A Historical Analysis Of Mormon Afro-American Priests In U.S.A.

During the period from the end of1840s down to the end of1970s, the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints abandoned the-130-year priesthood ban which denied worthyblack males offices within the priesthood at the end of the Civil Rights Movement. Thisdissertation sets forth the background, content and influence of black priesthood denialsystematically and comprehensively with time as the horizontal line and historical events asthe vertical line. Through different effects on black believers at the different historical period,this article expounds the conversion, discrimination and integration policy of LDS Church.Furthermore, this article also helps us to explore how black believers adapt their black cultureto Mormon culture. Besides introduction and conclusion, there are four chapters in this article.Chapter one gives a minute description of Joseph Smith’s, the founder of LDS Church,views on Slavery, black believers and black priests on the basis of Mormon scriptures’prejudices against blacks. This chapter uses statistical diagram as a method ofmicro-understanding Mormon slave owners, black believers and black priests and analyzingthe reasons and effects.Chapter two elaborates the origins and consequences of Black priesthood denial are theconsequence of internal and external factors of Mormon Church. The LDS Church leaders’discrimination against black people, the peculiar doctrines, the humble origins of blackbelieves, together with Slavery and social reality of racial discrimination against blacks worktogether to form the ban.Chapter three reviews the social status and church status of blacks in the early1950slong before the black priesthood denial was repealed and discusses the viability and urgencyof abolishment of black priesthood prohibition. Moreover, in this chapter the author make fulluse of empirical analysis to illustrate great changes have taken place in Mormon Church andits overseas missionary after the church lifted the ban.Chapter four sums up the above, Combines the black priesthood ban with Mormon blackpriests and Mormon black believers to probe the relationship between black social status andblack religious status, and the unification of racial rights with religious rights. Based onempirical analysis, this chapter imagines the development of Mormon Church and theproblems the black priests may be faced.