All About Mormons

African Americans have been members of the Church since its conception.

Baptized by Ezekiel Roberts in 1832, Elijah Abel is ordained an Elder by Joseph Smith (possibly) and a Seventy by Zebedee Coltrin.

• He was informally adopted by Joseph Smith, Sr., President Joseph Smith’s father, and so was in a sense the prophet’s brother.
• When Joseph Smith was jailed in Liberty, Missouri, on false charges, Elijah Abel was among those that came to rescue him from death.
• In Utah, he was called to the 3rd Quorum of the Seventy, the 5th highest Church council at the time.
• As a carpenter, Elijah Abel worked on the Salt Lake Temple. Click to take a virtual tour of Temple Square, wherein is found the temple Elijah worked on.
• Together with his wife, he managed the Farnham Hotel.
• He served a mission to Canada when 70 years old.

       (See Minutes of the Seventies Journal, December 20, 1836, BlackMormon, BlackLDS, and BlackLDS)

Walker Lewis is ordained an Elder in 1844.

(See BlackLDS)

William McCary is ordained an Elder 1846.

(See BlackLDS)

Green Flake is critical in leading the Mormons into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. He helped found Fort Union, Utah, originally a black Mormon community.

(See BlackMormon)

John Brown leads 57 white and 37 black Mormons from Mississippi to Utah in 1848. As he left Mississippi, the Southerners were astounded to see a black man leading a group of both black and white pioneers.

(See BlackMormon)

Samuel D. Chambers moves to Salt Lake City in 1870 and is one of the largest land-owners and wealthiest men in the Salt Lake Valley.

(See BlackMormon)

After moving to Salt Lake City to join the Saints, Paul Cephas Howell becomes one of the first African-American police detective in the United States in 1886.

(See BlackMormon)

Enoch Abel, the son of Elijah Abel, is ordained an Elder in 1900.

(See BlackLDS)

Jane James, once employed in the home of Joseph Smith and known as one of the most faithful Mormons in Utah, passes away in 1908. President Joseph F. Smith speaks at her funeral. Upon the death of President Joseph Smith, Jane said, “Yes, indeed. I [knew] the Prophet Joseph…Never passed me without shaking hands with me wherever he was. Oh, he was the finest man I ever saw on earth…When he was killed…I could have died, just laid down and died.”

(See BlackMormon and PBS.org/americanprophet)

Elijah Abel, the grandson of the first Elijah Abel, is ordained an Elder in 1935.

(See BlackLDS)

Currently (2006), blacks serve in leadership positions all around the globe. I personally have had several black bishops. See my Diversity Slide Show for their pictures.