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Footnotes
1. Zandra Vranes, Facebook, May 21, 2018.
2. Eugene England, “Playing in the Dark: Mormons Writing about Blacks and Blackness,” in Colloquium Essays in Literature and Belief, edited by Richard H. Cracroft, Jane D. Brady, and Linda Hunter Adams (Provo: Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature, Brigham Young University, 2001), 434, 444.
3. James H. Cone, Black Theology and Black Power (New York: Seabury Press, 1969), 71.
4. This essay first appeared on the Church’s blog as Darius Gray, “Healing the Wounds of Racism,” Apr. 5, 2018, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/blog/healing-the-wounds-of-racism. A shortened version was subsequently published in the June 2018 Ensign with the title “Moving Forward Together,” available at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2018/06/commemorating-the-1978-revelation/moving-forward-together?lang=eng.
5. The articles and essays in the fall 2018 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought provide a good example of recent academic work along these lines. Paul Reeve’s Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness (New York: Oxford, 2015) represented an important scholarly milestone on this topic as well.
6. Kenneth W. Godfrey, “Balance and Faith,” review of The Latter-day Saints: A Contemporary History of the Church of Jesus Christ, by William E. Berrett, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 20, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 192.
7. William E. Berrett Papers, 20th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (hereafter cited as Berrett Papers); William E. Berrett oral history interview, Jan. 27, 1982, Manuscripts Collection, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. On Mormonism and the Negro, see Russell Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013 (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2015): 313-36.
8. England, “Playing in the Dark,” 434. Berrett’s beliefs and teachings as described throughout the article were culled from various documents in boxes 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, and 12 of the Berrett Papers.
9. See William E. Berrett, “Church History and Philosophy 245 Advanced Theology Address,” July 10, 1956, box 3, folder 4, Berrett Papers.
10. Ibid.; Berrett’s handwritten notes in box 3, folder 3, Berrett Papers; William E. Berrett, Teachings of the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1961): 243.
11. In addition to everything else wrong with Berrett’s statements, the Fairbanks, Alaska region is home to Athabascan, not, traditionally, Eskimo peoples.
12. Berrett, “Church History and Philosophy”; William E. Berrett to Allan Taggart, Apr. 24, 1967, box 4, folder 1, Berrett Papers.
13. Berrett, “Church History and Philosophy.”
14. Again, the articles and essays in the fall 2018 volume of Dialogue stand out for their direct engagement with this history and what it means. Joanna Brooks’s “The Possessive Investment in Rightness: White Supremacy and the Mormon Movement,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 51, no. 3 (Fall 2018): 45-82, in particular, uses terms like “white supremacy” to describe Mormon beliefs and structures, and shows how white supremacy was an integral part of Mormon theology and institution and community building.
15. Cone, Black Theology, 31.
16. Jane Dailey, “Sex, Segregation, and the Sacred after Brown,” Journal of American History 91, no. 1 (June 2004): 22.
17. Ibid.
18. Mark E. Petersen, “Race Problems As They Affect the Church” (address given at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, Aug. 27, 1954, available at https://archive.org/details/RaceProblemsAsTheyAffectTheChurchMarkEPetersen/page/n1). A transcript of the Oct. 7, 1954 discussion can be found in box 4, folder 7, Berrett Papers.
19. See, “How Can the Door of the University Be Left Open and Still Attract Few Negros?,” box 3, folder 2, Berrett Papers; “Church Schools and Students of Color” (1961); and “Memo, RE: The Negro Problem,” Dec. 8, 1960, box 3, folder 3, Berrett Papers.
20. Ibid.
21. See Charles M. Payne, “‘The Whole United States Is Southern!‘: Brown v. Board and the Mystification of Race,” Journal of American History 91, no. 1 (June 2004): 83-91.
22. See William E. Berrett, “Change,” devotional address given at University of Utah Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1980, typescript in Berrett Papers. Bruce R. McConkie’s oft-quoted 1978 “All Are Alike unto God” speech likewise leaves ample room for theological beliefs grounded in white supremacy, including the Church’s unique teachings about racial difference. See Bruce R. McConkie, “All Are Alike unto God,” devotional address given at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, Aug. 18, 1978, https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/alike-unto-god/.
23. William E. Berrett, The Latter-day Saints: A Contemporary History of the Church of Jesus Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986), 351-53, 382-85.
24. See William E. Berrett, The Restored Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017), chap. 44, section 144 and the “Supplementary Readings” for chap. 45 (e-book edition). Joseph Fielding Smith’s The Way to Perfection is referenced in nine different chapters of The Restored Church and in its bibliography. Stirling Adams correspondence with Deseret Book, May 2018, shared with the author.
25. Daylin Farias, email correspondence with author, May 21, 2018.
26. See Matthew L. Harris, “Mormonism’s Problematic Racial Past and the Evolution of the Divine-Curse Doctrine,” John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 33, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2013): 90-114; Jason Horowitz, “The Genesis of a Church’s Stand on Race,” Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-genesis-of-a-churchs-stand-on-race/2012/02/22/gIQAQZXyfR_story.html.
27. “Commentary: Putting Our Shoulders to the Wheel to End Racism and White Supremacy in Mormonism,” Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 17, 2017, https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/17/commentary-putting-our-shoulders-to-the-wheel-to-end-racism-and-white-supremacy-in-mormonismbr/, last updated Aug. 28, 2017. See also Zandra Vranes, “Op-ed: Speaking to the Pain of a Black Mormon Woman,” Deseret News, Aug. 17, 2017, https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865686989/Op-ed-Speaking-to-the-pain-of-a-black-Mormon-woman.html.
28. Gray, “Healing the Wounds of Racism”; Cone, Black Theology, 71.
29. “Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays, available at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng.
30. Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Need for Greater Kindness,” Apr. 2006, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2006/04/the-need-forgreater-kindness?lang=eng; Holland interview transcribed at “Interview: Jeffrey R. Holland,” The Mormons, PBS, https://www.pbs.org/mormons/interviews/holland.html; “Church Statement Regarding Washington Post Article on Race and the Church,” Newsroom, Feb. 29, 2012, available at https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/racial-remarks-in-washington-post-article.
31. William E. Berrett, “The Negro Situation,” address given at Coordinators Convention, Mar. 6, 1969, BYU, Provo, typescript in box 3, folder 4, Berrett Papers.
32. “Race and the Priesthood.”
33. Berrett, “The Negro Situation”; Letter from William E. Berrett to George Allan Taggart, Apr. 24, 1967, Box 4 Folder 1; Corey C. Bowles, Experiences of a Negro Convert (Newark, N.J.: April 1970), in box 3, folder 2, Berrett Papers.
34. “Race Relations,” Newsroom, available at https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/race-relations.
35. Tony Parker and Ahmad Corbitt, quoted in “Race Relations”; Daylin Farias, email correspondence with author, May 21, 2018. See also Darron T. Smith’s important analysis of Black member identity and internalized oppression in “Negotiating Black Self-Hate Within the LDS Church,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 51, no. 3 (Fall 2018): 29-44.
36. Gina Colvin, ed., with Elise Boxer, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Melissa Inouye, and Janan Graham-Russell, “Roundtable Discussion: Challenging Mormon Race Scholarship,” Journal of Mormon History 41, no. 3 (July 2015): 277-78.
37. Berrett, “Church History and Philosophy.”
38. Berrett, “Memo, RE: The Negro Problem.”
39. Berrett, The Latter-day Saints.
40. See, for instance, Howard W. Hunter, “All Are Alike unto God,” address delivered at a fourteen-stake fireside, Marriott Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, Feb. 4, 1979, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1979/06/all-are-alike-unto-god?lang=eng; Gordon B. Hinckley, “Priesthood Restoration,” Ensign, Oct. 1988, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1988/10/priesthood-restoration?lang=eng. Note: The website currently refers to this as “an edited version of a talk given 15 May 1988 at the Churchwide fireside commemorating the 159th anniversary of the restoration of the priesthood.”
41. “Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ Reaction to Priesthood Revelation,” Newsroom, July 20, 2007, available at https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/additional-resource/elder-dallin-h-oaks-reaction-to-priesthood-revelation, emphasis mine.
42. “President Oaks Remarks at Worldwide Priesthood Celebration,” Newsroom, June 1, 2018, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-oaks-remarks-worldwide-priesthood-celebration; Payne, “Brown v. Board and the Mystification of Race,” 85.
43. Cone, Black Theology, 32; Twitter correspondence (Apr. 16, 2018) documenting this incident in possession of the author.
44. See Berrett, “Church History and Philosophy,” and letters between William E. Berrett and Henry Draper (1963) in box 12, folder 12, Berrett Papers.
45. “Revelation: ‘A Continuous Melody and a Thunderous Appeal,‘” chap. 22 in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2006), available at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-spencer-w-kimball/chapter-22?lang=eng.
46. Julian Harper, “Racism at BYU,” May 14, 2018, typescript in possession of the author.
47. Kirstie Stanger Weyland, “Racism at BYU,” April 2018, typescript in possession of the author.
48. Justin Tyree, email correspondence with author, May 15, 2018.
49. Harper, “Racism at BYU.”
50. Stanger Weyland, “Racism at BYU.”
51. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me (New York: Random House, 2015), 44.
52. Melodie Jackson, “African American History Since Emancipation” final exam, Apr. 2019, typescript in possession of the author. Used with permission.
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2019