The Lives of African American Mormons and the Evolution of Church Policy

SENIOR PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. ROBERT WESTOVER IN PARTIAL COMPLETION OF BACHELOR OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
BY ERIN ELIZABETH HOWARTH
PROVO, UTAH, AUGUST 1995
African Americans have long suffered from racist laws and policies in this country.  Until 1978, the Mormon Church also maintained a policy of racial bias.  The policy in question is the restriction of priesthood ordination from men of African descent.  In spite of this restriction, many African Americans joined the Church and served as faithfully as they could for years, not in great numbers but enough to make people take notice and worry about the justice of priesthood restrictions.  Who were these African American Mormons?  What motivated them to sacrifice for the Church that offered them less than full membership privileges?  How did they feel about this restriction and the several theories as to its continuance?  How did they feel about the reversal of that policy?  The answers to these questions vary widely from individual to individual.  African American Mormons came from all walks of life.  Spiritual experiences which lead to their baptisms are as unique as the individuals themselves.  Feelings about priesthood restriction varied from person to person but also changed from decade to decade as national opinion toward race changed as well.  Even the policy itself changed almost as often as the presidents of the Church.

JOSEPH SMITH: ANTI-ABOLITIONIST

In the beginning, the Church didn't need a policy toward African Americans, but missionary work in Missouri soon brought the issue to the front line.  The mission to Missouri opened in 1831 with W.W. Phelps president.  The citizens of Missouri suspected that the mere presence of non-slave African Americans would incite rebellion, and so the state legislature enacted some very peculiar laws regarding colored immigration to the state.  To help members understand the laws, President Phelps published an article in the church press instructing African American saints who might wish to immigrate to Missouri.  The people of Missouri interpreted this as an invitation to all free men of color to come settle in Missouri and join the Mormon church.

In an attempt to correct the misunderstanding, Joseph Smith issued a number of statements over the next few years stating the Church's position against the abolitionist movement.  It was common during this period of time for clergy men to be opposed both to slavery and abolition.  The abolition movement was very radical and often encouraged lawlessness to accomplish its ends.  Joseph Smith preached the importance of upholding the law of the land, which included the institution of slavery.  Church policy prohibited missionaries from baptizing slaves without the permission of their master.  To support his arguments, Joseph Smith borrowed heavily from the southern fundamentalist rhetoric of his time.  Of these popular arguments, the curse of Ham endured the longest.  Ham, the son of Noah, was cursed to be a "servant of servants" as recorded in the following passage from the Bible:

And the sons of Noah, that went forth from the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japeth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.  These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.  And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  And Shem and Japeth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.  And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.  God shall enlarge Japeth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (1, emphasis added)

It had been popularly taught, at least since A.D. 200, by both Christian and Jewish scholars, that the descendants of Ham or Canaan form the present day African races.  Southern fundamentalists used this scripture to justify the enslavement of the African races, for God cursed them to perpetual servitude.

Later in his life, living in Illinois and running for the presidency of the United States, Joseph Smith wrote a platform containing a plan to abolish slavery.  The tone of his rhetoric changed substantially after he left Missouri.  It is interesting to speculate how things may have been different if he had lived and continued in his anti-slavery sentiments; however, it is important to note that although Joseph Smith spoke on the issue of slavery, non of his statements ever mentioned African Americans and the Priesthood. (2)

ELIJAH ABEL: THE FIRST TO HOLD THE PRIESTHOOD

They say actions speak louder than words.  They also say the pen is mightier than the sword.  The latter must be the case because, although Joseph Smith never spoke or wrote about African Americans and the priesthood, he did ordain an African American to the office of elder.  Elijah Abel was born a free man (2a) and baptized in Maryland, in 1832, just two years after the organization of the Church.  He moved to Kirtland, Ohio to join the Saints and was there ordained to the office of elder in 1836.  Six months later he was called to serve in the third quorum of the seventy and received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. who seems to have been quite aware of Abel's unique status as an African American, for instead of declaring his lineage from one of the tribes of Israel, he was declared "an orphan," but promised equality with his brethren in the eternities.  Elder Abel served his first mission for the Church to New York and Canada.  In 1836, he moved from Kirtland to Nauvoo where he participated in the temple ordinance of baptism for the dead.  It is interesting to speculate as to whether or not he would have received his endowment if he had remained in Nauvoo.  In 1842, he moved again from Nauvoo to Cincinnati where he married Mary Ann Adams. (3)  In 1843, a traveling high council visited Cincinnati but refused to recognized Elder Abel for the sake of public appearance and called him to his second mission to the "coloured population" of Cincinnati, marking the first time an African American was restricted in his Church activities because of his color.

Elder Abel rejoined the Saints in Utah in 1853.  By then, President Young had greatly strengthened the church's policies towards African Americans.  Elder Abel petitioned President Young for his and his wife's temple endowment and sealing, but he was denied; however, no attempt was made to remove his priesthood or drop him from the third quorum of the seventies.  He remained active in the quorum until his death.  President Taylor also denied his petitions, but called him to serve his third mission to Ohio and Canada.  He returned very ill and died at the age of 83. (4) Elder Abel's life serves as an excellent example of how Church priesthood policy evolved from non-existence to strict denial of blessings.

BRIGHAM YOUNG: THE AUTHOR OF PRIESTHOOD RESTRICTION

Almost immediately after the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young returned to the old rhetoric concerning African Americans and the curse of Ham.  Brigham Young actually subscribed to another common, although less popular theory that the descendants of Ham were also the descendants of Cain, Ham having married a woman of that race.  The curse of Cain included a mark as recorded in the following passage from the Bible:

And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?  And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?  And he said, what hast thou done?  The voice of thy broker's blood crieth unto me from the ground.  And now art thou cursed form the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.  And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.  Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I hide; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.  And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold, and the Lord put a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.  (Emphasis added) (5)

Some scholars interpreted the mark placed upon Cain as the black skin of the African peoples.

President Young remained very strict in his interpretation.  He believed the curse included not only priesthood restriction but also black skin and perpetual servitude.  He believed the curse could only be removed by God and that the Civil War effort to free the slaves was in vain.  He believed that the Civil War would destroy the United States and spread to every nation, until the Saints could return to Missouri and build a temple in Jackson County.  The slaves could only be freed by a decree from God by revelation to the prophet accompanied by the removal of the mark of Cain.  It was not expected before the millennium.

The first statement linking priesthood denial with the curse of Cain was given by Brigham Young in response to the question, "What chance is there for the redemption of the Negro?"  Young responded, "The Lord had cursed Cain's seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood." (6)

President Young never cited Joseph Smith for the source of his doctrine but stated it in his own authority as a prophet, even in the name of Jesus Christ on a least one occasion.  In 1852, while addressing the state legislature, Young stated: "Any man having one drop of the seed of [Cain]...in him cannot hold the priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spoke it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and others know it." (7)  He did not say that it was revealed to him but that it was known.  He may have meant the same thing, or he may have been relying on his own feelings.  The concept of equality among the races had not yet been born in the United States, but it soon would be.

JANE MANNING JAMES: PIONEER WOMAN

Elijah Abel was not the only African American friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Jane Manning James had been born free and worked as a housekeeper in Joseph Smith's home.  When she requested the temple ordinances, President Taylor took her petition to the quorum of the Twelve, but precedence prevailed.  When Wilford Woodruff became president of the Church, he comprised and allowed Sister James to be sealed to the family of Joseph Smith as a servant. (8)  This was unsatisfying to Sister James as it did not include the saving ordinance of the endowment, and she repeated her petitions.  She died in 1908, true to the faith, bearing testimony of the true fulness of the restored gospel.  President Joseph F. Smith honored her by speaking at her funeral. (9)  The unusual concession granted to Sister James illustrates the discomfort leaders felt about priesthood restriction.

SAMUEL D. CHAMBERS: ENSLAVED SAINT

Samuel D. Chambers was another early African American pioneer.  He was baptized secretly at the age of thirteen when he was still a slave in Mississippi.  He was unable to join the main body of the church and lost track of them until after the Civil War.  He was thirty-eight when he had saved enough money for him to immigrate to Utah with his wife and son.  Although he did not hold the priesthood, he participated actively in his ward by assisting the deacons, offering public prayers, and bearing his testimony.  He was grateful to the Lord for having lead him from bondage to live among the saints in Zion. (10)  Brother Chambers found joy and peace in his membership with the Church in spite of his restricted participation.

JOSEPH F. SMITH: UNCERTAINTY

President Joseph F. Smith dominated the African American issue during the first quarter of the twentieth century.  The death of President Young and the presidency of John Taylor brought many questions to the issue of African Americans.  Although Young left no doubt that they should not receive the priesthood, he left other issues unresolved.  The most important developments of this period are the change of authorship for the policy of priesthood restriction from Brigham Young to Joseph Smith and the use of the Pearl of Great Price in the justification of this policy.

First, as the author of the restoration, Joseph Smith has always been held in high regard, and all church doctrines have been traced back to him.  Brigham Young relied on his own charisma and prophetic authority.  He never attempted to cite Joseph Smith as the author of this policy.  President Taylor and his successors apparently felt less sure of themselves, for there arose a great desire to attribute the policy of priesthood denial to Joseph Smith.  Attempts to shift authorship of the policy from Brigham Young to Joseph Smith were thwarted more by Elijah Abel than any other thing.  Brother Abel was living, breathing proof that an African American was ordained to the priesthood in the days of Joseph Smith.  The issue came up repeatedly in quorum meetings as Elder Abel continually petitioned for his temple endowment.  Joseph F. Smith stood up for Elijah Abel testifying of his rightful claim to the priesthood while others said that he had been dropped from the quorum.  Eventually, even Joseph F. Smith began telling the story that way, suddenly remembering that his priesthood had been declared null and void by the Prophet Joseph Smith himself.  Never mind that Joseph F. Smith also taught that the priesthood could not be removed from any man without removing that man from the church.  From this point on Joseph Smith was easily and repeatedly referred to as the author of many statements, which had actually been made by Brigham Young, on the subject of priesthood restriction. (11)

Second, the Church leadership began using the newly canonized Pearl of Great Price to justify the priesthood restriction.  Before 1900, leaders needed only to cite the cursed lineage as reason to deny the priesthood, but near the turn of the century scientists dismissed the reality of a universal flood and identified the descendants of Ham to be Semites, modern Jews and Arabs.  Popular opinion shifted as well.  People no longer accepted the traditional African genealogies linking them with Ham and Cain.  Church leaders needed something else to justify priesthood restriction.  The following verse is what they found.

Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessing of the earth, and with the blessing of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining the priesthood.  Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of the priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was lead away by their idolatry.  (Emphasis added.) (12)

Although this verse makes it clear that the descendants of Ham were denied the priesthood, it does not link them with modern Africans.

MARY LUCILLE BANKHEAD: BORN IN THE CHURCH

Most African Americans joined the church after much soul searching or a powerful spiritual experiences.  Their children seldom shared their faith.  Sister Bankhead is an exception to that scenario.  Sister Bankhead comes from a proud pioneer heritage, descended on her mother's side from both Jane Manning James and Green Flake, who drove Brigham Young's wagon in the Salt Lake Valley.  She was baptized at the age of eight and remained faithful to the church all her life.

When asked about her feelings concerning the priesthood restriction, she commented that she knew the restriction would someday be lifted, but when the announcement was actually made, she was astonished.  Although she was very happy about the change, she also recognized that lifting the priesthood restriction would not cure racism and that many members were heading for difficult times if they would someday have to accept an African American bishop.

Sister Bankhead's unique lifetime experience in the Church speaks to the great diversity to be found among African American Mormons.

JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH: THEOLOGICAL SOLUTION

The most influential man of the second quarter of the twentieth century was Joseph Fielding Smith.  Joseph Fielding Smith finally solved the theological problem faced by the policy of priesthood restriction when he published a book titled, The Way to Perfection.  Here was the first extensive explanation of this peculiar church policy.  In addition to describing the ancient genealogies and the curses of Ham and Cain he also explained at great length a theory which had grown in popularity among the grass roots of the church since 1885 but had never received official endorsement from church leaders.  This theory was that African Americans were denied the priesthood in this life because they had been less than valiant in the premortal life. (14)  It was argued that during the war in heaven they had been sympathetic to Lucifer's cause yet unwilling to rebel against the Father.  This theory had great appeal among the member so the church because it made things fair.  Church policy was not arbitrarily racist but African Americans actually deserved this negative status as a result of their lack of faithfulness before birth.  This theory had been condemned by Brigham Young who saw no need to go beyond the cursed genealogies, but as mentioned before the theories concerning the genealogy of Africans had been losing popularity due to new scientific evidence to the contrary.  Soon after the publication of this book, church leaders began referring to the war in heaven for justification of the African American policy.

Joseph Fielding Smith had solved the theological problem concerning the African American policy, but he had done nothing for the practical problem of determining who should be allowed to receive the priesthood.

In the United States, priesthood eligibility was determined by appearance unless it was known that a man had an African ancestor.  In the nation of South Africa, British and Dutch settlers were required to trace their genealogy back to Europe.  But, in Brazil it was an all together different matter.  The people of Brazil are of such mixed race that there is no way to know if an individual has African ancestry and in the Pacific Islands there were non-African people of even darker color that Africans. (15)

DAVID O. MCKAY: POLICY MODIFICATIONS

President McKay did more than any other man to begin eliminating this policy without actually eliminating it.  He presided over the church at a time when the entire country was on fire about civil rights.  Official church statements of this time supported the civil rights movement, but it should be noted that holding the priesthood is not a "civil" right.

During this time, the church came under severe attacks from those promoting civil rights. Temple Square and the church office building were picketed and many universities boycotted BYU sport competitions.

The advances made by President McKay went mostly unnoticed. He approved a petition from a white man with known African ancestry to receive the priesthood after his patriarchal blessing assigned him to a non-cursed lineage. He also approved the petition of an Anglo couple who had adopted two African American children to be sealed to them in the temple. More significantly he shifted the responsibility of genealogical research from the members to the local leadership and later to a committee in Salt Lake City to determine the eligibility of individuals in places like South Africa. And finally, President McKay declared all peoples of the Pacific Islands eligible to receive the priesthood regardless of their color, for they were descended of the Lamanites rather than the Africans.

Had his presidency lasted longer perhaps he would have done even more.(16) He himself, felt that the policy was just a policy and would require no special revelation to reverse it, but he also expressed some sadness in not having felt pressed upon by the spirit to make that change.(17) The most significant statement made by President McKay on this issue is contained in a First Presidency message explaining the policy.

From the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith and all succeeding presidents of the church have taught that Negroes, while spirit children of a common Father, and the progeny of our earthly parents Adam and Eve, were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man. (Emphasis added, 18)

No where did it mention the curse of Cain or the war in Heaven. With that statement, President McKay stripped a controversial church policy of all justification. It could not stand long.(19)

WYNETTA WILLIS MARTIN: BYU'S FIRST

Sister Martin gained the distinction of being the first African American member of the BYU faculty in 1970.  She was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in a very racist environment.  She had been greatly dissatisfied with her religious upbringing and always sought spiritual fulfillment.  Her family participated in a rich musical tradition and she developed quite a talent with her voice.  Some time after her first marriage failed, she met a Mormon mother in the hospital after having a minor surgery on her legs.  She requested that the missionaries visit her, and she prepared for baptism.  She had many wonderful spiritual experiences while investigating the church and had this to say about the priesthood restriction:

These two things, baptism and the Holy Ghost are the only requirement, contrary to popular belief, for entering the celestial kingdom and being with God for eternity if one is worthy.  Therefore, the Priesthood covenants of the Temple which we are not allowed at this point are not really so crucial as popular belief dictates. (Emphasis her own, 20)

This, of course, is an incorrect statement of Church doctrine.  The ordinances of the temple, including marriage, are required in order to attain the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.

After being baptized, her greatest desire was to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so she moved with her two daughters to Salt Lake City and auditioned.  She is thought by many to be the first African American to sing in the choir, but no one knows for sure.  She greatly enjoyed her role as one of the first.  She accepted it as her personal mission to prove to the world that there were in fact African American Mormons and that the Mormons were not racist.  She toured with the choir for two years before accepting her appointment on the faculty at BYU.  She was employed in the training of nurses and tried to help them become more culturally aware. (21)

SPENCER W. KIMBALL: THE END OF AN ERA

President Kimball was an old man when he became president of the church.  No one expected anything radical to take place in his presidency.  National attention had turned from the civil rights movement to the equal rights amendment.  President Kimball was especially interested in the international aspect of Church growth.  He took General Conference on the road, holding area and regional conferences all over the world.  He also announced many new temples to be built both in the United States and abroad.  If there was a point of no return concerning the demise of the Church's African American policy, it was the announcement of the temple in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The problem of determining priesthood eligibility in Brazil was nearly impossible due to the mixing of the races in that country.  When the temple was announced, Church leaders realized the impossibility of restricting temple attendance from persons of African descent.

However, President Kimball was painfully aware of the discord a change of this policy would create, even among his own quorum of the Twelve. Elder Bruce R. McConkie had published in his Mormon Doctrine that African Americans would not receive the priesthood until the millennium.  President Kimball reportedly worried about revealing the change in policy to the point in which his wife Camilla actually worried about his health.  Finally, on June 8, 1978, the First Presidency released to the press an official declaration, now a part of the standard works of the Church, which contained the following statement:

He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that follows there from, including the blessings of the temple.  Accordingly, all worthy male-members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color.  Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness. (Emphasis added, 22)

Reactions to the declaration were mixed.  Most were elated; some were confused; a few were outraged.  African Americans who joined the Church after 1978 were seldom taught about the previous policy concerning them, indicating a general discomfort with it among the membership.  When they did learn of it, it was sometimes difficult to come to terms with, but not always. When Cleolivia Lyons was interviewed in 1988, she had this to say on the subject,

I never did give that too much thought because I figured the Church was being organized.  When people are being organized, there' a lot they don't understand.  It's a lot of what I call 'brain washed.'  A lot of whites have been brainwashed to think that Heavenly Father doesn't want a certain race of people to do a certain thing." (23)

HELVECIO MARTINS: THE FULL CIRCLE

Elder Martins was the first African American to be called to serve in the quorum of the seventy since Elijah Abel more that 150 years previous.  Elder Martin was born in Brazil to parents descended from African slaves.  He had found success in his professional life but felt unfulfilled with the religious life he was pursuing.  The missionaries visited his home in 1972 while he was going through a difficult spiritual crisis.  The missionaries visited his home late one night and were worried about how to teach an African since the church had not yet reversed its polity.  Indeed, Elder Martins first question upon inviting the missionaries into his home concerned the Church's attitude toward race.  The spiritual experiences that the Martins family had while investigating the Church superseded their concerns for the racial policy of priesthood restriction, and they were baptized.  They experienced much resistance from members of their extended family and former church friends, but eventually found peace with them.  Elder Martins served in his ward as a Sunday school teacher.  He was not troubled by the priesthood restriction, but others were.  Often, members of the ward would ask him how he could remain a member of the Church without the priesthood.  It was never an issue for him .  He had resolved the issue in his own mind and never expected to receive the priesthood.

When the announcement came, he describes his reaction and that of his wife as unbelieving.  It was something for which they had not dared to hope.  Elder Martins then served as a member of the stake presidency, bishop, mission president, and finally second quorum of the seventy.  His son was one the first three Africans to serve a full time mission for the church in nearly one hundred years. (24)

With the calling of Elder Martins to the quorum, the Church had, in a sense, gone full circle on this issue.  The African American policy evolved in a peculiar way, from exclusion, which was the status quo of the time, to equality, which is the ideal for the future.  During its evolution it was justified in many ways, the curse of Ham, the curse of Cain, the Pearl of Great Price, and the war in heaven. This policy has affected people very differently, as it is sure to continue to affect those who investigate the Church.

SOURCES CONSULTED

Primary Sources

• Bankhead, Mary Lucille, "Oral History," interviewed by Alan Cherry, 1985, LDS Afto-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
• Chapel, Gilmore H. "Oral History," interviewed by Alan Cherry, 1986, LDS Afro-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
• Cherry, Alan Gerald, It's You and Me, Lord!, Trilogy Arts Publications: Provo, Utah, 1970.
• Doctrine and Covenants, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989.
• Holy Bible, King James Version, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989.
• Lyons, Cleolivia, "Oral History," interviewed by Alan Cherry, 1988, LDS Afro-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Wester Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
• Martin, Wynetta Willis, Black Mormon Tells Her Story, Hawks Publications, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1972.
• Martins, Helvecio with Mark Grover, The Autobiography of Elder Helvecio Martins, Aspen Books; Salt Lake City, Utah, 1994.
• Pearl of Great Price, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989.

Secondary Sources

• Bringhurst, Newel G., Saints, Slaves, and Blacks, Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut, 1981.
• Bush, Lester E. Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, editors, Neither White nor Black, Signature Books: Midvale, Utah, 1984.
• Hawkins, Chester L. "Report on Elijah Abel and his Priesthood," unpublished manuscript, Special Collections, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1985.
• Embry, Jessie, Black Saints in a White Church, Signature Books: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1994.

FOOTNOTES

1. Genesis 9:18-27. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
2. Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. mauss, editors, Neither White nor Black, Signature Books: Midvale, Utah, 1984, pp. 54-65. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
1. This was a mistake on my part. Elijah Abel was not born a free man. He was born a slave but came to earn his freedom before he was baptized. (-eh 16 Apr 2005) Use your browser's [back] button to return.
3. Marry Ann Adams was also an African American. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
4. Chester L. Hawkin, "Report on Elijah Abel and his Priesthood," unpublished manuscript, special collections, Brigham Young University, 1985. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
5. Genesis 4: 9-15. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
6. Quoted by Lester E. Bush, Jr. in "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview" published in Neither White nor Black, Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, editors, Signature Books, Midvale, Utah, 1984. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
7. Quoted by Lester E. Bush, Jr. in "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine" published in Neither White nor Black, Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, editors, Signature Books, Midvale, Utah, 1982, p. 70. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
8. It is customary, in the LDS Church to seal children to parents, and spouses to each other, but this seems to have been an exceedingly exceptional case.  No one else, to the author's knowledge, has ever been sealed to anyone as a servant. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
9. Jessie L. Embry, Black Saints in a White Church, Signature Books: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1994, pp. 40-41. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
10. Jessie L. Embry, Black Saints in a White Church, Signature Books: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1994, pp. 40-41. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
11. Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, editors, Neither White nor Black, Signature Books: Midvale, Utah, 1984, pp. 76-86. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
12. Abraham 1:26-27. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
13. Mary Lucille Bankhead Oral History, interviewed by Alan Cherry, 1985, LDS Afro-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
14. This theory may have attained the status of doctrine, for it was quoted in First Presidency statements, but it is unclear, for it was never canonized and no longer appears in Church publications. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
15. Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, editors, Neither White nor Black, Signature Books: Midvale, Utah, 1982, pp. 86-91. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
16. Not to say that President McKay had a personal agenda, but that the Lord cannot reveal anything to those unwilling to receive it. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
17. President Kimball felt that the policy was too much ingrained in the minds of the membership, and pressed the Lord for a revelation to reverse the policy of priesthood restriction. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
18. Reprinted by Newel G. Bringhurst, Saints, Slaves, and Blacks, Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut, 1981, pp. 223. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
19. Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, editors, Neither White nor Black, Signature Books: Midvale, Utah, 1982, pp. 92-96. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
20. Wynetta Willis Martin, Black Mormon Tells Her Story, Hawks Publications: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1972, pp. 56. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
21. Wynetta Willis Martin, Black Mormon Tells Her Story, Hawks Publications: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1972. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
22. Doctrine and Covenants: Official Declaration 2. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
23. Cleolivia Lyons Oral History, interviewed by Alan Cherry, 1988, LDS Afro-American Oral History Project, Charles Redd Center for Wester Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, pp.16. Use your browser's [back] button to return.
24. Helvecio Martins with Mark Grover, The Autobiography of Helvecio Martins, Aspen Books: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1994. Use your browser's [back] button to return.

Paper written August 1995. Web page published to http://www.geocities.com/solmes.geo Aug 1998, updated 17 Apr 2005, all links checked 17 Apr 2005.

Web page published to blogger.com 03 July 2009

See Also:

• LeBaron, E. Dale; African Converts Without Baptism: A Unique and Inspiring Chapter in Church History; BYU Speeches, 3 Nov 1998.
• Phleps, W. W. ; Free People of Color, History of the Church, Volume 1, 1833, Pages 377-379.
• Pyle, Charles D.; Blacks and the Priesthood
• McConkie, Joseph Fielding; Why were blacks denied the priesthood for so long?
• Walters, Wesley P. and Chris Vlachos; Interview with Apostle LeGrand Richards, 16 Aug 1978.
• Young, Brigham; Intelligence, Etc.; 1859; Page 282-291.
• Young, Brigham; ... The Lamanites ...; Journal of Discourses, Volumne 2, Page 143.
• Young, Brigham; ...Final Redemption of Cain, Journal of Discourses, Volumn 11, 1866, Page 272.
• Young, Brigham; Speech to the legislature on slavery, 1852
• Walsh, John; Are Mormons prejudiced against Blacks?
• Walsh, John; Blacks Are Not Satan's Representatives
• Walsh, John; Interracial Marriage

How to write an autobiography (or biography)

Remember! As you now desire information about your ancestors, so will your descendants desire information about you. Will you leave it for them? Pictures too? Write your histories in chronological order as the life was actually lived. First make an outline, listing every event in proper sequence. Small, three by five inch slips of paper with the day, month and year of each individual event can be arranged in chronological order easily. Write interestingly and in detail--paper is cheap (see Saviors on Mt. Zion, chapters 6-11).

Suggestion list:

1. 1. Your full name, day of birth, house or hospital where born (town, county, state or country). When listing homes, schools, church houses, etc, give exact address and dates if possible.
2. 2. Your father. Give full name, date and place of birth; his parents' full names and where they came from (trace back to the foreign countries on your lines--city and country). This can be done in a brief paragraph.
3. 3. Your mother. Give the same information as for your father.
4. 4. Infancy and early childhood. Date and place of blessing (Ward and Stake), by whom; early memories, health, etc. Get interesting incidents of early life from parents and other old-timers who were associated with the family.
5. 5. Early environment. Financial, social, physical, religious (Primary, Sunday School, etc.)
6. 6. Home training. Incidents (happy, humorous, mischievous, tragic), problems, duties, your brothers and sisters, playtime activities (inside and outside), other memories, etc. (include pictures of homes, wards, play areas--infancy up to about age six.)
7. 7. School days. Early recollections, activities, special teachers, friends, your health, report cards, etc. (Pictures of schools, class pictures, activities, etc.--see yearbooks, scrapbooks, newspapers, etc.)
8. 8. Baptism. Date and place (Ward and Stake or Branch and Mission), by whom baptized and confirmed, place of confirmation, etc. Special instructions received from your parents, recollections, thoughts and feelings, etc.
9. 9. Youthful memories. School days continued; adventures, accidents, amusing incidents, thoughts, problems, friends, parties, vacations, travels, sports, hobbies, clubs (school, civic, etc), gangs, scouting (merit badges, activities, etc), M.I.A. activities, parental discipline, studies, books read, movies that influenced you, Sunday School, church activities (ordinations to the Priesthood--dates and by whom ordained), etc.
10. 10. High School, Seminary, College, Institute. Activities, sports, clubs, parties, social life, hobbies, part-time jobs, most valuable or enjoyable classes, teachers, friends, scholarships, courses of study, honors won, graduation, diplomas or certificates received, etc (include appropriate pictures of schools, homes, seminaries, play areas, etc).
11. 11. Patriarchal blessing. Date and place received, by whom given, etc.
12. 12. Mission. Travels, places served (positions held, dates of service, faith promoting experiences, converts, investigators, companions, special problems, etc (include pictures). Be sure to tell the story of getting your own testimony--let your posterity know how you really feel.
13. 13. Military Service. Travels, promotions, experiences, buddies, religious experiences, battles, wounds, dates of service, schooling, training, health, citations, (include pictures and don't forget army letters which may have been preserved--check in the attic and other storage places).
14. 14. Courtship and marriage. When and how you met your spouse, interesting events, dating activities( dances, parties, movies), problems, proposal (date and circumstances), engagement, planning, preparations, marriage date, place, by whom married, honeymoon, travels, in-laws, (include pictures).
15. 15. Occupations. Type of work, responsibilities, promotions, dates of service, where you worked, (city and state, name of company).
16. 16. Parenthood. Full name and particulars of each child, experiences in rearing your family (pleasurable, humorous, tragic), sickness, disappointments, vacations, special traits of children, duties, etc.
17. 17. Public and political life. Appointments, positions held, work in clubs, civic activities, etc. (Give dates, places and appropriate pictures).
18. 18. Special achievements or activities. Publications, inventions, pastimes, handwork, tangible treasures, music, drama, degrees, honors, church positions, travels, faith promoting experiences, difficult problems overcome, baptisms for the dead, genealogical research, and other Temple work, etc.
19. 19. Future plans and ambitions. Things you most desire to accomplish (in business or vocation, in home life, in Church service, etc.)
20. 20. Leave a message to your posterity. Let them know what you really think about life and church service, and what you would most like them to achieve in their lives, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls encountered.

Gladys Knight 1984-1993

1984 Gladys' son, Jimmy Newman, graduated from the University of San Diego.

In 1985, Gladys Knight starred in a sticom with Flip Wilson called Charlie and Company. Critics said that it was too much like The Cosby Show. Gladys' daughter, Kenya Newman, graduated from the University of San Diego.

In 1986, she also won a Grammy for the AIDS-benefit record "That's What Friends Are For," which she recorded with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John.

In 1987 Gladys Knight acknowledged a gambling addiction. Her game had been baccarat. She finally called Gamblers Anonymous when she lost $45,000 in one night. she appeared in two TV movies: An Enemy Among Us and Desperado.

In 1989 "Love Overboard" earned Gladys Knight and The Pips a Grammy Award for the Best R&B performance.

March 30, 1989 Gladys Knight made her world premiere as an adult solo artist before more than 2500 people in the main room at Bally's in Las Vegas. Gladys produced a television special for HBO titled Sisters in the Name of Love starring Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. The show won three cable ACE awards. She had a hit song from the James Bond movie "License to Kill."

In 1990, Gladys Knight released and album titled Good Woman featuring songs that she wrote, and she appeared in a play in Los Angeles produced by Barry Hankerson titled Madame Lilly.

In 1992, Glady Knight met Les Brown, a motiviational speaker, when he came backstage at the Regal Theatre in Chicago. Jomo Hankerson, Gladys' stepson, graduated from Pepperdine University.

In 1993, Gladys started dating Les Brown, a motivatinal speaker and in a few months, they were engaged.

In 1994 Gladys Knight released Just For You and she appeared in an episode of New York Undercover

Blacks

by Alan Cherry and Jessie L. Embry

The history of black membership in THE CHURCH of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints can be divided between the era from 1830 to June 1978 and the period since then.

HISTORY. Though few in number, blacks have been attracted to the Church since its organization. Early converts (such as Elijah Abel) joined during the 1830s; others (such as Jane Manning James) joined after the Saints moved to Illinois. Among those who came to Utah as pioneers were Green Flake, who drove Brigham Young's wagon into the Salt Lake Valley, and Samuel Chambers, who joined in Virginia as a slave and went west after being freed. Throughout the twentieth century, small numbers of blacks continued to join the Church, such as the Sargent family of Carolina County, Virginia, who joined in 1906; Len and Mary Hope, who joined in Alabama during the 1920s; Ruffin Bridgeforth, a railroad worker in Utah, converted in 1953; and Helvecio Martins, a black Brazilian businessman, baptized in 1972 (he became a general authority in 1990). These members remained committed to their testimonies and Church activities even though during this period prior to 1978 black members could not hold the priesthood or participate in temple ordinances.

The reasons for these restrictions have not been revealed. Church leaders and members have explained them in different ways over time. Although several blacks were ordained to the priesthood in the 1830s, there is no evidence that Joseph Smith authorized new ordinations in the 1840s, and between 1847 and 1852 Church leaders maintained that blacks should be denied the priesthood because of their lineage. According to the book of Abraham (now part of the Pearl of Great Price), the descendants of Cain were to be denied the priesthood of God (Abraham 1:23-26). Some Latter-day Saints theorized that blacks would be restricted throughout mortality. As early as 1852, however, Brigham Young said that the "time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more" (Brigham Young Papers, Church Archives, Feb. 5, 1852), and increasingly in the 1960s, Presidents of the Church taught that denial of entry to the priesthood was a current commandment of God, but would not prevent blacks from eventually possessing all eternal blessings.

Missionaries avoided proselytizing blacks, and General Authorities decided not to send missionaries to Africa, much of the Caribbean, or other regions inhabited by large populations of blacks. Before World War II, only German-speaking missionaries were sent to Brazil, where they sought out German immigrants. When government war regulations curtailed proselytizing among Germans, missionary work was expanded to include Portuguese-speaking Brazilians. Determining genealogically who was to be granted and who denied the priesthood became increasingly a sensitive and complex issue.

During the civil rights era in the United States, denial of the priesthood to blacks drew increasing criticism, culminating in athletic boycotts of Brigham Young University, threatened lawsuits, and public condemnation of the Church in the late 1960s. When questioned about the Church and blacks, Church officials stated that removal of the priesthood restriction would require revelation from God—not policy changes by men.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. On June 9, 1978, President Spencer W. Kimball announced the revelation that all worthy males could hold the priesthood (See Doctrine and Covenants -- Official Declaration 2). Following the 1978 priesthood revelation, proselytizing was expanded worldwide to include people of African descent. Between 1977 and 1987, Church membership grew from 3,969,000 to 6,440,000, an increase of 62 percent. Because LDS membership records do not identify race, it is impossible to measure accurately the growth of black membership, except in areas where people are largely or exclusively of African descent. In the Caribbean, excepting Puerto Rico, membership grew from 836 to 18,614 and in Brazil from 51,000 to 250,000 during that decade.

In other areas of Latin America, such as Colombia and Venezuela, increasing numbers of blacks also joined the Church. In Europe, blacks, including African immigrants to Portugal, joined the Church. Moreover, in Ghana, Nigeria, and throughout west and central Africa, missionary work expanded at a phenomenal rate. Excluding South Africa, where the membership was predominantly white, membership grew from 136 in 1977 to 14,347 in 1988, almost all in west Africa.

The LDS Afro-American Oral History Project, conducted by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, demonstrated the increasing number of black members in the United States. Through interviews with black Latter-day Saints throughout the country, a symposium on LDS Afro-Americans held at Brigham Young University, and responses to a mailed survey, a more reliable flow of data was generated about the thoughts, feelings, convictions, and experiences of LDS Afro-Americans. The study found that within the Church Afro-Americans experience both high acceptance and, paradoxically, cultural miscommunications. For example, in response to the survey, 81 percent felt their future as blacks in the Church was hopeful. They explained that they experienced more social interactions and more meaningful relationships with Church members of all races, especially whites. At the same time, however, 46 percent said white members were not aware of the "needs and problems of black members." Some felt a lack of fellowship as well as economic and racial prejudice from white members.

Black Latter-day Saints are a nonhomogeneous mix of various "kindreds, tongues, and peoples" emerging from thousands of years of unprecedented religious and cultural exclusions. As with LDS Afro-Americans, many black members outside the United States encounter contrasting circumstances of full ecclesiastical involvement, on the one hand, and general Church ignorance of their respective cultures, on the other hand. Local leaders and members (primarily white Latter-day Saints) often lack a good working knowledge of black members' needs, concerns, and circumstances. Despite the 1978 priesthood revelation and expanded missionary work among blacks, unexplored challenges to their growth and retention remain in counterpoint to their happiness with priesthood inclusion.

Despite the cultural miscommunications that remain, black Latter-day Saints enjoy opportunities in all phases of Church activity, including missionary work, quorum leadership, bishoprics, and stake presidencies, along with other members. The first entirely black African stake was organized in 1988. Indeed, black Latter-day Saints may be an LDS historical enigma that has emerged as a prime example of success in LDS brotherhood and sisterhood.

Bibliography

• Bringhurst, Newell G. Saints, Slaves, and Blacks. Westport, Conn., 1981.
• Carter, Kate B. "The Negro Pioneer." In Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 8, pp. 497-580. Salt Lake City, 1965.
• Embry, Jessie L. "Separate but Equal? Black Branches, Genesis Groups, or Integrated Wards?" Dialogue 23 (Spring 1990):11-37.
• LDS Afro-American Oral History Project. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1985-1988.
• Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 1, Blacks

Copyright © 1992 by Macmillan Publishing Company

This text was found on a web site titled All About Mormons in 2003. The URL for that site was http://www.mormons.org. That URL is now an official site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and All About Mormons is no longer active. Some of their pages have moved to lightplanent.com

• Are Mormons prejudice against blacks? by W. John Walsh
• Do Mormons believe that Blacks are the representatives of Satan? by W. John Walsh
• Is Skin Color a Curse by God? by W. John Walsh
• Do Latter-day Saints believe being black is a disadvantage? by W. John Walsh
• Do Mormons consider interracial marriage a sin? by W. John Walsh

Another Biography of Roberta Hagar Jamieson

ROBERTA HAGAR JAMIESON
A BIOGRAPHY
CORRESPONDENCE WITH
DIANNA SOLMES
IN ANSWER TO HER LETTER
INQUIRING AFTER HER GENEALOGY
BY
ROBERTA M. JAMIESON LOCHER
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
MARCH 1990
ROBERTA HAGAR JAMIESON

Roberta Modesto Hagar was born in Mansfield, Ohio, January 20, 1895 to Robert Hagar and Louise Modesto Bettencourt. Louise Bettencourt was one of several sisters of a New Orleans family named Bettencourt. Bettencourt is an Anglicized version of the original de Bettencourt pronounced in the French manner. The father of this family, as the story goes, was the governor of the Canary Island who had a large number of sons -- nine, I think. His wife made a Novena promising that if she had a daughter the sons would all become priests. When the daughter was born, the parents placed all the boys in the monastery. Two or three of them ran away to sea. We are their descendants. Our branch of the family came from one who settled in the Charleston, S.C. area. His offspring became railroad men, running as far as new Orleans. Roberta's maternal grandfather was a railroad man in the New Orleans area. He and his wife had several daughters all of whom, except for Louise, became nuns. I think two left the orders. The names that I remember are Aunt Dessie and Aunt Carrie. Aunt Carrie remained in the convent, and she was still teaching at the age of 80. Louise married Robert Hagar, a Jewish pharmacist, and moved to Mansfield, Ohio. There she had two daughters, Roberta Modesto and "Josie." Her husband Robert died unexpectedly during an epidemic. Louise took her two babies and returned to her family in New Orleans.

Young Roberta and Josie attended Catholic schools until Josie died of "acute indigestion" contracted at school. Louise had married a Mr. Bitterwolf. He had a hard time keeping a job. Roberta quit school and went to work in a cotton mill to help support the family which now included two half brothers, Alvin and Richard. When she as a teenager, she was removed from the family and became a ward of the court due to some family trouble.

The chief juvenile officer offered her a position in his home as governess of his two young sons -- Wallace and Damon. While she was employed there, she met a prominent young man named Pool. He asked her to marry him. They eloped across the state line and lived together. Roberta became pregnant. Mr. Pool's society matron mother was irate because Roberta was not their "kind." She used her influence to have the marriage annulled. This treatment of Roberta incensed the juvenile officer. Since Roberta was still under age, he had Mr. Pool charged under the Mann Act. A sensational trial which ended in a hung jury followed. Mrs. Pool sent her son to Mexico for an extended trip.

Roberta delivered a son, whom she named Wallace, after her earlier charge. A Dr. King was the attending physician. In an attempt to support herself and the baby she took employment as a recreational aid at the Methodist-operated Mary Wherline Mission in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Hugh Jamieson, the lay minister in charge of this "neighborhood house," encouraged her to enroll in a Methodist school for girls. He arranged for a family, friendly to his own family, to care for her young son while she was at school. In the fall of 1915, Hugh Jamieson went to Shreveport, Louisiana, to attend Centenary College and finish his schooling for the ministry. He invited Roberta to attend the state fair there, in January 1916 and talked her into marrying him rather than returning to school. Thus, on January 15, 1916, they were married in a friend's home. Hugh continued school where he was the editor of the student paper. Roberta helped him with his student pastorate assignments which included the Queens' borough Church (a newly organized church in a suburb of Shreveport and now Mangum Memorial United Methodist Church) and a county circuit.

Roberta looked forward to a reunion with her son. Hugh kept putting her off. She was pregnant again. She delivered a baby girl, Roberta Melissa, in October 1916. In January 1918, she had a second son, Hugh William, Jr. World War I was in progress; Hugh became an Army YMCA secretary serving at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and other places. Roberta took her two children and went with him to all these out of the way places. Meanwhile, she was trying to arrange for the return of Wallace. In the course of time, she found out that Hugh had indicated to the Ford family that they could adopt Wallace. Roberta never did accept this condition and repeatedly refused to sign adoption papers. She had two more sons, Robert and David. She never spoke to Hugh's children about Wallace when they were young, but she often called little Hugh Wallace when calling him. The children never knew why. Roberta Melissa remembered the stories about Wallace and Damon and accepted that as the reason. (I do not recall being told that I had a half-brother until I was in high school.)

The Hugh Jamieson family moved to New Orleans where Hugh's mother, brothers and sisters and their families all lived. The Hugh Jamieson family fell into the middle of the expanded family. Hugh was the middle of this mother's seven children. He had two older brothers who were followed by his older sister. Then he came, followed by his second sister and two younger brothers. His older sister never married and lived with her widowed mother. All the others did marry and have families. All of these people lived in or near New Orleans plus other members of Hugh's father's family. This group had close ties with the grandmother, who acted as the center. This condition made for fun for the 14 grandchildren but for some touchy relationships with in-laws.

The children all attended school in a comfortable part of town. Hugh worded at Tulane University part-time. Roberta took graduate medical students into her home as boarders. This load of management even with black help took a lot of diplomacy on Roberta's part. To add to Roberta's problems, beside trying to raise four young children, she found herself with health problems. In those years, she had four pregnancies and two miscarriages. She also had a serious case of influenza and a bout with tuberculosis. She was expected to participate in Hugh's church work and his YMCA and college affairs as well as extended family events.

A big change came in her life when Hugh was asked to go to California to take a church attached to a "neighborhood house" in the mission district of San Francisco. This was a whole new situation. The mother of four young children ages three to ten years found herself and children residing on the fourth floor of a downtown building. The children were "underfoot." There was a gymnasium in the building which helped a bit. But the many steps to climb took its toll on Roberta. She became very ill. She underwent major surgery (a hysterectomy) at Stanford University Medical Center. She almost died during this operation.

This event brings to mind Roberta's health history. She was a premature baby, carried around on a pillow in the cold January of Mansfield, Ohio. She grew up in a financially underprivileged home in New Orleans and went to work under poor conditions as a child. When she was twelve years old, she developed a paralysis in her hands. I was discovered that she was suffering from a very unusual condition. Her cervical ribs (the small ones near the base of the neck) were growing abnormally and cutting off the nerves to her hands. It was decided to try a brand new operation to correct this problem. Dr. Rudolph Matas, a surgeon on the faculty of the Tulane University Medical School read the record of the two previous operations and did her operation "by the book." This was the first operation ever done where the heart could be seen functioning and Roberta was the third person to undergo it. When one remembers this was in 1907, long before antibiotics were in use you can understand the amazing feat. During this operation, Roberta had "death" experience of going to the bright light. This experience made her supersensitive most of her life. She seemed to have a bit of E.S.P. At the time of her hysterectomy in 1927, she had another "death" experience and "came back" when she heard one heard one of her little boys crying "mommy." Her "delicate" condition for the next year or so mandated rest. She used this time to read -- As a child, she read as she went to the store for her mother, bumping into trees in the process. Now she read deep philosophical and other nonfiction books. She was getting "college" education on her own.

After two strenuous years in San Francisco, Hugh and his family were moved to southern California. His first appointment there was to San Bernardino on the edge of the desert at the fool of the mountains. Here with all the children in school -- the oldest now beginning junior-high -- Roberta began to have better health. After one year in San Bernardino, Hugh was assigned to Norwalk, a small town closer to Los Angeles. Here Roberta worked closely with the elementary school where she became P.T.A. president, in addition to her work at the church. At church she worked with a Mrs. Hepler to refresh the interior plus decorate the sanctuary beautifully every week. A money making opportunity came up. The church was offered a secondhand furniture shop to run. Roberta was the main force behind the success of this project. She also convinced the parishioners then it would be a good deal to swap very old furniture in the parsonage for better furnishings from the shop. These activities were indicative of the ingenuity and energy with which Roberta faced life.

A surprise appointment moved Hugh and Roberta from Norwalk to trinity Church in Los Angeles as associate pastor. Because this large down town church had no parsonage, the family had to find their own quarters in the LA area. The first home was in Alhambra, California, where she continued her garden work. Soon it became evident that a residence in Los Angeles itself was more practical. The family lived in several different houses. All near Los Angeles High School. Roberta Melissa and Hugh William Jr (now known as Bill) attended there and graduated. Hugh and Roberta were able to put a down payment on a home at 2121 Overland Avenue in the west Los Angeles area. From this house, the daughter and oldest son began attending UCLA. The second son attended University High School while the youngest went to a nearby grade school.

Roberta was always active in teaching Sunday school and attending women society activities. However, because of the size of the church, she was no longer expected to "hold the place together." She had a full time job caring for her active family and entertaining their friends and the church folks. One very special visitor in the summer of 1936 was my half-brother Wallace Ford who was a handsome cadet at West Point. (I enjoyed having a big brother with whom I had serous talks.) Roberta visited Wallace at Christmas time in 1935. They met in New York City. Her youngest son David went with her on that trip. In the fall of 1936, Hugh was appointed the district superintendent of the San Francisco-Fresno District of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Hugh and Roberta and youngest son David moved to San Francisco. Soon, daughter and son, Bill, transferred from U.C.L.A. to U.C. Berkeley. Then the family moved to Berkeley.

A new era opened for Roberta. She traveled with Hugh the many miles he had to drive to cover his district. The family had a base in Berkeley, but they were more or less on their own. The two older children graduated from Berkeley about the time Hugh's term on the district was over. Following that Hugh seven churches in Hollister, Colusa and Farmington. The children had found work in different areas. During the war years, while Roberta was in Farmington, she served long hours as an aircraft observer and helped harvest the walnut crop. She grew a healthy garden full of food which she canned and shared with anyone who needed it. Finally, she gave in and agreed to help out by working as a sales clerk at JC Penny in the baby department in nearby Stockton. After Farmington, they moved to Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. Roberta got a job at the Emporium and worked there until Hugh's death. In frail health herself, she moved to Sacramento, where she bought a house near her daughter who checked in on her daily and grandchildren took turns staying overnight with her.

Finally, in very frail health, she moved to her daughter's home where she lived for twelve and one-half years. She reached the point where she needed extended nursing home care and arrangements were made through her doctor for placement in an excellent facility close to her daughter's home. She lived there with her daughter a daily visitor and grandchildren and great grandchildren coming several times a week. She lived there eighteen months and died on April 4, 1983. She just went to sleep after lunch and never woke up. Her daughter was with her, feeding her lunch, and put her to bed for a nap. She went home and within a half hour was notified that Roberta had passed away.

© 1990 Roberta Locher, File uploaded September 20, 1999 (Happy Birthday, Dad!), Updated March 26, 2002

Biography of Roberta Hagar Jamieson

ROBERTA HAGAR JAMIESON
A BIOGRAPHY
MEMOIRS OBITUARY SUBMITTED TO
THE JOURNAL OF
THE CALIFORNIA-NEVADA CONFERENCE OF
THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
BY
ROBERTA M. LOCHER
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
1983
ROBERTA HAGAR JAMIESON

Roberta Hagar Jamieson was born in Mansfield, Ohio, January 20, 1895. After her father's untimely death, her mother brought her two daughters back to New Orleans, Louisiana where her family lived. Roberta attended Catholic schools in that city and was a sensitive teenager when she began to work full time to help support her impoverished family. One of her jobs was helping at the Mary Wherline mission in New Orleans French quarter. Hugh Jamieson, the lay minster in charge of this "neighborhood house," encouraged her to enroll at a Methodist school for girls. In the fall of 1915, he went to Shreveport, Louisiana to enroll in Centenary College and finish his schooling for the ministry. He invited Roberta to attend the state fair in Shreveport in January of 1916 and convinced her to marry him rather than return to school. Thus, on January 15, 1916, they were married in a friend's home -- incidently, this friend was a cousin of Mrs. Lizzie Glide. Hugh continued school where he was the editor of the student paper. Roberta helped him with his student pastorate assignments which included the Queensborough Church (a newly organized church in a suburb of Shreveport and now Mangum Memorial United Methodist Church) and a county circuit.

In October 1916, their first child, Roberta Melissa, was born. In January 1918, their first son, Hugh William Jr. was born. Later that year, Hugh became and Army YMCA secretary serving Fort Sam Houston and other locations in this capacity.

After the war ended, Roberta and Hugh moved back to New Orleans where Hugh served as Army and Navy executive secretary for the YMCA and served several churches as supply minister. One was a rural circuit north east of New Orleans and finally as pastor of Second Methodist Church in New Orleans. During these years, Roberta had two more sons, Roberta Hagar, and David Lewis. Also, during this time, Tulane University played a big part in their lives. Hugh did "Y" work on the campus, and Roberta took medical students into her home as housing on campus was scarce.

In 1926, Hugh accepted Bishop Cannon's call to come to the Pacific Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church south to serve at Wesley House in the mission district of San Francisco. Roberta, often in frail health, became very ill in San Francisco. She found strength returning after they moved to southern California. With her children all in school, she became active in the PTA, serving as a unit president one year as well as in women's society and Sunday school affairs at church.

During those years when she served with Hugh in San Bernardino, Norwalk, and Trinity Church in Los Angeles, she taught children's classes and helped decorate the church often, with flowers grown in her own garden. Her home was always open to anyone need, from groups of one hundred youth for an after church Sunday evening "sing" with refreshments, to lonely troubled folks who needed a quiet place to refuge for a time.

Though never in robust health, she coped with the double demands of church responsibilities and a lively, active, growing family. In the fall of 1936, she moved with Hugh and youngest son David to the San Francisco Bay area where Hugh became presiding elder of the San Francisco-Fresno district of the Pacific Conference. After the older children transferred from UCLA to UC Berkeley in January 1937, she traveled the district with Hugh. After unification with the Methodist Episcopal church, their service remained in northern California, including pastorates at Hollister, Colusa, Farmington and Glide. During World War II, she was an honored plane watcher and at the request of parishioners, went to work in their walnut orchards. Man power shortages took Hugh into Stockton to help with the boys work at the YMCA and Roberta into the children's department of JC Penny. Both continued their church work at Farmington -- she grew vegetables and canned them and fruit in quantity for whoever needed it. They moved to Glide where he served until retirement. After retirement, Hugh served Hunter's Point Church, where Roberta decorated the altar and taught the children -- including an extended session with handwork for the needy children. While they lived in San Francisco, Roberta worked regular hours as a retail sales person at the Emporium. She continued this work until Hugh's death in 1958.

Becoming ill soon thereafter, she moved to Sacramento to be near her daughter and lived out her days there -- in her own home at first, with grandchildren staying with her. Later when she became ill, she stayed with her daughter. Failing health in November 1981 necessitated the medical care of a convalescent hospital where she lived peacefully until God took her home on Easter Monday afternoon.

Those Sacrament years were one of a ministry of prayer and meditation. Her special prayers were for the Bethlehem Mission and the American Bible Society but all the needs she knew of she lifted to God many hours a day. Her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and many refugee children honored her as their Grandma J who had a word or gift or thought for them. Her minister son -- now deceased, dedicated his first sermon and three study books he authored to her. Her electrical engineer son emulated her study patterns. Her son and daughter teachers continued her example of work with children and youth, especially those less fortunate. Now her grandchildren are continuing the chain she started. All possess her love of God's beautiful things, too, as their love of flowers and gardening attest. God's work continues as her example is followed.

File uploaded, September 20, 1999. by Erin copyright 1983 Roberta M. Locher, Updated March 26, 200

Personal Testimony of Revelation on Priesthood

by Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Priesthood [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], pp. 126-37


I was present when the Lord revealed to President Spencer W. Kimball that the time had come, in His eternal providences, to offer the fulness of the gospel and the blessings of the holy priesthood to all men.

I was present, with my brethren of the Twelve and the counselors in the First Presidency, when all of us heard the same voice and received the same message from on high.

It was on a glorious June day in 1978. All of us were together in an upper room in the Salt Lake Temple. We were engaged in fervent prayer, pleading with the Lord to manifest his mind and will concerning those who are entitled to receive his holy priesthood. President Kimball himself was mouth, offering the desires of his heart and of our hearts to that God whose servants we are.

In his prayer President Kimball asked that all of us might be cleansed and made free from sin so that we might receive the Lord's word. He counseled freely and fully with the Lord, was given utterance by the power of the Spirit, and what he said was inspired from on high. It was one of those rare and seldom-experienced times when the disciples of the Lord are perfectly united, when every heart beats as one, and when the same Spirit burns in every bosom.

Perfect Unity Among Presidency and Twelve
I have thought since that our united prayer must have been like that of the Nephite disciples--the Lord's Twelve in that day and for that people--who "were gathered together and were united in prayer and fasting" to learn the name that the Lord had given to his Church (3 Ne. 27:1-3). In their day the Lord came personally to answer their petition; in our day he sent his Spirit to deliver the message.

And as it was with our Nephite brethren of old, so it was with us. We too had come together in the spirit of true worship and with unity of desire. We were all fasting and had just concluded a meeting of some three hours' duration that was attended by nearly all of the General Authorities. That meeting was also held in the room of the First Presidency and the Twelve in the holy temple. In it we had been counseled by the First Presidency, had heard the messages and testimonies of about fifteen of the Brethren, had renewed our covenants, in the ordinance of sacrament, to serve God and keep his commandments that we might always have his Spirit to be with us, and, surrounding the holy altar, had offered up the desire of our hearts to the Lord. After this meeting, which was one of great spiritual uplift and enlightenment, all of the Brethren except those in the Presidency and the Twelve were excused.

President Kimball Directs
When we were alone by ourselves in that sacred place where we meet weekly to wait upon the Lord, to seek guidance from his Spirit, and to transact the affairs of his earthly kingdom, President Kimball brought up the matter of the possible conferral of the priesthood upon those of all races. This was a subject that the group of us had discussed at length on numerous occasions in the preceding weeks and months. The President restated the problem involved, reminded us of our prior discussions, and said he had spent many days alone in this upper room pleading with the Lord for an answer to our prayers. He said that if the answer was to continue our present course of denying the priesthood to the seed of Cain, as the Lord had theretofore directed, he was prepared to defend that decision to the death. But, he said, if the long-sought day had come in which the curse of the past was to be removed, he thought we might prevail upon the Lord so to indicate. He expressed the hope that we might receive a clear answer one way or the other so the matter might be laid to rest.

The Brethren Share Feelings
At this point President Kimball asked the Brethren if any of them desired to express their feelings and views as to the matter in hand. We all did so, freely and fluently and at considerable length, each person stating his views and manifesting the feelings of his heart. There was a marvelous outpouring of unity, oneness, and agreement in council. This session continued for somewhat more than two hours. Then President Kimball suggested that we unite in formal prayer and said, modestly, that if it was agreeable with the rest of us he would act as voice.

Brethren Unite in Prayer
It was during that prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested mightily upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fulness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord.

President Kimball's prayer was answered and our prayers were answered. He heard the voice and we heard the same voice. All doubt and uncertainty fled. He knew the answer and we knew the answer. And we are all living witnesses of the truthfulness of the word so graciously sent from heaven.

Ancient Curse Removed
The ancient curse is no more. The seed of Cain and Ham and Canaan and Egyptus and Pharaoh (Abr. 1:20-27; Moses 5:16-41; 7:8, 22)--all these now have power to rise up and bless Abraham as their father. All these, Gentile in lineage, may now come and inherit by adoption all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Rom. 8:14-24; 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5; Teachings, pp. 149-50). All these may now be numbered with those in the one fold of the one shepherd who is Lord of all.

A Powerful Witness
In the days that followed the receipt of the new revelation, President Kimball and President Ezra Taft Benson- the senior and most spiritually experienced ones among us- both said, expressing the feelings of us all, that neither of them had ever experienced anything of such spiritual magnitude and power as was poured out upon the Presidency and the Twelve that day in the upper room in the house of the Lord. And of it I say: I was there; I heard the voice; and the Lord be praised that it has come to pass in our day.

"All Are Alike unto God"
Not long after this revelation came, I was scheduled to address nearly a thousand seminary and institute teachers on a Book of Mormon subject. After I arrived on the stand, Brother Joe J. Christensen, under whose direction the symposium was going forward, asked me to depart from my prepared talk and give those assembled some guidance relative to the new revelation. He asked if I would take 2 Nephi 26:33 as a text. This I agreed to do, and, accordingly, spoke the following words:

I would like to say something about the new revelation relative to our taking the priesthood to those of all nations and races. "He [meaning Christ, who is the Lord God] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile" (2 Ne. 26:33).

These words have now taken on a new meaning. We have caught a new vision of their true significance. This also applies to a great number of other passages in the revelations. Since the Lord gave this revelation on the priesthood, our understanding of many passages has expanded. Many of us never imagined or supposed that they had the extensive and broad meaning that they do have.

I shall give you a few impressions relative to what has happened, and then attempt--if properly guided by the Spirit--to indicate to you the great significance that this event has in the Church, in the world, and where the rolling forth of the great gospel is concerned.

Gospel Preached on a Priority Basis
The gospel goes to various peoples and nations on a priority basis. We were commanded in the early days of this dispensation to preach the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (see D&C 133:8, 16). Our revelations talk about its going to every creature (D&C 18:26-28; 58:64; 68:8; 80: 1; 112:28-29; 124:128). There was, of course, no possible way for us to do all of this in the beginning days of our dispensation, nor can we now, in the full sense.

And so, guided by inspiration, we began to go from one nation and one culture to another. Someday, in the providences of the Lord, we shall get into Red China and Russia and the Middle East, and so on, until eventually the gospel will have been preached everywhere, to all people; and this will occur before the second coming of the Son of Man (Matt. 24:14; JS -- M 1: 31 ).

Not only is the gospel to go, on a priority basis and harmonious to a divine timetable, to one nation after another, but the whole history of God's dealings with men on earth indicates that such has been the case in the past; it has been restricted and limited where many people are concerned. For instance, in the day between Moses and Christ, the gospel went to the house of Israel almost exclusively. By the time of Jesus, the legal administrators and prophetic associates that he had were so fully indoctrinated with the concept of having the gospel go only to the house of Israel that they were totally unable to envision the true significance of his proclamation that after the Resurrection they should then go to all the world. They did not go to the gentile nations initially. In his own ministration, Jesus preached only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and had so commanded the Apostles (Matt. 10:6).

It is true that he made a few minor exceptions because of the faith and devotion of some gentile people. There was one woman who wanted to eat the crumbs that fell from the table of the children, causing him to say, "O woman, great is thy faith." (Matt. 15:28; see also Mark 7:27-28; Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:9.) With some minor exceptions, the gospel in that day went exclusively to Israel. The Lord had to give Peter the vision and revelation of the sheet coming down from heaven with the unclean meat on it, following which Cornelius sent the messenger to Peter to learn what he, Cornelius, and his gentile associates should do. The Lord commanded them that the gospel should go to the Gentiles, and so it was. (Acts 10:1-35 .) There was about a quarter of a century, then, in New Testament times, when there were extreme difficulties among the Saints. They were weighing and evaluating, struggling with the problems of whether the gospel was to go only to the house of Israel or whether it now went to all men. Could all men come to him on an equal basis with the seed of Abraham?

There have been these problems, and the Lord has permitted them to arise. There is not any question about that. We do not envision the whole reason and purpose behind all of this; we can only suppose and reason that it is on the basis of preexistence and of our premortal devotion and faith.

You know this principle: God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him" (Acts 17:26-27)--meaning that there is an appointed time for successive nations and peoples and races and cultures to be offered the saving truths of the gospel. There are nations today to whom we have not gone- notably Red China and Russia. But you can rest assured that we will fulfill the requirement of taking the gospel to those nations before the second coming of the Son of Man.

Gospel to Cover Earth Before Second Coming
And I have no hesitancy whatever in saying that before the Lord comes, in all those nations we will have congregations that are stable, secure, devoted, and sound. We will have stakes of Zion. We will have people who have progressed in spiritual things to the point where they have received all of the blessings of the house of the Lord. That is the destiny.

We have revelations that tell us that the gospel is to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people before the second coming of the Son of Man (Matt. 24:14; JS--M 1:31). And we have revelations that recite that when the Lord comes, he will find those who speak every tongue and are members of every nation and kindred, who will be kings and priests, who will live and reign on earth with him a thousand years (Rev. 5:9-10; I Ne. 14: 12; D&C 90:11). That means, as you know, that people from all nations will have the blessings of the house of the Lord before the Second Coming.

We Follow Living Prophets
We have read these passages and their associated passages for many years. We have seen what the words say and have said to ourselves, "Yes, it says that, but we must read out of it the taking of the gospel and the blessings of the temple to the Negro people, because they are denied certain things." There are statements in our literature by the early Brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say,

"You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?" All I can say is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. (See Following the Prophets home page) Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.

We get our truth and light line upon line and precept upon precept (2 Ne. 28:30; Isa. 28:9-10; D&C 98:11-12; 128:21). We have now added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don't matter anymore.{1}

It doesn't make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June 1978. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the Gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the Gentiles.

Time Had Come in the Lord's Timetable
Obviously, the Brethren had had a great anxiety and concern about this problem for a long period of time, and President Spencer W. Kimball had been exercised and had sought the Lord in faith. When we seek the Lord on a matter, with sufficient faith and devotion, he gives us an answer. You will recall that the Book of Mormon teaches that if the Apostles in Jerusalem had asked the Lord, he would have told them about the Nephites (3 Ne. 15:18-24; 16:4). But they did not ask, and they did not manifest the faith and they did not get an answer. One underlying reason for what happened to us is that the Brethren asked in faith; they petitioned and desired and wanted an answer--President Kimball in particular. And the other underlying principle is that in the eternal providences of the Lord, the time had come for extending the gospel to a race and a culture to whom it had previously been denied, at least as far as all of its blessings are concerned. So it was a matter of faith and righteousness and seeking on the one hand, and it was a matter of the divine timetable on the other hand. The time had arrived when the gospel, with all its blessings and obligations, should go to the Negro.

President Kimball Offers Inspired Prayer
Thus, in that setting, on the first day of June 1978, the First Presidency and the Twelve, after full discussions of the proposition and all the premises and principles that are involved, importuned the Lord for a revelation.

President Kimball was mouth, and he prayed with great faith and great fervor; this was one of those occasions when an inspired prayer was offered. You know the Doctrine and Covenants' statement that if we pray by the power of the Spirit we will receive answers to our prayers and it will be given us what we shall ask (D&C 50:30). It was given the President what he should ask. He prayed by the power of the Spirit, and there was a perfect unity, total and complete harmony, between the Presidency and the Twelve on the issue involved.

Revelation Came--and Comes--by Holy Ghost
And when President Kimball finished his prayer, the Lord gave a revelation by the power of the Holy Ghost. Revelation primarily comes by the power of the Holy Ghost. Always that member of the Godhead is involved. But most revelations, from the beginning to now, have come in that way. There have been revelations given in various ways on other occasions. The Father and the Son appeared in the Sacred Grove. Moroni, an angel from heaven, came relative to the Book of Mormon and the plates and relative to instructing the Prophet in the affairs that were destined to occur in this dispensation. There have been visions, notably the vision of the degrees of glory. There may be an infinite number of ways that God can ordain that revelations come. But, primarily, revelation comes by the power of the Holy Ghost. The principle is set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 68:3-4), that whatever the elders of the Church speak, when moved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost, shall be scripture, shall be the mind and will and voice of the Lord.

Presidency and Twelve United Witnesses
On this occasion, because of the importuning and the faith, and because the hour and the time had arrived, the Lord in his providences poured out the Holy Ghost upon the First Presidency and the Twelve in a miraculous and marvelous manner, beyond anything that any then present had ever experienced. The revelation came to the President of the Church; it also came to each individual present. There were ten members of the Council of the Twelve and three of the First Presidency there assembled. The result was that President Kimball knew, and each one of us knew, independent of any other person, by direct and personal revelation to us, that the time had now come to extend the gospel and all its blessings and all its obligations, including the priesthood and the blessings of the house of the Lord, to those of every nation, culture, and race, including the black race. There was no question whatsoever as to what happened or as to the word and message that came.

The revelation came to the President of the Church, and in harmony with Church government, was announced by him; the announcement was made eight days later over the signature of the First Presidency. But in this instance, in addition to the revelation coming to the man who would announce it to the Church and to the world, and who was sustained as the mouthpiece of God on earth, the revelation came to every member of the body that I have named. They all knew it in the temple.

Eternal Import of This Revelation
In my judgment this was done by the Lord in this way because it was a revelation of such tremendous significance and import; one that would reverse the whole direction of the Church, procedurally and administratively; one that would affect the living and the dead; one that would affect the total relationship that we have with the world; one, I say, of such significance that the Lord wanted witnesses who could bear record that the thing had happened.

Now, if President Kimball had received the revelation and had asked for a sustaining vote, obviously he would have received it and the revelation would have been announced. But the Lord chose this other course, in my judgment, because of the tremendous import and the eternal significance of what was being revealed. This affects our missionary work and all of our preaching to the world. This affects our genealogical research and all of our temple ordinances. This affects what is going on in the spirit world, because the gospel is preached in the spirit world preparatory to men's receiving the vicarious ordinances that make them heirs to salvation and exaltation. This is a revelation of tremendous significance.

Revelation Affects Both Sides of the Veil
The vision of the degrees of glory begins by saying, "Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth" (D&C 76:1 ). In other words, in that revelation the Lord was announcing truth to heaven and to earth because those principles of salvation operate on both sides of the veil; and salvation is administered to an extent here to men, and it is administered to another extent in the spirit world. We correlate and combine our activities and do certain things for the salvation of men while we are in mortality, and then certain things are done for the salvation of men while they are in the spirit world awaiting the day of resurrection.

Saints Should Avoid Speculation and Exaggeration
Once again a revelation was given that affects this sphere of activity and the sphere that is to come. And so it has tremendous significance; the eternal import was such that it came in the way it did. The Lord could have sent messengers from the other side to deliver it, but he did not. He gave the revelation by the power of the Holy Ghost. Latter-day Saints have a complex: many of them desire to magnify and build upon what has occurred, and they delight to think of miraculous things. And maybe some of them would like to believe that the Lord himself was there, or that the Prophet Joseph Smith came to deliver the revelation, which was one of the possibilities. Well, these things did not happen. The stories that go around to the contrary are not factual or realistic or true, and you as teachers in the Church Educational System will be in a position to explain and to tell your students that this thing came by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that all the Brethren involved, the thirteen who were present, are independent personal witnesses of the truth and divinity of what occurred.

Revelation Incomprehensible to Carnal Mind
There is no way to describe in language what is involved. This cannot be done. You are familiar with the Book of Mormon references where the account says that no tongue could tell and no pen could write what was involved in the experience and that it had to be felt by the power of the Spirit (3 Ne. 19:32; see also 3 Ne. 17:15-17). This was one of those occasions. To carnal people who do not understand the operating of the Holy Spirit of God upon the souls of man, this may sound like gibberish or jargon or uncertainty or ambiguity; but to those who are enlightened by the power of the Spirit and who have themselves felt its power, it will have a ring of veracity and truth, and they will know of its verity. I cannot describe in words what happened; I can only say that it happened and that it can be known and understood only by the feeling that can come into the heart of man. You cannot describe a testimony to someone. No one can really know what a testimony is--the feeling and the joy and the rejoicing and the happiness that come into the heart of man when he gets one --except another person who has received a testimony. Some things can be known only by revelation. "The things of God knoweth no man, except he has the Spirit of God" (JST 1Cor. 2:11 ).

This Revelation a Sign of the Times
This is a brief explanation of what was involved in this new revelation. I think I can add that it is one of the signs of the times. It is something that had to occur before the Second Coming. It was something that was mandatory and imperative in order to enable us to fulfill all of the revelations that are involved, in order to spread the gospel in the way that the scriptures say it must spread before the Lord comes, in order for all of the blessings to come to all of the people, according to the promises. It is one of the signs of the times.

All the Brethren United in Testimony
This revelation that came on the first day of June 1978 was reaffirmed by the spirit of inspiration one week later on June 8, when the Brethren approved the document that was to be announced to the world. And then it was reaffirmed the next day, on Friday, June 9, with all of the General Authorities present in the temple, that is, all who were available. All received the assurance and witness and confirmation by the power of the Spirit that what had occurred was the mind, the will, the intent, and the purpose of the Lord.

God Guiding the Church
This is a wondrous thing; the veil is thin. The Lord is not far distant from his church.

President Kimball is a man of almost infinite spiritual capacity --a tremendous spiritual giant. The Lord has magnified him beyond any understanding or expression and has given him His mind and His will on a great number of vital matters that have altered the course of the past -- one of which is the organization of the First Quorum of the Seventy. As you know, the Church is being guided and led by the power of the Holy Ghost, and the Lord's hand is in it. There is no question whatever about that. And we are doing the right thing where this matter is concerned.

Great Gratitude Because of This Revelation
There has been a tremendous feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving in the hearts of members of the Church everywhere, with isolated exceptions. There are individuals who are out of harmony on this and on plural marriage and on other doctrines. but for all general purposes there has been universal acceptance; and everyone who has been in tune with the Spirit has known that the Lord spoke, and that his mind and his purposes are being manifest in the course the Church is pursuing.

We talk about the scriptures being unfolded--read again the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16) and remind yourselves that those who labor through the heat of the day for twelve hours are going to be rewarded the same as those who came in at the third and sixth and eleventh hours. Well, it is the eleventh hour; it is the Saturday night of time. In this eleventh hour the Lord has given the blessings of the gospel to the last group of laborers in the vineyard. And when he metes out his rewards, when he makes his payments, according to the accounts and the spiritual statements, he will give the penny to all, whether it is for one hour or twelve hours of work. All are alike unto God, black and white, bond and free, male and female. (Priesthood [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], pp. 126-37.)

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Notes

1. Illustrating the perfect harmony that exists between the doctrine and practice of the Church both here and in the spirit world, Elder McConkie said to a family gathering in Colorado Springs, on July 26, 1978, "This means that the same revelation had to be given to the Brethren in the Church in the spirit world, so that they can conform their preaching of the gospel to our new system on earth."

At that same gathering, to dramatize the significance of this revelation, he said, "This revelation is something in the same category as the revelation which caused Wilford Woodruff to issue the Manifesto."

Doctrines of the Restoration, Chapter 9

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