Joseph Smith never was a races.
1836
Elijah Abel Ordained an Elder
In March, Elijah Abel is given the priesthood and ordained to the office of Elder. This is reportedly done by Joseph Smith himself.
Joseph Smith Slavery Editorial
In the April issue of the Messenger and Advocate, Joseph Smith writes that the methods of the abolitionists are not helping the cause of the slaves.
Elijah Abel Listed in the Messenger and Advocate
In the June issue of the Messenger and Advocate, the elders in Kirtland Ohio are listed. Elijah Abel is listed as an Elder.
Elijah Abel Ordained a Seventy
In December Elijah is ordained a Seventy by Zebedee Coltrin. He also becomes a “duly licensed minister of the Gospel” for missionary work in Ohio. (Minutes of the Seventies Journal, December 20, 1836)
Nondiscriminatory Rules Published for Governing the Temple in Kirtland
The rules provided for “old or young, rich or poor, male or female, bond or free, black or white, believer or unbeliever…” (History of the Church 2: 368-69
Letter of the Prophet to John C. Bennett–On Bennett’s Correspondence Anent Slavery.
EDITOR’S OFFICE, NAUVOO, ILLINOIS, March 7, 1842
March 1842, Joseph Smith writes the following in a letter on the subject of slavery, “I have just been perusing your correspondence with Doctor Dyer, on the subject of American slavery, and the students of the Quincy Mission Institute, and it makes my blood boil within me to reflect upon the injustice, cruelty, and oppression of the rulers of the people. When will these things cease to be, and the Constitution and the laws again bear rule? I fear for my beloved country mob violence, injustice and cruelty appear to be the darling attributes of Missouri, and no man taketh it to heart! O tempora! O mores! What think you should be done?”
Your friend,
JOSEPH SMITH
[History of the Church, 4:544]
Note: O tempora! O mores! is a Latin phrase meaning Alas for the times and the manners.
Once, as the Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois he was told of a black man in Nauvoo named Anthony who had sold liquor on Sunday; which was a violation of the Nauvoo City Code. Mormon writer Mary Frost Adams tells us what happened:
“While he was acting as mayor of the city, a colored man named Anthony was arrested for selling liquor on Sunday, contrary to law. He pleaded that the reason he had done so was that he might raise the money to purchase the liberty of a dear child held as a slave in a Southern State. He had been able to purchase the liberty of himself and his wife and now wished to bring his little child to their new home. Joseph said, ‘I am sorry, Anthony, but the law must be observed and we will have to impose a fine.’ The next day Brother Joseph presented Anthony with a fine horse, directing him to sell it, and use the money obtained for the purchase of the child.” (Young Woman’s Journal, p.538)
(THE FOLLOWING IS NOT DOCUMENTED) The horse was Joseph’s prized white stallion, and was worth about $500; a huge sum at the time. With the money from the sale, Anthony was able to purchase his child out of slavery.
http://www.blacklds.org/quotes#boil
Do you mean to say he was never a racist? You can quote whatever you want about what the man may or may not have thought about slavery, but it sounds like he was the one who declared that God told him what he did about the black race - it's right there in your own scriptures, is it not? Did Mormonism allow black men to hold Temple Recommends? Did Mormonism allow black men to serve as bishops? Did not JS claim that black skin was a sign of God's curse upon a race?
I'm sure Colofornian isn't making it all up about what your religion used to hold and that its leaders waited until the late 1970's to think about changing those doctrines towards the black race. It's fine and good to be personally against slavery, but people can be against it and yet still be racists.
ALL: Let me tell you the rest of the story here:
It's two such 1967 books, Berrett's -- and another one by Mormon author John L. Lund -- which gives us more info. (Lund's book was entitled: "The Church and the Negro," Paramount Publishers, Glendale, CA).
Lund wrote [citing caps as it appears in book]:
So the "poster boy" Restornu wants to elevate for the world to see was actually discriminated against by the Mormon church simply because of his skin color.
Lund concedes that Abel wasn't dropped for any moral reason.
Berrett also provides us with plenty more info:
* "This man [Elijah Abel] was one-eighth Negro and was light of color." (Berrett, p. 7)
* "...Elijah Abel was only part Negro...in a meeting, May 31, 1879, at the home of President A.O. Smoot, Provo, Utah, leaders of the Church reapproved that the Priesthood was not for the Negro, and that Elijah Abel was not to exercise any Priesthood rights." (Berrett, p. 8)
* "Brother Coltrin further said: Brother Abel was ordained a seventy because he had labored on the Temple, (it must have been in the 2nd Quorum) and when the Prophet Joseph learned of his lineage he was dropped from the Quorum, and another was put in his place." (Berrett, p. 10)
Did you all catch the above?
While Abel wasn't stripped of his priesthood until May 31, 1879 under Mormon "prophet" John Taylor's reign (Brigham Young had died in 1877), Zebedee Coltrin, the Mormon leader who washed and annointed Abel and later reported racist feelings about it, said...
Per Andrew Jensen's LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 3, p. 577, Abel was ordained a Seventy on April 4, 1841 (he was ordained an Elder March 3, 1836). I've yet to find a date when his Quorum status was revoked by Joseph Smith...if Coltrin is correct--as cited by Berrett, then it would have been anytime the last three years of Smith's life.
Note: There's confusion within Mormon historians if Abel was restored to the Third Quorum of Seventy after 1879, because Andrew Jensen's LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 3, p. 577 records Abel, at the age of 73, undertaking one more mission to Canada representing that Quorum.
Just as many Mormons continued getting married into plural unions in Mexico post 1890 after its Manifesto dispromoting polygamy, if Abel was restored to the Quorum -- this time the Third Quorum -- I suppose the Mormon church didn't mind it as long as Abel was beyond the U.S. Territories (Canada).
Questions, Restornu:
#1 Did you know the above facts -- about Abel FIRST being removed as a Seventy because of his race by Joseph Smith himself? (Certainly the Mormon Church knew this when it tried to subtly blame Brigham Young and those church leaders who followed him in their December 2013 statement; yet actually Brigham Young wasn't the "Prophet" in 1879 when Abel has his priesthood duties revoked; John Taylor was)
#2 Did you know what Zebedee Coltrin later reported about washing and annointed Elijah Abel?
#3 Did you know Abel's priesthood status was dropped at a Provo, Utah meeting on May 31, 1879?
#4 And finally, if you didn't know any of these facts, what Mormon source are you reading that gives you an intentionally incomplete and lopsided "faith-promoting" side of their history, and thereby has lost all credibility?
HA ha!
This is as good a reason to NOT discuss the ERROR of Mormonism as the Catholic claim that their REALLY bad popes did NOT influence their church!
Isn’t this just the historical version of the “I’m not a racist, some of my best friends are black!” defense?