Item Detail
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30053
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0
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16
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English
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The Exodus of 1912 : A Huddle of Pros and Cons-Mormons Twice Dispossessed
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Journal of Mormon History
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July 2018
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44
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3
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Champaign, IL
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University of Illinois Press; Mormon History Association
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45-69
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In 1912, because of turmoil and insecurity resulting from the Mexican Revolution, thousands of Anglo-Mormon colonists made the decision to leave their homes for the safety of the United States. Many of them had lived in Mexico for almost thirty years. Michael Landon’s wonderful article “We Navigated by Pure Understanding” describes the 1912 Mormon exodus from Mexico as a “flight from persecution and intolerance . . . the journeys of strangers and pilgrims looking for safe havens in an insecure world.” In the same article, Chuichupa Bishop George Sevey’s account of the Saints’ journey from the mountains of Chihuahua to El Paso is riveting. At one point in their migration north the men face an impossible decision. Should they go back, go forward, or go around? Sevey wrote, “We went into a huddle of pros and cons,” a very appropriate metaphor for the Mormon Mexican exodus and its aftermath.
I choose to concentrate on the relationships of the Mormons with their Mexican neighbors, as well as how the revolutionary chaos impacted them. These are the two forces that have had the
least analysis. It is not possible to understand the Mormon exodus from Mexico without understanding the Mestizo culture and society that surrounded them. Even more so, one cannot understand the exodus without a basic understanding of the Mexican Revolution.
The recounting of the history of the colonies, including the exodus has been, in the words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of TED fame, “The Danger of a Single Story.” Most accounts rely on the same three or four authors who in turn rely on the same small collection of Mormon diaries and journals. Very few Mexican or non-Mormon perspectives are added to the mix. What results is a “single story” of the colonists and their exodus; one that represents them and their Church in the very best possible light. I am seeking a fair, yet broader analysis of a very complex issue that includes the Mexican perspective on the situation.
[Author's Introduction] -
Another Good Man : Anthony W. Ivins and the Defeat of Reed Smoot
Anson Bowen Call : Bishop of Colonia Dublan
Cultural 'Encystment' as a Cause of the Mormon Exodus from Mexico in 1912
Finding Refuge in El Paso
Lions, Brothers, and the Idea of an Indian Nation : The Mexican Revolution in the Minds of Anthony W. Ivins and Rey L. Pratt, 1910-1917
Mormon Polygamy : A History
Mormons in Mexico : The Dynamics of Faith and Culture
Ordeal in Mexico : Tales of Danger and Hardship Collected from Mormon Colonists
Romney's Way : A Man and an Idea
The Exodus of the Mormon Colonists from Mexico, 1912
The History of Colonia Dublan
The Importation of Arms and the 1912 Mormon 'Exodus' from Mexico
The Life and Times of Joseph Fish, Mormon Pioneer
"The Lord, God of Israel, Brought us out of Mexico!" : Junius Romney and the 1912 Mormon Exodus
The Mormon Colonies of Northern Mexico : A History, 1885-1912
'We Navigated by Pure Understanding' : Bishop George T. Sevey's Account of the 1912 Exodus from Mexico