Item Detail
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19447
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3
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18
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English
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"Why Then Introduce Them Into Our Inner Temple?" : The Masonic Influence on Mormon Denial of Priesthood Ordination to African American Men
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John Whitmer Historical Association Journal
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2006
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26
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234-259
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Homer traces the legends of Freemasonry in America including the denial of African Americans into their lodges and temples. This denial was based on the ideas that blacks were not "freeborn" and that their race was cursed by God. The notion that blacks were descended from Ham and were cursed by God was also the explanation given by Brigham Young and other leaders of the Mormon Church to deny the priesthood and the temple endowment to black members. It is unclear whether this ban began with Joseph Smith or with Brigham Young though Young was the first to openly speak on the subject. Homer states that it is possible that the sentiments of American Freemasons towards blacks were carried over to the temple endowment as all of the original receivers of the endowment were masons. If this denial was "inspired by Masonic legends, it is easier to understand why the rationale for the policy was abandoned when it was recognized as an anachronism, and why the policy only continued until a formalistic prerequisite (unconnected to the prior rationale) was realized."
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Black Saints in a White Church : Contemporary African American Mormons
Brigham Young and Priesthood Denial to the Blacks : An Alternate View
David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
Equal Rites : The Book of Mormon, Masonry, Gender, and American Culture
History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Period II : From the Manuscript History of Brigham Young and Other Original Documents
Joseph Smith's Quorum of the Anointed, 1842-1845
Lengthen Your Stride : The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball
Mormonism and the American Experience
Mormonism's Negro Doctrine : An Historical Overview
Neither White nor Black : Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church
Power from on High : The Development of Mormon Priesthood
Saints, Slaves, and Blacks : The Changing Place of Black People within Mormonism
'Similarity of Priesthood in Masonry' : The Relationship between Freemasonry and Mormonism
The Essential Joseph Smith
The Mormon Priesthood Ban and Elder Q. Walker Lewis : "An Example for His More Whiter Brethren to Follow"
The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846 : A Documentary History
The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith
Wilford Woodruff's Journals