A new document from the Joseph F. Smith Papers project has been found.
http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2019/01/1 ... riesthood/
FYI - Octoroon means 1/8th black. Quadroon means 1/4th black.
Regarding conjecture that Elijah Able passed off as a white Latter Day Saint:
And one more comment from the author shows the church again trying to slip things in under the radar and not telling anyone.Paul Reeve wrote:Thank you for all of your comments and feedback. Sorry for my slow response. I echo what Ardis has said above. I do want to make sure that I address one issue raised in a couple of the comments: that is how Able was racially understood in the 19th century. Sometimes I see people dismissing him as a black priesthood holder with the suggestion that no one knew or understood him to be black. There is considerable evidence otherwise. I invite readers here to look at his biography posted at CenturyofBlackMormons which addresses this issue with evidence.
Here is the relevant paragraph from that bio: “LDS leaders were fully cognizant of Able’s racial status and still counted him among the priesthood brethren of the church. He is consistently listed in U.S. Census records as either quadroon or mulatto, an indication that he likely had a lighter completion than some African-Americans, but that nonetheless he was legally black according to prevalent racial standards in operation in the United States. More crucially, LDS leaders recognized and understood him to be “colored” and a faithful priesthood holder. This fact was in clear evidence during a Cincinnati LDS branch conference in 1843, when Able resided in that city. After Able spoke at the branch conference, visiting Apostle, Elder John E. Page, commented that “he respects a coloured Bro, as such, but wisdom forbids that we should introduce [him] before the public.” Elder Orson Pratt “sustained” Page’s stance. Able responded that “he had no disposition to force himself upon an equality with white people.” At the conclusion of the conference Able was “advised to visit the coloured population” in his preaching efforts. Clearly LDS leaders understood him to be black and recognized his status as a priesthood holder, even as they recommended he concentrate his missionary efforts among black people.”
Church secrecy confirmed by another comment in regards to the Gospel Topic Essays.Paul Reeve wrote:I need to make a point of clarification. I did not personally find this new document. The Joseph Smith Papers team recently—and with no fanfare—updated the bio of Elijah Able at the Joseph Smith papers site. The update included these new words: “Ordained an elder by Ambrose Palmer, 25 Jan. 1836.” Intrigued, I looked at the footnote which contained a link to a digital scan of the new document. There it was, publicly available for the world to see. The JSP team sometimes does this from what I can gather—make electronic updates to their sources and say nothing about them, even when they are a big deal, like this new source seems to be. The footnote that the JSP team created reads “Joseph F. Smith, Notes on Elijah Able, undated [likely ca. 1879], CHL.” I learned that the Joseph Smith Papers team verified it was Joseph F. Smith’s handwriting and had concluded that it likely originated in 1879, as seems obvious when one is aware of the records of the Taylor investigation that year into Able’s priesthood. I also noticed that the LDS Church History Department had updated its bio of Able on its Saints history topics site. I followed their lead and updated the bio of Able at Century of Black Mormons. Ardis then agreed to host a blog post about the new document here at Keepapitchinin. I do not deserve credit for finding it. The Joseph Smith Papers and Church History Department really are doing what they can to make sources available, sometimes surprisingly so, such as when something like this shows up unannounced.
Ardis E. Parshall wrote: Gary, it’s been long enough now that I hope I won’t ruffle too many CHL feathers by stating this publicly: I was working short-term on a project at CHL when the first Gospel Topics essays were posted. I knew they were going live about two hours before they did so, and asked if I could post a short announcement here on Keepa. You would have thought I’d proposed throwing a kegger in the temple: No way, no how, never, on pain of who knows what, could I say anything publicly about those essays. They were certain the essays would “fly under the radar” (the exact term they used), and I could not, repeat not, say anything.
It was 20 minutes after the first essays went live when I saw the first discussion on Facebook.
