Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and The Problem of Racial Innocence

by Joanna Brooks

Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, a son of the recently deceased Joseph F. Smith, published another article on “The Negro and the Priesthood” in the Church’s monthly Improvement Era in April 1924. While indicating that there was no scriptural basis for the pre-existence hypothesis that “prevail[ed] to a considerable extent” among LDS people and that it was not advisable to “dwell” on “speculation” about how premortal life may have shaped “nation[al]” differences, Smith gave anti-Black segregation of the priesthood and temple its own eternal life: It is true that the negro race is barred from holding the Priesthood, and this has always been the case. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught this doctrine, and it was made known to him, although we know of no such statement in any revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Mormon, or the Bible. . . . Let it suffice that the negro is barred from the Priesthood and the reason we may someday understand.27 It was the first time an official Church publication declared in print (see figure 3.4) that the ban was entirely ahistorical, that it had “always been the case” and had been “made known” as the will of God through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Originalism took hold here.