Century of Black Mormons
@centblckmormons.bsky.social
Century of Black Mormons is a digital history database designed to recover what was lost--the identities of Black Mormons from 1830 to 1930. Visit the database at www.CenturyofBlackMormons.org
Even still, Mary's Century of Black Mormons bio explores the contextual and historical possibilities. Read her full biography here: 7/7 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Century of Black Mormons · Willson, Mary · J. Willard Marriott Library Exhibits
exhibits.lib.utah.edu
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Even still, Mary's Century of Black Mormons bio explores the contextual and historical possibilities. Read her full biography here: 7/7 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Frustratingly, the branch rebaptism records do not include any identifying information such as a birthdate, birthplace, original baptismal date and location, parents’ names, or whether she was enslaved or free—only the year and name of the person rebaptized. 6/7
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Frustratingly, the branch rebaptism records do not include any identifying information such as a birthdate, birthplace, original baptismal date and location, parents’ names, or whether she was enslaved or free—only the year and name of the person rebaptized. 6/7
After a potentially long journey, Mary ended up in the small branch of Nashville. She probably chose rebaptism as a symbol of her rebirth into this new community surrounded by members of her faith. 5/7
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
After a potentially long journey, Mary ended up in the small branch of Nashville. She probably chose rebaptism as a symbol of her rebirth into this new community surrounded by members of her faith. 5/7
The record of rebaptisms indicates that those receiving the ritual “had been baptised [sic] before but added to this branch by being rebaptised [sic],” a not uncommon practice in the nineteenth-century Church. 4/7
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
The record of rebaptisms indicates that those receiving the ritual “had been baptised [sic] before but added to this branch by being rebaptised [sic],” a not uncommon practice in the nineteenth-century Church. 4/7
Over time, as the Saints gathered, the Nashville Branch expanded to include approximately ninety members. Mary Willson was one of those ninety members. She, along with about ten other people, was rebaptized there in 1843. 3/7
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Over time, as the Saints gathered, the Nashville Branch expanded to include approximately ninety members. Mary Willson was one of those ninety members. She, along with about ten other people, was rebaptized there in 1843. 3/7
Nashville was a small settlement south of Nauvoo, across the Mississippi River. In the early 1840s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought land in Nashville on credit for members seeking to escape persecution in Missouri. 2/7
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Nashville was a small settlement south of Nauvoo, across the Mississippi River. In the early 1840s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought land in Nashville on credit for members seeking to escape persecution in Missouri. 2/7
Mary B.B. Smith is the first white person to be included in the Century of Black Mormons database. We have added her to the database as evidence of the reach of the Church's racial restrictions over time. Read Mary's full story here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Century of Black Mormons · Smith, Mary Bowdidge Berry · J. Willard Marriott Library Exhibits
exhibits.lib.utah.edu
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Mary B.B. Smith is the first white person to be included in the Century of Black Mormons database. We have added her to the database as evidence of the reach of the Church's racial restrictions over time. Read Mary's full story here: exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Even though she later divorced Berry (her petition is included here) & sought to be sealed to a white man the Church’s highest authorities ruled that she could not enter a temple & fulfill her request. Church leaders thereby extended the “curse of Cain” to a woman who had no Black African heritage.
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Even though she later divorced Berry (her petition is included here) & sought to be sealed to a white man the Church’s highest authorities ruled that she could not enter a temple & fulfill her request. Church leaders thereby extended the “curse of Cain” to a woman who had no Black African heritage.
After converting to the Church as a young girl, serving a term in a London workhouse, and giving birth to a daughter out of wedlock, she immigrated to Utah Territory where she married a man of mixed racial ancestry, James Preston Berry.
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
After converting to the Church as a young girl, serving a term in a London workhouse, and giving birth to a daughter out of wedlock, she immigrated to Utah Territory where she married a man of mixed racial ancestry, James Preston Berry.
Meet Ethel and learn the rest of her story here: 5/5 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Century of Black Mormons · Burdette, Ethel Irene Wells · J. Willard Marriott Library Exhibits
exhibits.lib.utah.edu
October 8, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Meet Ethel and learn the rest of her story here: 5/5 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Although their baptism and confirmation record does not identify their race, a subsequent membership record includes the word “colored” written above each of their names, a reminder that white was deemed normal in LDS records and Black was marked with a note of difference. 4/5
October 8, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Although their baptism and confirmation record does not identify their race, a subsequent membership record includes the word “colored” written above each of their names, a reminder that white was deemed normal in LDS records and Black was marked with a note of difference. 4/5
Ethel and William became official members of the New England Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when Ethel was twenty-eight, and William was forty-four years old. 3/5
October 8, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Ethel and William became official members of the New England Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when Ethel was twenty-eight, and William was forty-four years old. 3/5
Ethel and William subsequently moved to West Virginia coal country where William again worked in the mines. He would die there at a county poor farm during the Great Depression while Ethel simply disappeared from public records. 2/5
October 8, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Ethel and William subsequently moved to West Virginia coal country where William again worked in the mines. He would die there at a county poor farm during the Great Depression while Ethel simply disappeared from public records. 2/5
The missionary who entered his baptism into a Latter-day Saint ledger book scrawled the words “colored man” in the remarks column of the ledger. Meet Alex and read the rest of his story here: 4/4 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Century of Black Mormons · Brooks, Alex James · J. Willard Marriott Library Exhibits
exhibits.lib.utah.edu
September 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
The missionary who entered his baptism into a Latter-day Saint ledger book scrawled the words “colored man” in the remarks column of the ledger. Meet Alex and read the rest of his story here: 4/4 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
In 1900, at the height of racial segregation in the United States, Brooks joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Meigs, Georgia, a small town of 616 people at the time, the majority of whom were Black. He was 40 years old when he converted. 3/4
September 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
In 1900, at the height of racial segregation in the United States, Brooks joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Meigs, Georgia, a small town of 616 people at the time, the majority of whom were Black. He was 40 years old when he converted. 3/4
However, Brooks also lived through the rapid erosion of those rights as Reconstruction ended and federal troops were withdrawn from the South. Southern white people reasserted white supremacy through intimidation, violence, and Jim Crow laws. 2/4
September 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
However, Brooks also lived through the rapid erosion of those rights as Reconstruction ended and federal troops were withdrawn from the South. Southern white people reasserted white supremacy through intimidation, violence, and Jim Crow laws. 2/4
This despite Church policies which attempted to prevent such rituals for those with African ancestry, even by proxy after death.
Meet Major Dorimus Church and read his full story here: 6/6 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Meet Major Dorimus Church and read his full story here: 6/6 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Century of Black Mormons · Church, Major Dorimus · J. Willard Marriott Library Exhibits
exhibits.lib.utah.edu
September 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
This despite Church policies which attempted to prevent such rituals for those with African ancestry, even by proxy after death.
Meet Major Dorimus Church and read his full story here: 6/6 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
Meet Major Dorimus Church and read his full story here: 6/6 exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of...
In 1939, two years following Major's death, his wife Dora had Major sealed to her by proxy in the Salt Lake Temple. Major thus received temple blessings almost forty years before the Church rescinded the temple and priesthood ban for Black members 5/6
September 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
In 1939, two years following Major's death, his wife Dora had Major sealed to her by proxy in the Salt Lake Temple. Major thus received temple blessings almost forty years before the Church rescinded the temple and priesthood ban for Black members 5/6
In 1907, residents of Eureka, Utah elected Major as City Marshal on the Socialist ticket; he later served as mayor of the same town. He married Latter-day Saint Frances Ledora (Dora) Jacaway and the couple raised their family as Latter-day Saints. 4/6
September 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
In 1907, residents of Eureka, Utah elected Major as City Marshal on the Socialist ticket; he later served as mayor of the same town. He married Latter-day Saint Frances Ledora (Dora) Jacaway and the couple raised their family as Latter-day Saints. 4/6
His brother was denied priesthood ordination as a youth because of their mother's Black African ancestry, but Major was ordained a deacon in the Latter-day Saint lay priesthood sometime before 1914.
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3/6
September 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
His brother was denied priesthood ordination as a youth because of their mother's Black African ancestry, but Major was ordained a deacon in the Latter-day Saint lay priesthood sometime before 1914.
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3/6
After his mother married his father and converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family moved to Millard County, Utah, where they farmed. All subsequent census records listed Major as white. 2/6
September 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
After his mother married his father and converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family moved to Millard County, Utah, where they farmed. All subsequent census records listed Major as white. 2/6