife but was invited back to celebration. In response to the invitation he wrote "Mr. Clawson, Dere Frind: I reseved you most kind and wellcom letter an ticket and was glad to reseved it at an I will bee down to the Julilee. Yours truly, Friend Green Flake." On July 19 the Deseret News reported "Two pioneers called at the News office today; one was a colored man named Green Flake, who claims to have been in the first wagon through Emigration Canyon, and moved to Idaho after living in Utah 49 years. He is now 70 years of age." At the celebration on July 24 he received a certificate honoring him as a surviving member of Brigham Young's pioneer company.
Participants in the sequicentennial celebration. The black woman in the middle is believed to be Jane Manning James.
David O. McKay, Missionary
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In 1897, young David O. McKay was on a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean to begin his mission in Scotland. Also aboard were the Fiske Jubilee Singers, a black group from the South who had achieved international fame and were on their fifteenth transatlantic concert tour. McKay recorded that "As the missionaries lined up to register, one of the University boys said, 'I'll not sit at the table with any negroes', and some of them heard him." Thus the missionaries were not obliged to sit with the black people when seating arrangements were made, but also were never invited to sit at the captain's table where the latter frequently ate.
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Near the end of the voyage, however, one of the Jubilee sopranos performed a solo for the passengers, the chorus of which "impressed me very much because of the remarks made at the time of the assignments to the seats in the dining room." Brother McKay wrote down the words: "If you want to know a Christian, just watch his acts and walks. If you want to know a Christian, just listen how he talks." These words remained with him for over a quarter century.
The Twenty-fourth Infantry
William G. Muller, captain and adjutant of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, recalled, "When it was decided to send the regiment to Ft. Douglas, the first post in civilization the regiment (then twenty-seven years old) ever had, so bitter was the feeling and prejudice against Negro soldiers that a deputation went to Washington to prevent it. But such was the bearing and behavior of the regiment that the principal newspaper of the city quietly selected the first anniversary of the regiment's arrival to publish editorially an intensive article relating the fact of the prejudice and the deputation, with an apology for such, stating the regiment had disappointed the people in the most astounding manner and expressing the regard and respect in which it was then held by the people of Salt Lake City."
Negro Wives
According to the Council Minutes of December 15, "A letter from Elder Francis M. Lyman was read, dated at Vanceburg, Kentucky, 5th Instant, enclosing a letter from Elder S.P. Oldham, who asked Brother Lyman the following questions, and Brother Lyman forwarded it to be answered by the First Presidency: 'Can a man (white) be permitted to receive the priesthood, who has a wife who is either black or is tainted with negro blood?'
"President Cannon said he had understood President Taylor to say that a man who had the priesthood who would marry a woman of the accursed seed, that if the law of the Lord were administered upon him, he would be killed, and his offspring, for the reason that the Lord had determined that the seed of Cain should not receive the priesthood in the flesh; and that this was the penalty put upon Cain, because if he had received the priesthood the seed of the murderer would get ahead of the seed of Abel who was murdered. The point, President Cannon said, which President Taylor sought to make was that if a white man who had received the priesthood should have children by a negro woman, he could go back and act for his dead ancestors on his wife's side, and he therefore thought it would be improper for a man, as for instance the case referred to, to receive the priesthood for the reasons assigned as being those given by President Taylor. While there was no formal action taken, this seemed to be the mind of the Council, President Snow adding that the way might be opened for the man referred to in the case under consideration to get a divorce from his present wife and marry a white woman, and he would then be entitled to the priesthood."
David O. McKay
In 1898, while still on his mission, Elder McKay attended one of the Fiske Jubilee Singers' concerts in Glasgow, Scotland. He recorded: "The audience was small, but the singing was nonetheless excellent. At the close I stepped to the front and shook hands with them. They seemed pleased to see me, and I am sure I was glad to see them. Although, [sic] I do not care much for a negro, still I have a warm spot in my heart for these beautiful singers."
The Twenty-fourth Infantry
William G. Muller, captain and adjutant of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, recalled, "When it was decided to send the regiment to Ft. Douglas, the first post in civilization the regiment (then twenty-seven years old) ever had, so bitter was the feeling and prejudice against Negro soldiers that a deputation went to Washington to prevent it. But such was the bearing and behavior of the regiment that the principal newspaper of the city quietly selected the first anniversary of the regiment's arrival to publish editorially an intensive article relating the fact of the prejudice and the deputation, with an apology for such, stating the regiment had disappointed the people in the most astounding manner and expressing the regard and respect in which it was then held by the people of Salt Lake City."
Negro Wives
According to the Council Minutes of December 15, "A letter from Elder Francis M. Lyman was read, dated at Vanceburg, Kentucky, 5th Instant, enclosing a letter from Elder S.P. Oldham, who asked Brother Lyman the following questions, and Brother Lyman forwarded it to be answered by the First Presidency: 'Can a man (white) be permitted to receive the priesthood, who has a wife who is either black or is tainted with negro blood?'
"President Cannon said he had understood President Taylor to say that a man who had the priesthood who would marry a woman of the accursed seed, that if the law of the Lord were administered upon him, he would be killed, and his offspring, for the reason that the Lord had determined that the seed of Cain should not receive the priesthood in the flesh; and that this was the penalty put upon Cain, because if he had received the priesthood the seed of the murderer would get ahead of the seed of Abel who was murdered. The point, President Cannon said, which President Taylor sought to make was that if a white man who had received the priesthood should have children by a negro woman, he could go back and act for his dead ancestors on his wife's side, and he therefore thought it would be improper for a man, as for instance the case referred to, to receive the priesthood for the reasons assigned as being those given by President Taylor. While there was no formal action taken, this seemed to be the mind of the Council, President Snow adding that the way might be opened for the man referred to in the case under consideration to get a divorce from his present wife and marry a white woman, and he would then be entitled to the priesthood."
David O. McKay
In 1898, while still on his mission, Elder McKay attended one of the Fiske Jubilee Singers' concerts in Glasgow, Scotland. He recorded: "The audience was small, but the singing was nonetheless excellent. At the close I stepped to the front and shook hands with them. They seemed pleased to see me, and I am sure I was glad to see them. Although, [sic] I do not care much for a negro, still I have a warm spot in my heart for these beautiful singers."
The Colored Man as a Soldier
In 1898 the Twenty-fourth Regiment left Fort Douglas to fight in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. On July 8, 1899, the Deseret Evening News reprinted an article by Mabel Claire Croft in the San Francisco Times called "The Colored Man as a Soldier". It read in part:
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"First and Foremost is the Twenty-Fourth from Fort Douglas, Utah, Now En Route to the Philippines - Its Remarkable War Record Imperishably Written on the Pages of American History. Sailing now to the Philippines goes one of the four regiments with the best right to the title of 'American' of all the troops in the service of these United States – the Twenty-fourth Infantry, most distinguished of the negro regiments of the country and, possibly, the most renowned infantry regiment in the Army. Other regiments may take to themselves the American name, but examine the roll and you will find them mixed as the colors of Joseph's coat - Irish, German, French, Italian - all the strains under the sun. The enlisted negro proclaims proudly the fact that he is the only Simon-pure American child of the soil for more generations than he can count. The only naturalization record in his family was written more than thirty years ago from Sumter to Appomattox.
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"The war story of the Twenty-fourth, which put out from these shores a few days ago for the bloody fields of the Far East, is imperishably set down upon those pages of American history that tell of the Cuban fighting. It seemed strange when these veterans marched San Francisco streets on Decoration Day that there was so little enthusiasm over them – strange that any American should not know the inspiring story of how these dark-skinned, white-souled men fought up the stubborn hill of San Juan; how a color sergeant of the Twenty-fourth was the first to plant the flag on the heights of the hill. It is not so strange that the private citizen should not know of the everyday heroism of these men in time of peace; the good order which it is their pride to maintain; their good citizenship – a thing which we long ago ceased to expect from the regular soldier, who is usually a brawling, turbulent fellow, a victim to all the vices of garrison and camp.
"These men of the Twenty-fourth behaved so well while they were among us that we scarcely knew they were here until they were gone and it was too late to honor them. Do you see a soldier reeling along the street? Make note of it that HE IS NOT BLACK. Are there saloon brawls and street-car rows? You may be certain that the disorderly ones are not from the Twenty-fourth. It has been said of these men before - and their conduct in San Francisco is but another case in point - that each soldier behaves as though he were upon his honor never to cast reproach upon the uniform he wears, the flag he serves or the race to which he belongs. Each man seems to be on his personal parole, not only to keep the peace but to prove by his sobriety, his gentleness, his kindness, his good breeding, his respect for law, that the tales circulated about his people are lies; each colored soldier is a committee of one to show to all the world that the bravest are the gentlest, the most tractable, the most trustworthy.
"Often beneath these good-natured faces beat heavy hearts. It is part of the black man’s burden that he seems cheerful whether he will or not. Born an optimist, yet he carries the deep sense of wrong. To the flag he serves he bears an intense personal loyalty that is a passion. He is grateful with a gratitude that no other American citizen even approaches. Probably no negro – certainly no negro soldier – sees an American flag without remembering what those folds mean to him and to his. His bondage is too recent to be forgotten. In that sense also the negro is the best American of us all.
"Only the casuist claims that the negro enjoys equality. In the North he possesses a certain equality which is not social; in the South his is NOT A BONDMAN, but he is nothing else. It was to escape from the conditions of his race in the South that many of these men enlisted, and each one of them remembers, with a sense of personal responsibility, that for his sins his people will be held to answer. For this reason these men are exceedingly careful that their race shall not be made a vicarious sacrifice for them. They know, none so well, that the plant of faith is of exceedingly slow growth, torn up in a night, and they seek to show by services so great that they can never be measured that they are not unworthy to be ranked among freemen. The soldiers of the Twenty-fourth are endeavoring to prove by their heroism in war and their good conduct in peace that the negro is a gentleman as well as a citizen.
"There was at the Presidio last week the pretty, comely wife of a sergeant of the Twenty-fourth. Her husband was formerly a school teacher in the South, and he is so white that it seems impossible that Ethiopian blood tinctures the fluid in his veins. This man enlisted in the army, not because he could not earn a good living elsewhere, but because of the indignities put upon him and his wife. One day he entered a train with her and they seated themselves in the colored end of the car. 'Here, you,' shouted the brakeman, 'you don't belong here. Go to the other end.' The negro changed his seat. Presently the conductor came through, and, with keener eye, ordered the man back to the colored end of the car. The order was obeyed. In the 'JIM CROW' END of the car the man ventured to sit by his wife, when the irate brakeman charged him with being a white man married to a black woman. 'In the name of God, where do I belong?' asked this citizen of a free Republic. In that hour his resolution was taken, and as soon as might be he enlisted as a regular soldier.
"The real motive of the enlisted negro is far nobler than the mixed motives which inspire most regulars. The colored man enlists because in the army, more than in any other place in all the Republic, he approaches an equality with white men, the equality of comradeship. In the army one enlisted man is as good as another, and courage is not a matter of complexion. When the battle is fought and won the black man is as good as the white. When there’s fighting to do any man with a stout heart and willing is desired. No one stops to count the drops of alloy in his veins. It chances that the Creator made some cravens white and some heroes black. The colored man thirsts for equality. He is not callous to the indignities still heaped upon him. He wants to escape from the accursed thing that follows him, and he comes nearer to the republican ideal in the army than anywhere else. This is what has driven colored school teachers, master mechanics, stenographers, farmers, bakers, barbers into the ranks of the regular army. They are looking not for an easy life but for a place where they will not be subjected to humiliation and insult."
"These men of the Twenty-fourth behaved so well while they were among us that we scarcely knew they were here until they were gone and it was too late to honor them. Do you see a soldier reeling along the street? Make note of it that HE IS NOT BLACK. Are there saloon brawls and street-car rows? You may be certain that the disorderly ones are not from the Twenty-fourth. It has been said of these men before - and their conduct in San Francisco is but another case in point - that each soldier behaves as though he were upon his honor never to cast reproach upon the uniform he wears, the flag he serves or the race to which he belongs. Each man seems to be on his personal parole, not only to keep the peace but to prove by his sobriety, his gentleness, his kindness, his good breeding, his respect for law, that the tales circulated about his people are lies; each colored soldier is a committee of one to show to all the world that the bravest are the gentlest, the most tractable, the most trustworthy.
"Often beneath these good-natured faces beat heavy hearts. It is part of the black man’s burden that he seems cheerful whether he will or not. Born an optimist, yet he carries the deep sense of wrong. To the flag he serves he bears an intense personal loyalty that is a passion. He is grateful with a gratitude that no other American citizen even approaches. Probably no negro – certainly no negro soldier – sees an American flag without remembering what those folds mean to him and to his. His bondage is too recent to be forgotten. In that sense also the negro is the best American of us all.
"Only the casuist claims that the negro enjoys equality. In the North he possesses a certain equality which is not social; in the South his is NOT A BONDMAN, but he is nothing else. It was to escape from the conditions of his race in the South that many of these men enlisted, and each one of them remembers, with a sense of personal responsibility, that for his sins his people will be held to answer. For this reason these men are exceedingly careful that their race shall not be made a vicarious sacrifice for them. They know, none so well, that the plant of faith is of exceedingly slow growth, torn up in a night, and they seek to show by services so great that they can never be measured that they are not unworthy to be ranked among freemen. The soldiers of the Twenty-fourth are endeavoring to prove by their heroism in war and their good conduct in peace that the negro is a gentleman as well as a citizen.
"There was at the Presidio last week the pretty, comely wife of a sergeant of the Twenty-fourth. Her husband was formerly a school teacher in the South, and he is so white that it seems impossible that Ethiopian blood tinctures the fluid in his veins. This man enlisted in the army, not because he could not earn a good living elsewhere, but because of the indignities put upon him and his wife. One day he entered a train with her and they seated themselves in the colored end of the car. 'Here, you,' shouted the brakeman, 'you don't belong here. Go to the other end.' The negro changed his seat. Presently the conductor came through, and, with keener eye, ordered the man back to the colored end of the car. The order was obeyed. In the 'JIM CROW' END of the car the man ventured to sit by his wife, when the irate brakeman charged him with being a white man married to a black woman. 'In the name of God, where do I belong?' asked this citizen of a free Republic. In that hour his resolution was taken, and as soon as might be he enlisted as a regular soldier.
"The real motive of the enlisted negro is far nobler than the mixed motives which inspire most regulars. The colored man enlists because in the army, more than in any other place in all the Republic, he approaches an equality with white men, the equality of comradeship. In the army one enlisted man is as good as another, and courage is not a matter of complexion. When the battle is fought and won the black man is as good as the white. When there’s fighting to do any man with a stout heart and willing is desired. No one stops to count the drops of alloy in his veins. It chances that the Creator made some cravens white and some heroes black. The colored man thirsts for equality. He is not callous to the indignities still heaped upon him. He wants to escape from the accursed thing that follows him, and he comes nearer to the republican ideal in the army than anywhere else. This is what has driven colored school teachers, master mechanics, stenographers, farmers, bakers, barbers into the ranks of the regular army. They are looking not for an easy life but for a place where they will not be subjected to humiliation and insult."
Lorenzo Snow Becomes the Prophet
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President Wilford Woodruff died of old age on November 2, 1898. Elder Lorenzo Snow was his successor and, as commanded personally by Jesus Christ in a hallway of the Salt Lake Temple, became the first to reorganize the First Presidency immediately after the prophet's death instead of waiting a few years. He was ordained on November 13. President Snow was unique among all the General Authorities in that he had, in 1849, specifically asked Brigham Young about the "chance of redemption for the Africans" and been told about the fledgling priesthood ban. However it was apparent that at this time in his life, whether through President Young's ambiguity or weakness of his own memory, he was still not entirely certain about the details.
Next: The LDS Church and Black People 1900-1903 |
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