They Would Be Like Them
“They come into the world slaves mentally and physically. Change their situation with the white & they would be like them. They have souls and are subjects of salvation.”
“To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, in Legislative Capacity Assembled”
“The patriotism of Pennsylvania's religious teachers was pure. They threw in their whole weight of character and influence to promote a cause which made others equal with themselves; for the glorious privilege of seeing a people free. Her heroes bore the horrors of war, not to away the tyrant's scepter, or enjoy a lordling's wealth, but to found an asylum for the oppressed, and prepare a land of freedom for the tyrant's slave. Her statesmen, while in the councils of the nation, devoted all their wisdom and talents to establish a government where every man should be free; the slave liberated from bondage and the colored African enjoy the rights of citizenship; all enjoying equal rights to speak, to act, to worship, peculiar privileges to none. Such were Pennsylvania's sons at…
Baptized of Their Own Accord
“Evidence suggests that enslaved people like John Burton were baptized of their own accord. In fact, in cases where white Latter-day Saints enslaved more than one person, there is no situation where all enslaved people were baptized, an indication that the enslaved were not forced to follow their enslavers into the faith.”
Like Other Human Beings
Break off the shackles from the poor Black man, and hire him to labor like other human beings, "He pointed to the great American paradox as a problem that needed resolution: a nation founded on the principles that "all men are created equal" simultaneously held "some two or three millions of people . .. as slaves for life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours." …He similarly called on the promises of the U.S. Constitution to be fulfilled and left no doubt that in his view that document "meant just what it said without reference to color or condition."
“Are All Alike Unto God?”
“Lowell Bennion has articulated a useful guideline when the scriptures, or Church leaders, apparently contradict each other. He suggests we look for the great central principles that are repeated again and again, especially by Christ, and judge all other claims or notions by them. He writes, “I do not accept any interpretation of scriptural passages that portrays God as being partial, unforgiving, hateful, or revengeful. It is more important to uphold the character and will of God than it is to support every line of scripture.” In that spirit, it seems to me we must not accept any interpretation or scripture, or any statement by a Church leader or teaching in a Church meeting or Church school class that denies or diminishes the clear, central doctrine that all are alike…
“Race and the Priesthood” – Racial Division
“The Church was established in 1830, during an era of great racial division in the United States. At the time, many people of African descent lived in slavery, and racial distinctions and prejudice were not just common but customary among white Americans. Those realities, though unfamiliar and disturbing today, influenced all aspects of people’s lives, including their religion. ...In two speeches delivered before the Utah territorial legislature in January and February 1852, Brigham Young announced a policy restricting men of black African descent from priesthood ordination. The justifications for this restriction echoed the widespread ideas about racial inferiority that had been used to argue for the legalization of black “servitude” in the Territory of Utah. According to one view, which had been promulgated in the United States from at least…
“Healing Racism Through Jesus Christ – Forms of Racial Injustice”
“...roughly 12.3 million Africans were trafficked to the Americas. Enormous wealth was generated for those in the slave industry through the unjust toil of Africans—men, women, and children. Daily life of enslaved Africans was punctuated by horrendous abuse. In some instances, they were branded with hot irons on the chest or face. Slaves were whipped, forced to wear iron masks, placed in the stocks, sexually assaulted, and subjected to other forms of torture. Besides torture, enslaved Africans’ agency was severely limited by a set of laws called slave codes. It was, for example, illegal for an enslaved person to own property, trade goods, leave an enslaver’s property without permission, learn to read and write, speak their native language, or marry. Black families had no rights under the law, which meant…
“Citizenship in God’s Kingdom is ‘Highest Hope for Humanity’ “- Righteous Rulers and Wicked Kings
“In this country, we are blessed to have an inspired Constitution that lays out an exemplary form of government. But without personal virtue, it isn’t enough.” …King Mosiah in Mosiah 29 outlined the differences between righteous rulers and wicked kings. Benjamin Franklin said: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Elder Uchtdorf asked, “So what will our future look like? Will we become a nation in need of more masters? Or will we rise as sons and daughters of a loving God and strive for goodness? Compassion for others? Justice, humility, civic courage, kindness and charity toward all?” Elder Uchtdorf said that while there is hatred and suffering and division all around, and while humankind has made…
“Slavery and Abolition”
“Though most early Latter-day Saint converts were from the Northern States and were opposed to slavery, slavery affected Church history in a number of ways. In 1832, Latter-day Saints who had settled in Missouri were attacked by their neighbors, who accused them of “tampering with our slaves, and endeavoring to sow dissensions and raise seditions amongst them.” That winter, Joseph Smith received a revelation that a war would begin over the slave question and that slaves would “rise up against their masters.” The next year, concerns that free black Saints would gather to Missouri was the spark that ignited further violence against the Saints and led to their expulsion from Jackson County.” “In the mid-1830s, the Saints tried to distance themselves from the controversy over slavery. Missionaries were instructed not…
“Saints, Slaves and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism”
“The most important Latter-Day Saint publications during the 1840s were the Times and Seasons, ...and the Nauvoo Neighbor. ...Through his role as editor of the Times and Seasons and Neighbor, Taylor became a leading defender of the Mormon faith. He vigorously publicized Mormonism’s antislavery position. Taylor denounced Missouri as a slave state whose “coffers” groaned “with the spoils of the oppressed.” Taylor, like Joseph Smith, assailed Henry Clay as a “slaveholder” who, if elected president, would make America the “slavest and vainest nation on earth.” See also Samuel W. Taylor, The Kingdom of Nothing: The Life of John Taylor, Militant Mormon (New York: Macmillan, 1976) and Times and Seasons, July 1, 1843; Nauvoo Neighbor, April 17, 1844