Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality

by Matthew L. Harris

Overview

An in-depth account--grounded in new archival discoveries--of the most consequential development in Mormon history since the end of polygamy On June 9, 1978, the phones at the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) were ringing nonstop. Word began to spread that a momentous change in church policy had been announced and everyone wanted to know: was it true? The answer would have profound implications for the church and American society more broadly. On that historic day, LDS church president Spencer W. Kimball announced a revelation lifting the church's 126-year-old ban barring Black people from the priesthood and Mormon temples. It was the most significant change in LDS doctrine since the end of polygamy almost 100 years earlier. Drawing on never-before-seen private papers of LDS apostles and church presidents, including Spencer W. Kimball, Matthew L. Harris probes the plot twists and turns, the near-misses and paths not taken, of this incredible story. While the notion that Kimball received a revelation might imply a sudden command from God, Harris shows that a variety of factors motivated Kimball and other church leaders to reconsider the ban, including the civil rights movement, which placed LDS racial policies and practices under a glaring spotlight, perceptions of racism that dogged the church and its leaders, and Kimball's own growing sense that the ban was morally wrong. Harris also shows that the lifting of the ban was hardly a panacea. The church's failure to confront and condemn its racial theology in the decades after the 1978 revelation stifled their efforts to reach Black communities and made Black members the target of racism in LDS meetinghouses. Vigilant members pestered church leaders to repudiate their anti-Black theology, forcing them to live up to the creed in Mormon scripture that "all are alike unto God." Deeply informed, engagingly written, and grounded in deep archival research, Harris provides a compelling and detailed account of how Mormon leaders lifted the priesthood and temple ban, then came to reckon with the church's controversial racial heritage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197695739
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/03/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	12 MB
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About the Author

Matthew L. Harris is Professor of History at Colorado State University Pueblo, where he has taught since 2005. He specializes in race and religion, civil rights, Mormon history, African American history, legal history, and American religious history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Mormon Revelation Chapter 1: From Policy to Doctrine, 1830--1949 Chapter 2: Racial Passing, 1949--1954 Chapter 3: Segregation, 1954--1962 Chapter 4: Civil Rights Resistance, 1962--1967 Chapter 5: Investigations and Protests, 1968--1970 Chapter 6: Lobbying for the Priesthood, 1970--1973 Chapter 7: Lifting the Ban, 1973--1978 Chapter 8: Debris in the Streets, 1978--1985 Chapter 9: The Stigma Still Goes On, 1985--2000 Chapter 10: Hard Doctrine, 2000--2013 Epilogue: Black (Mormon) Lives Matter, 2013--2023 Notes Index

Editorial Reviews

04/29/2024

Historian Harris (Watchman on the Tower) provides a fine-grained chronicle of the deliberations and pressures that led the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1978 to repeal its ban on the ordination of Black men and the presence of Black couples in Mormon temples. Focusing on the period between 1949, when the prohibition was canonized (it had been church policy since 1852) and the ban’s repeal, Harris maps out the clashes between radical church leaders who preached that Black people were the “cursed” descendents of Cain, and the ban’s opponents, including Black Mormons, civil rights activists, and LDS administrators eager to salvage the church’s public image. Secular pressures mounted in the 1960s as a federal civil rights investigation looked into Brigham Young University’s racist admissions policies, though Harris contends that such initiatives only caused LDS leaders to retrench. Ultimately, the church’s hand was forced when president Spencer Kimball pushed to open temples in racially diverse countries like Brazil, culminating in his 1978 “revelation” that the time had come to “admit Black people into ranks as full, functioning members.” Harris studiously dissects how the church’s legacy of racism has persisted after the ban’s repeal, noting that leaders have recently sought to “distance the church from antiblack teachings” without directly repudiating them. It’s a nuanced account of the Mormon church’s uneven progress toward social justice. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"A nuanced account of the Mormon church's uneven progress toward social justice." — Publishers Weekly

"Second-Class Saints is a tour de force of historical research. It would be hard for me to overstate the importance of this book as well as my admiration for it." — Patrick Q. Mason, Arrington Chair Of Mormon History And Culture, Utah State University

"This striking book deals with arguably the Mormon church's most challenging, enduring, and thorniest social and religious issue. Harris is superb at showcasing Black Mormons' efforts to overcome LDS leaders' bigotry. Second-Class Saints is a must-read for anyone hoping to increase their understanding of how the Mormon faith has produced dubious racial theories as well as Black Mormons' ongoing struggle for racial equity." — Cameron Mccoy, Author Of Contested Valor: African American Marines In The Age Of Power, Protest, And Tokenism

"Offering fresh insights and drawing on untapped sources, Second-Class Saints provides an Unprecedented peek behind Mormonism's administrative curtain. Readers will discover New and sometimes painful stories that help to explain the faith's ongoing struggle to Transcend its racial past." — W. Paul Reeve, Author Of Religion Of A Different Color: Race And The Mormon Struggle For Whiteness

"This painstakingly researched book tells the heart-rending history of Mormonism's race-based Priesthood and temple restrictions. In tracking the conflicts, constraints, and contingencies, The politics, pretexts, and planning, and the human actors who struggled for and against a more inclusive theology and church organization, Harris creates a powerful narrative - one that opens possibilities for healing in the present." — Rebecca De Schweinitz, Associate Professor Of History, Brigham Young University

"Second-Class Saints is a masterful exploration of the Black struggle for racial equality within The LDS Church. Harris dissects the entrenched history of documented white supremacy Among church leadership and its theology, revealing a compelling, yet often overlooked, Chapter of religious history." — Darron T. Smith, Author Of Black And Mormon

"Second-Class Saints by Matthew Harris should, if grappled with appropriately, force a reckoning... It will be impossible for anyone who reads it to be unaffected by what it clearly and irrefutably shows about the history of the priesthood and temple ban." — Ryan Ward, Association for Mormon Letters

"A remarkable new book — one of the best I've read in a long time." — Bill Tammeus, Faith Matters

"A gripping, and often heartbreaking, read." — Jana Riess, Religious News Service

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