Podcast appearances and mentions of Jane Manning James

In this new series on Mormon Leadership, historian Matt Harris discusses Mormonism's early racism, focusing on the priesthood and temple ban for Black members. He explores the church's opposition to civil rights, the experiences of Black Latter-day Saints like Jane Manning James and Elijah Abel, and the evolving theology around race. Harris challenges misconceptions about prophetic revelation and the origins of the ban, shedding light on this complex and painful history. Purchase Matt Harris' book here: Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality: Harris, Matthew L. Please donate directly to Matt Harris by clicking here: https://donorbox.org/MattHarris Show Notes YouTube Link Mormon Stories Thanks Our Generous Donors! Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today: One-time or recurring donation through Donorbox Support us on Patreon PayPal Venmo Our Platforms: Youtube Patreon Spotify Apple Podcasts Contact us: MormonStories@gmail.com  PO Box 171085, Salt Lake City, UT 84117  Social Media: Insta: @mormstories Tiktok: @mormonstoriespodcast Join the Discord

Fiona Smith is British born with Jamaican roots and is a modern-day renaissance creator who focuses on projects that bring unique stories out of obscurity.Fiona was the TV host for “Road to Zion,” a documentary on early pioneers in Great Britain who immigrated to the United States. In England, she earned a Bachelor of Law Degree, and in America, graduated with a Master's Degree in Theatre and Media Arts from Brigham Young University. Her thesis focused on Black American pioneers and included her role as Jane Manning James in the “Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration” movie. As a singer, Fiona has a cameo in The Singles Ward movie, sang alto in The Tabernacle Choir, and created a band to perform her songs at the 2002 Olympics Salt Lake Downtown Festival in Utah. Fiona also enjoys communicating in British Sign Language and German.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808203https://mormonarts.lib.byu.edu/works/road-to-zion-3

This is the second week of the review of the third volume of the church history series produced in 2022. Bill and Eric take a closer look at Jane Manning James and the issue of racism.

This is the second week of the review of the third volume of the church history series produced in 2022. Bill and Eric take a closer look at Jane Manning James and the issue of racism.

This is the second week of the review of the third volume of the church history series produced in 2022. Bill and Eric take a closer look at Jane Manning James and the issue of racism.

This is the second week of the review of the third volume of the church history series produced in 2022. Bill and Eric take a closer look at Jane Manning James and the issue of racism.

This is the second week of the review of the third volume of the church history series produced in 2022. Bill and Eric take a closer look at Jane Manning James and the issue of racism.

As we conclude our conversation with Dr Paul Reeve, he tells how the 1978 revelation affected Black Women as well. We'll briefly review Jane Manning James attempt to get temple blessings, as well as find other women seeking sealing blessings. We'll also talk about how Joseph F Smith closed opportunities for blacks, and both David O McKay & Spencer Kimball's reopening opportunities. Check out our conversation... https://youtu.be/iQeFR6aTVJQ transcript to follow Copyright © 2023 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission 1:02:04 How Deep Into the Ban? 1:07:13 Rapid Fire Questions About Book 1:10:08 Orson Pratt Rejects Curse of Cain 1:12:35 Death of Elijah Abel 1:16:03 Jane James' Attempt at Temple Blessings 1:17:18 Joseph F Smith Solidifies Restrictions 1:18:27 Pres McKay Period 1:21:25 How 1978 Revelation Affected Black Women 1:22:29 Addressing Lingering Justifications of Ban transcript to follow Copyright © 2023 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission

This is a re-broadcast from my very first podcast from January of 2022.  I'm excited to interview Margaret Young. She's a professor of English and Literature at BYU and has written eight books, three of which are on black Mormon pioneers, so she's kind of an expert on the topic.  She has also produced a […]

Professor Quincy Newell from Hamilton College joins me to talk about Jane Manning James, one of the first black Mormons in the 19th century. 

This week Amy is joined by Shannon Johnson to help us zoom in even further to more fully unpack the practice of polygamous marriage in the LDS church and its impact on individual women. Not only do we learn some surprising and essential history, but Shannon trusts us with the story of her own journey coming-of-age within the church community and wrestling with polygamy on a personal level. Shannon Olena Hyatt Johnson (she/her) grew up mostly in Utah and went to BYU, where she met her husband, who was also an English major. She has taught conversational English in Japan and Cairo, and now works in admin at Stanford. She is currently writing a master's thesis on race, polygamy, and the Mormon family. Shannon has three daughters and a non-binary child, ranging in age from 11 to 21. Shannon likes hiking, yoga, British tv, and trashy romance novels. Recommended Reading & Listening Year of Polygamy (podcast) ~ Lindsay Hansen Park Sunstone Mormon History Podcast (podcast) ~ Lindsay Hansen Park and Bryan Buchanan Pioneers (poem read by author) ~ Carol Lynn Pearson Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (book) ~ Quincy D. Newell Sally in Three Worlds: An Indian Captive in the House of Brigham Young (book, also Audible) ~ Virginia Kerns More Wives than One (book) ~ Kathryn Danes “Heathen in Our Fair Land: Anti-Polygamy and Protestant Women's Missions to Utah, 1869–1910” (PhD Thesis) ~ Jana Riess The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America (book) ~ Sarah Barringer Gordon “The family, morality and social science in Anglo-American cooperative thought, 1813-1890” (PhD Thesis) ~ Tara Westover (also, Educated) The Legacy of Adam-God in the Mormon Theology of Heteropatriarchy (blog post) ~ The Grand Scoobah Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy―Its Origin, Practice, and Demise (book) ~ B. Carmon Hardy Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness (book) ~ W. Paul Reeve Race and the Making of the Mormon People (book) ~ Max Perry Mueller

Jane Manning James

Jane Manning James

Amy: Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy! I'm Amy McPhie Allebest. Today's book is This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. It's an anthology of essays, letters, and poetry by Black, Native American, Asian American, and Latina women, some of whom identify as lesbian. It was edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua, and published in 1981. I had never read a book like this before, and because all the essays are written in the first-person, and based on their real lives and thoughts and feelings and hopes and anger and grief, I had the sense of sitting next to them or reading their diaries - which was sometimes uncomfortable. And I am sooo grateful for that discomfort because it pushed out and expanded the borders of my understanding and helped me think about some things differently, and it increased my empathy. And I'm not someone who has lived in a bubble - I've lived abroad in several different countries, I speak Spanish and have many close friends in South America, I am lucky to have a circle of friends that includes lots of different backgrounds. And yet with this book, I found myself constantly pushed to learn, to consider new points of view, and my heart and mind grew so much. So I highly recommend reading this book in its entirety! And I'm so excited to discuss it with my reading partner today, Jenn Lee Smith. Hi, Jenn! Jenn: Hi, Amy! Amy: Jenn and I have tons of mutual friends in California, and our daughters know each other as well, but it wasn't until a few months ago that she and I went on a few walks together and discovered that we have a ton in common and should have been getting together for years. Also, some listeners may be familiar with Jenn's work: she is a producer behind the award-winning films, “Faithful,” which is about “two women in love with each other and their religion,” and “Jane and Emma,” which is about the friendship between Joseph Smith's wife Emma Smith and a Black convert named Jane Manning James.  Jenn, I'm so grateful that you agreed to read this book with me - I know you had read it before - in fact I think you were the one who suggested putting it on the reading list, right? I remember when you were first building up your reading list, I was missing the books that helped define my feminist identity in grad school. I had read This Bridge Called My Back and Sister Outsider and declared myself a Third Wave / Transnational Feminist. Lol. Roxane Gay - Bad Feminist - realized I was better at being a Bad Feminist.   Introduce yourself - tell who you are, where you're from, and what perspective you bring to the discussion. Jenn: Bio  I was born on an island called Taiwan and most Taiwanese would like it to be recognized as a country, however, China claims it is a province. Regardless, Taiwan is a friendly, vibrant, democratic “place” and the first to legalize same-sex marriage in Asia in 2019. I was five when I immigrated to the U.S. growing up in UT and CA. I studied international relations for my undergrad in Utah and then started a PhD in Feminist and Human Geography at UCLA, which I never finished because I discovered screenwriting and film producing classes, instead.  But I did earn a Masters in Geography, which is useful in the film producing of mostly documentaries. I welcome opportunities to be a part of film and writing projects that explore underrepresented stories particularly at complicated intersections. For example, I started my producing career focused on films at the intersection of religion and sexual orientation. One of those films will be out on Netflix in August. It's called Pray Away. Another film is called Dilemma of Desire about the gender politics around not recognizing female sexual desire - it's rooted in Audre Lorde's essay Uses of the Erotic (from Sister Outsider, which is the next book in the podcast?).  Right now I'm collaborating on a film on indigenous knowledge of...

Two famed Mormon pioneers, Jacob and Jane helped shape Mormonism in a big way. But how much do you know about them? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss what life was like for these two in Nauvoo. Featuring a bonus cameo by historian Christopher C. Smith who discusses another pioneer man that never got …

Two famed Mormon pioneers, Jacob and Jane helped shape Mormonism in a big way. But how much do you know about them? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss what life was like for these two in Nauvoo. Featuring a bonus cameo by historian Christopher C. Smith who discusses another pioneer man that never got …

Two famed Mormon pioneers, Jacob and Jane helped shape Mormonism in a big way. But how much do you know about them? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss what life was like for these two in Nauvoo. Featuring a bonus cameo by historian Christopher C. Smith who discusses another pioneer man that never got …

Two famed Mormon pioneers, Jacob and Jane helped shape Mormonism in a big way. But how much do you know about them? Join Lindsay and Bryan as they discuss what life was like for these two in Nauvoo. Featuring a bonus cameo by historian Christopher C. Smith who discusses another pioneer man that never got …

In this clip from a conversation with Stephen Jones about the Mormon Temple and Priesthood Ban, Jake asks him how we can deal with it, seeing how a lot of the historical figures, Greenflake, Elijah Abel and Jane Manning James dealt with it. His answer is Jesus. He asks the question, "You don't think Christ can redeem it?"

Surprise! It's Valentine's Day, and we couldn't let the holiday pass by without teaching Lauren about our new Mormon History crush, Jane Manning James (or, Aunt Jane to her true fans)! Don't have a Valentine this year? Then jump in with us as we get to know the first Black woman in Utah (and her impressive place in Mormon church history). After the show, head to Patreon for our Linger Longer about dating during COVID! And find us on Instagram and Twitter: @drunkmormonpod

Bill and Eric review parts of the second volume of the Saints book that was published in 2020. We take a 2-part look at Jane Manning James.

Bill and Eric review parts of the second volume of the Saints book that was published in 2020. We take a 2-part look at Jane Manning James.

Scott Hales is the lead writer and literary editor of Saints, Volume 2. In this week's episode Scott discusses Jane Manning James's desire to participate in temple work and receive a recommend to perform temple baptisms.

Scott Hales is the lead writer and literary editor of Saints, Volume 2. In this week’s episode Scott discusses Jane Manning James’s desire to participate in temple work and receive a recommend to perform temple baptisms.

*Christine and Elizabeth) Jane Manning James was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the moment she was baptized in the 1840s.  Here, Christine and Elizabeth discuss her experiences as one of the earliest Black women in the majority-white religion - including her interactions with the church's founder, Joseph Smith, and her fight for full inclusion.   Interested in our tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or some FH Merch? Click here to help support us through our FH Patreon.

Jane Manning James stood out among early Latter-day Saints as one of few black converts. She was baptized into the Church as a free black woman in Connecticut and migrated to Nauvoo with her family, where she soon found herself working in the prophet Joseph Smith's home. After his death, she traveled west with the Saints and lived the rest of her life as a faithful member—though she was denied participation in the Church's most sacred practices. Through the years, Jane Manning James has been left out of books on African American history, women's history, histories of the West, and until more recently, she was even left out of histories of her own church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dr. Quincy Newell recently published the first scholarly biography of this remarkable Latter-day Saint. The book is called Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-century Black Mormon. Dr. Newell joins us to talk about it in this episode. Images of Jane discussed in the episode are available in the transcript. About the Guest Quincy D. Newell is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton College. She is co-editor of the Mormon Studies Review and author of Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon.   The post The life of Jane Manning James, with Quincy Newell [MIPodcast #107] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

The post The life of Jane Manning James, with Quincy Newell [MIPodcast #107] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

In this Dialogue podcast Quincy Newell discusses “Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon.” From the Miller Eccles website: “Dear Brother,” Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, “I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also Continue Reading »

This week! Uncle Mark shows us the 'colored' entrance to Mormon heaven with Jane Manning James, Uncle Doug ends the beginning with Genesis part II, and Uncle Dan gives us a treatise on religious art!

When historian Quincy Newell was researching 19th-century African American Mormons, one name kept popping up: Jane Manning James. This African American convert, who worked in church founder Joseph Smith’s household and eventually was “sealed” to him as a “servant,” probably still ranks as the most famous black female member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this side of Gladys Knight. So Newell wrote a full-fledged biography of this pioneering black woman. Titled “Your Sister in the Gospel,” it was released earlier this year by Oxford University Press. Newell, associate professor of religious studies at Hamilton College in New York state, joined “Mormon Land” this week to talk about the remarkable life and legacy of Jane Manning James. Listen here:

On this episode, we check in with Emma and her slipping grasp on power. She kicks out of the Nauvoo Mansion the Partridge sisters, the Lawrence sisters, and Jane Manning James to hopefully cut down on the rumors circulating the city. Orsimus F. Bostwick files a public complaint against Hyrum Sidekick-Abiff Smith and claims “half a bushel of meal” will get him any prostitute he wants in Nauvoo. An anonymous poem is published about Celestial Marriage. W. W. Phelps responds with “The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo” and it’s read to the first meeting of the Relief Society of 1844. Emma chastises her counselors telling them to keep an eye on their daughters. Links: Come to the March for the Children!!! March for the Children Oct. 5, 2019 https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07eg6v5ed1df906027&oseq=&c=&ch= https://protecteverychild.com/ If the sales pitch at the end hit ya in the brain and feels, please consider supporting the show here http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/part-1/1-10?lang=eng Eliza Partridge http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/eliza-partridge/ Emily Partridge http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/emily-dow-partridge/ Buckeye’s Laments by Gary Bergera https://mormonpolygamydocuments.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/JS0170.pdf Buckeye’s Lamentation for Want of More Wives poem http://www.william-law.org/publications/buckeys-lamentation-for-want-of-more-wives-warsaw-message-7-february-1844 Joseph hiding polygamy https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Joseph_Smith/Polygamy/Hiding_the_practice Nauvoo Relief Society minutes https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/1#ft-historical-intro Show links:                                                                                                                                                              Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com Twitter @NakedMormonism Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311 Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/ Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/ Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/

As we conclude our discussion of black Mormon pioneer Jane Manning James, we will talk about this question: what role does race play in LDS Theology?  Many black church members have been told they will be white in the resurrection.  Is our theology an example of white supremacy?  Dr. Quincy Newell will answer these questions. […] The post Does Mormonism Have Racist Theology? (Part 5 of 5) appeared first on Gospel Tangents.

Dr. Quincy Newell discusses early black Mormon pioneer Jane Manning’s marriage to Isaac James.  The two travelled to Utah in one of the earliest wagon companies to settle in Salt Lake City. GT:  Did they go with the first pioneer companies? Quincy:  I don’t think they’re in the first wave. They’re in the second wave, […] The post Jane Manning James’ Pioneer Life in Utah (Part 4 of 5) appeared first on Gospel Tangents.

Early black Mormon pioneer Jane Manning James walked 800 miles to Nauvoo. Quincy:  Her trunk got lost, at least that’s what Charles Wandell says. In the Nauvoo Neighbor, the local paper, there is an ad that appears for several weeks running. The title is “Lost.”  It describes the trunk and offers a small reward for […] The post Jane’s One-of-a-Kind Sealing to Joseph Smith (Part 3 of 5) appeared first on Gospel Tangents.

It was tough being a slave in antebellum 19th century America.  Female slaves had the added concern of being raped by their slaveholders.  There has been speculation that even though Jane Manning James was born free, she may have been raped resulting in a pregnancy.  I asked Dr. Quincy Newell if that was true. Quincy:  […] The post 19th Century Sexual Politics (Part 2 of 5) appeared first on Gospel Tangents.

Dr. Quincy Newell is the first non-Mormon scholar we've had on Gospel Tangents.  Of course, I had to ask why she was interested in Mormon history in the first place! https://youtu.be/31ejDpk1JF4 GT:  I think one of the things that's most perplexing to me, and I think to my listeners as well, you're not Mormon! Quincy:  No, I'm not. GT:  Why in the world are you studying Mormonism? Quincy:  I am interested in religion in the American West, and Mormons are a huge part of that story.  I'm also interested in the experiences of religious and racial ethnic minorities. So thinking about sort of how those different factors in identity intersect and how they shape people's lives. So that's why I got into the study of Mormonism. Dr. Newell has just come out with a book on early black Mormon pioneer Jane Manning James.  It's called “Your Sister in the Gospel,” and is published by Oxford University Press.  I was curious about Jane's relationship to slavery. Quincy:  Jane was not a slave. She was very particular in making sure that everybody knew that. She was born free in Connecticut, in about 1820. Her mother had been enslaved, and she said that her maternal grandmother had been brought from Africa as an enslaved woman as well. So Jane certainly had slavery in her background. She knew about it. She experienced it. She knew people who had been enslaved. But she herself was not enslaved at any point. That's a status symbol, I think, for her. So she was very particular in making sure that people who knew her, people who heard about her, knew that she was not enslaved, and that was important to her. GT:  But her mother was a slave. How did that work?  I think there was a law or something that you were emancipated a certain age or something. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Quincy: Yes, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get all the details right off the top of my head. But Connecticut passed a set of laws that basically instituted a kind of gradual emancipation.  I don't remember the year in which they were passed, but Jane's grandmother was too old, and was never emancipated. The legislature in Connecticut decided they didn't want owners of slaves to dump their aged slaves on the public trust and make the public responsible for maintaining them. So they remained enslaved for the rest of their lives. But there was a date that anybody born after that date was to be emancipated by, I think, their 25th birthday, something like that. So Jane's mother was eligible for that emancipation, and for that reason, she probably was emancipated in around 1810 or so. Jane was born about 10 years later, so she was born free. But she certainly knew relatives who would have remained enslaved for the rest of their lives. We will get more acquainted with both Jane and Quincy in our next conversation.  Check it out! Dr. Quincy Newell of Hamilton College has published a biography of black Mormon pioneer Jane Manning James. Don't miss our previous conversations about Jane with Margaret Young! 002:  Combating Racism 001: "Is There No Blessing for me?  

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James. Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan.

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dear Brother," Jane Manning James wrote to Joseph F. Smith in 1903, "I take this opportunity of writing to ask you if I can get my endowments and also finish the work I have begun for my dead .... Your sister in the Gospel, Jane E. James." A faithful Latter-day Saint since her conversion sixty years earlier, James had made this request several times before, to no avail, and this time she would be just as unsuccessful, even though most Latter-day Saints were allowed to participate in the endowment ritual in the temple as a matter of course. James, unlike most Mormons, was black. For that reason, she was barred from performing the temple rituals that Latter-day Saints believe are necessary to reach the highest degrees of glory after death. A free black woman from Connecticut, James positioned herself at the center of LDS history with uncanny precision. After her conversion, she traveled with her family and other converts from the region to Nauvoo, Illinois, where the LDS church was then based. There, she took a job as a servant in the home of Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of the LDS church. When Smith was killed in 1844, Jane found employment as a servant in Brigham Young's home. These positions placed Jane in proximity to Mormonism's most powerful figures, but did not protect her from the church's racially discriminatory policies. Nevertheless, she remained a faithful member until her death in 1908. Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon (Oxford University Press, 2019) is the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James.  Quincy D. Newell chronicles the life of this remarkable yet largely unknown figure and reveals why James's story changes our understanding of American history. Daniel P. Stone holds a PhD in American religious history from Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and is the author of William Bickerton: Forgotten Latter Day Prophet (Signature Books, 2018). He has taught history courses at the University of Detroit Mercy and Florida Atlantic University, and currently, he works as a research archivist for a private library/archive in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, as we enter the last half of 1843, an era of good-feelings falls upon Nauvoo. The streets shined as if paved by gold and the Mormons had beat the justice system again while polygamy was in full swing! We focus in on some of the pressures behind closed doors the public wasn’t privy to. We hear the story of Jane Manning James and her migration to Nauvoo, how she met the Smiths, came to live in the Nauvoo Mansion, and her relationships with Emma and other women living in the house. Then we hyperfocus on Emma and her constant inner battle with polygamy. Links: Mormon Enigma https://www.amazon.com/Mormon-Enigma-Emma-Hale-Smith/dp/0252062914 “Life Sketch” of Jane Manning James https://history.lds.org/article/jane-manning-james-life-sketch?lang=eng#_ftn7 An Interview With William Law http://www.mrm.org/law-interview Show links: Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com Twitter @NakedMormonism Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311 Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/ Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/ Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/

Emma Smith stands alone as the most famous woman in Mormon history. The wife of church founder Joseph Smith is mentioned in histories, journals, even LDS scripture. Less known is her enduring and endearing friendship with the early church’s most noted black woman, Jane Manning James. A forthcoming film, titled “Jane and Emma,” documents and dramatizes that friendship. The movie’s director, Chantelle Squires, and its screenwriter, Melissa Leilani Larson, discuss the film, its title characters and their hopes for what it might do for race relations within — and without — the LDS Church.

How racist was Joseph Smith?  Can the LDS Church really claim Jane Manning James as an example of Joseph Smith's progressive ideals?  There's plenty of evidence to suggest that Joseph Smith had a theological imagination for Indigenous Americans, but what did he really think of African Americans?

On this week's episode, Cristina speaks with Quincy Newell about her upcoming book, Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon. While many know brief parts about Jane's life, Quincy offers a complex look at Jane's life, faith, infamous sealing, and legacy. Her book seeks to understand Mormonism's intersection with broader questions about American religion, and what contemporary scholars and Mormons can learn from Jane's faith and struggle. Quincy founded Women in Mormon Studies, an organization seeking further representation in the academic study of Mormonism. Listen to this episode here.