Posted by:
L.A. Exmo
(
)
Date: January 19, 2020 05:09PM
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-19/san-bernardino-mormon-slaveryDevastating (or, at the very least, extremely uncomfortable for mormons) account of mormons importing black and native slaves from Utah when they settled San Bernardino.
Some highlights:
"In 1851, some 450 Latter-day Saints — Mormons — were sent by their church from Utah to establish a colony in what we call the Inland Empire. Within several years, the settlement's population skyrocketed to more than 3,000 — at least as big as, if not bigger, than Los Angeles. …To transform arid land into a thriving agricultural settlement, the Saints exploited dozens of enslaved African Americans that they had brought with them from Utah, as well as an untold number of coerced Native American laborers.
"Slaveholders occupied the upper echelons of the Mormon hierarchy in San Bernardino. According to U.S. census data and the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the colony's co-founder and its bishop owned slaves. One of San Bernardino's high counselors, Robert Mays Smith, did too. In fact, Smith claimed 14 enslaved women and children, making him the largest slaveholder in the continent's Far West.
"To supplement their African American workforce, Mormons purchased and 'adopted' Indian children. By the early 1850s, both California and Utah had legalized Native American servitude. …According to LDS custom, church leaders exercised a monopoly on religious and civil offices alike. All San Bernardino County officials were Mormons.
"Robert Mays Smith was among the dissenters. When he attempted to leave for Texas with his slaves in late 1855, he was served with a writ of habeas corpus. The court required him to establish that he had a right to remove his bondspeople from the state. He fled instead of appearing in court, and 14 African American women and children finally walked free, six years after California technically outlawed slavery."
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Racist? The church? Oh no, never!
Alexander B. Morrison ("No More Strangers," Sept. 2000 Ensign, p. 16):
"[R]acism is an offense against God and a tool in the devil's hands… How grateful I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has from its beginnings stood strongly against racism in any of its malignant manifestations."