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Native American people and Mormonism

Painting which hung in the Salt Lake Temple of Mormon founder Joseph Smith preaching to Native Americans in Illinois

Over the past two centuries, the relationship between Native American people and Mormonism has included friendly ties, displacement, violence, enslavement, education placement programs, and official and unofficial discrimination.[1] Native American people (also called American Indians) were historically considered a special group by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement (Mormons) since they were believed to be the descendants of the Lamanite people described in one of the faith's book of scriptures, the Book of Mormon.[2]: 196 [3] There is no support from genetic studies and archaeology for the historicity of the Book of Mormon or Middle Eastern origins for any Native American peoples.[4][5][6]

The founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, formed proselyting efforts among Native American tribes within six month of organizing his church in 1830 in upstate New York.[7]: 122  These efforts continued over the next two decades as church headquarters moved to various Midwestern States.[8][9]: 492  The church allowed some interracial marriages between White and Native American adherents.

A while after Smith was killed in Illinois, the majority of his followers sided with Brigham Young as his successor. Young and followers began moving west as Mormon pioneers to the Intermountain West frontier in 1847, where they both formed alliances with and warred with the 20,000 existing Native American people there. These violent confrontations included massacres (Battle Creek, Provo River, Skull Valley, Nephi, Grass Valley, Circleville, Fountain Green, and Salt Creek) and wars (Black Hawk, Ute, Wakara's, and Posey). Young officially legalized Native American slavery in the Utah Territory in 1852,[10]: 272  and within a decade over 400 Native American children were purchased and used as a vital source of labor in Mormon homes until slavery was banned by the federal government in 1865.[11] Within 50 years of Mormon settlement under Young and his successors John Taylor then Wilford Woodruff, the Native American population in what is now Utah was decimated by 86%,[10]: 273  and made up only 1.6% of Utah's population in 1890.[12]: 112  About 30 White LDS men married Native American women during the LDS colonizing of Utah Territory.[12]: 121 

In the 20th century, the church operated the Indian Placement Program from 1954 to 1996, with its peak during the 1960s and 1970s.[13] The number of Native North American adherents of Mormonism grew to 45,000 by 1977.[14] During this time church leaders continued to teach that the skin color of Native Americans was a result of a curse from God and that through following church teachings their skin color would be lightened.[17] In the 21st century these teachings, along with those against interracial marriage were officially renounced for the first time in 2013.[18][19][20] Today there are many Native American members of Mormon denominations. There are also many people critical of Mormonism and its teachings and actions around Native American people.[21]

  1. ^ Hamilton, Andrew; Geisner, Joe; Newcomb, Sarah (January 2020). Mormons and Native Americans: Myths vs. Realities (Speech). Sunstone.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gathering was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  4. ^ Murphy, Thomas W. (2003). Imagining Lamanites: Native Americans and the Book of Mormon. Ph.D. Dissertation (Thesis). Seattle: University of Washington. SSRN 2177734 – via Academia.edu.
  5. ^ Southerton, Simon G (2004), Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN 1-56085-181-3, archived from the original on August 29, 2012 – via Internet Archives
  6. ^ Persuitte, David (2000). "The Book of Mormon and Ancient America". Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 259–267. ISBN 978-0-7864-0826-9 – via Google Books.
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  17. ^ [2]: 205, 207 [15]: 64 [16]
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