No Man Knows My History (Arkosh History)

by Fawn M. Brodie

The Book of Abraham expressed not only the germ of Joseph’s metaphysical system, but also more of his theorizing on the subject of race, which was fast becoming the most dangerous political and moral question in the Republic. As the Book of Mormon had solved the question of the origin of the red man, so the Book of Abraham dispatched the problem of the origin of the Negro. Joseph as a youth had read in his geography book the common tradition that all races of men are descended from the three sons of Noah: Ham, Shem, and Japheth.* Noah had cursed his son Ham, decreeing that Ham’s son, Canaan, should be a “servant of servants” unto his brethren. This story, which all the Southern preachers used to justify slavery, Joseph now amplified in his characteristic fashion. Pharaoh, first ruler of Egypt, he said, was the son of Egyptus, daughter of Ham. All Egyptians therefore inherited the curse of the black skin. With this curse went a denial of the right of priesthood. In practical language this meant that in Joseph’s church no Negro could be ordained even into the lowly rank of deacon.