A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism with Russell Stevenson

Tune in as the Sistas chat with Russell Stevensen, author of For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Black and Mormonism, 1830 - 2013. Russell's newest work seeks to explore the story of blacks and Mormonism through an intimate lens, focusing not only on the experiences of church leaders but also the ordinary Latter-day Saint: the day laborer nervous about his African ancestry, the West African woman establishing her own ‘Mormon’ congregation, the Pat Boone-loving Mormon missionary in Africa and the Black Panther musing on the Mormons’ wasted potential. Robert Orsi has argued that religion ‘comes into being in an ongoing, dynamic relationship with realities of everyday life.’ Race was both a spoken and lived experience. The Mormon people witnessed it, felt it, and absorbed it. But for the Mormon people, racism was also a conscious decision—and one that exacted a heavy toll during their epoch in the wilderness.