In the broader American culture in which Joseph Smith lived and led the growing church of Jesus Christ, white attitudes and beliefs about the inferiority of Black Africans dominated the scene. In this pre-Civil-War context, exactly half of the states in the union had legalized slavery and built their economies on it, while the other half opposed slavery. Yet fears were shared on both sides about what might happen to the country and to the “purity of the white race” if all slaves were set free and allowed to be social equals with whites, chief of which being the fear of interracial marriage. In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we take a close look at how Joseph Smith led the church while navigating within this racially fraught culture and what specific factors were at play as he did so. For instance, how did the expulsion of the saints from Jackson County, Missouri in 1833 influence the church’s approach to missionary work going forward? How did Joseph respond to church members in the northern United States who were calling for the excommunication of all slave-holding church members in this southern states? And how did Joseph’s public teachings on slavery change once church headquarters moved to Nauvoo, Illinois and church members were no longer in Missouri. And, importantly, did Joseph Smith ever implement or endorse any practices or policies which specifically prevented church members with black African ancestry from fully participating in priesthood offices or temple worship?

This is the second episode of our 7-part podcast series on the history of Race and the Priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a full transcript of this episode, as well as show notes and additional resources, visit our website at https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.o...

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Originally published July 11, 2023

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