Racial Policy Under Brigham Young
After Smith's death in 1844, Brigham Young became president of the main body of the church, and led the Mormon Pioneers to what would become the Utah territory. Like the majority of Americans at the time, Young (who was also the territorial governor) promoted discriminatory views about black people. On January 16, 1852 Young made a pronouncement to the Utah Territorial Legislature stating that "any man having one drop of the seed of ... in him cannot hold the priesthood and if no other Prophet ever spake it before I will say it now in the name of Jesus Christ I know it is true and others know it."
A similar statement by Young was recorded on February 13, 1849. The statement — which refers to the Curse of Cain — was given in response to a question asking about the African's chances for redemption. Young responded, "The Lord had cursed Cain’s seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood."
Read more about this topic: Black People And Mormonism
Famous quotes containing the words racial, policy, brigham and/or young:
“Most young black females learn to be suspicious and critical of feminist thinking long before they have any clear understanding of its theory and politics.... Without rigorously engaging feminist thought, they insist that racial separatism works best. This attitude is dangerous. It not only erases the reality of common female experience as a basis for academic study; it also constructs a framework in which differences cannot be examined comparatively.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.”
—George Marshall (1880–1959)
“John Brown’s body lies a-moldering in the grave,
His soul is marching on.”
—Thomas Brigham Bishop (1835–1905)
“No young man ever thinks he shall die.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)