Does anyone actually know any black Mormons?

Question

other than supposedly the guy at the underwear website?

My point is ... oh wait it was a question not a sentence, so I don't have a point.

I know who Gladys Knight is but never heard of Thurl Bailey.

Jesus why are you people so defensive? Are you menaced by my big black hat?

Answer 1

yes, several

Answer 2

There are 2 or 3 in my ward. I had a black friend in another state last year who was Mormon, and I've run into several over the years, including one from England and Africa. One of my missionary companions was black. There was a group of black members who cooperated with other members to make a musical based on the life of pioneer Jane Manning James - but I don't know how to get a copy of it. My mom loves the name of another famous black Mormon pioneer, Green Flake.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does anyone actually know any black Mormons?
other than supposedly the guy at the underwear website?

Answer 4

Yeah, do you? Some famous (black since you asked) Mormons - Gladys Knight, Thurl Bailey..and I am sure there are many others.
If you look into the church's "higher ups" there are men from every (or close to it) race and background...
What's your point?

Answer 5

Where I live, we have several LDS members from every possible race. While in some cities in Utah, you may find very few, that is not because of the LDS population, it is more due to the fact that Utah is not all that multi-cultural, beyond a few of the major cities (and even then, not all that much).

I live in Europe - lots of diversity in the Church.

Answer 6

Until as recently as 1978, a black man was automatically disqualified from achieving any level above the rank of "priest"- a level white boys usually achieve when they're 16- and thus had no possibility of ever holding a position of authority in the Church. They also could not be married in the Temple, which means that, unlike whites, they would not be able to be with their spouse in heaven.

Mormon views on race:
Brigham Young, who led many of the Mormons to Salt Lake City, UT wrote:

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African Race? If the White man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.

Cain slew his brother. . . and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.

You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the 'servant of servants;' and they will be, until that curse is removed." 12

Joseph Fielding Smith -- not to be confused with Joseph Smith, the founder of the church -- was the sixth President of the LDS church. He wrote:

"There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less."

Ezra Taft Benson, elected "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator" of the church as recently as the 1985, was extremely racist (see source link). The Quorum of the Twelve apostles had to be aware of this, and evidently God agreed, because per Mormon beliefs it is God, not men, that "chooses" the next leader of the Church.

If the Mormon Church did not have such a potent PR department, and was not such a top-down totalitarian regime that controls everthing that is taught or discussed in the Church, I doubt there would be any black mormons.

Answer 7

I think my 13-year-old brother has a crush on one right now. Past that, no, but I don't keep people's faiths and ethnicities lined up in my head like that.

Answer 8

No, but then I don't know any white Mormons either.

Answer 9

Yes. The first member that visited me with the missionaries was black. I found the Church is far more integrated than a lot of others.

Answer 10

Back in the 70's my uncle wrestled for OU and when they wrestled BYU he got spit on and trash thrown on him for being black. But then they started to accept blacks at BYU because they expelled in sports. I took a recruiting trip there and they told me that they no longer had problems with "some blacks" what ever that means. If there are some Black Mormans - Seems like they would be very brainwashed!

Answer 11

No, but I met a black Quaker before. I bet that is even more rare.