Item sets

• Baptized in the United States (except Utah)
  This item set tracks those who were baptized anywhere in the United States, except in Utah.
• Baptized in Utah
  This item set tracks Black Latter-day Saints who were baptized in Utah in 1930 or before.
• Baptized Internationally
  This item set tracks those of Black African descent who were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints outside of the United States.
• Died before Eight
  This item set tracks those who were born into Latter-day Saint families but who died before the age of eight, the first age at which Latter-day Saints baptize.
• Enslaved at Baptism
  This item set tracks those who were enslaved at the time of their baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If a person was baptized in the U.S. before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in December 1865, and were enslaved at the time of baptism, they are included in this item set.
• Lived in Utah
  This item set tracks Black Latter-day Saints who at some point in their lives lived in Utah. It also includes those who were not Latter-day Saints and those who have unproven baptisms but still lived in Utah.
• Not LDS
  This item set traces people of black-African descent who were affiliated in some way with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but who were not baptized members. Because there is sometimes confusion over whether they were baptized or not we have included them in the database in an effort to offer evidence and clarify points of confusion.
• Ordained to the Priesthood before June 1978
  This item set tracks the total number of men of Black African descent who were ordained to the LDS priesthood before the June 1978 revelation again made such ordinations open to men of all races and ethnicities as they had been during Joseph Smith's lifetime. Some of the men in this item set passed as white and therefore those who ordained them were likely unaware that they were ordaining a person of Black African descent. The item set "Ordained to the Priesthood before June 1978, Passing" tracks the subset of men who were ordained but who our evidence indicates likely passed as white at the time of their ordination.
• Ordained to the Priesthood before June 1978, Passing
  This item set tracks men of Black African descent who were ordained to the LDS priesthood before June 1978, but who likely passed as white at the time of their ordination.
• Ordained to the Priesthood before June 1978, by Proxy after Death
  This item set tracks men of Black African descent who were ordained to the LDS priesthood in proxy temple rituals before June 1978. LDS policy attempted to prevent such proxy ordinations but policing racial boundaries was difficult enough in life, let alone in death. This item set traces those who slipped through the cracks in the racial policy.
• Passing
  Racial passing refers to people who may have concealed a socially applied racial identity or ethnicity in order to be perceived as another race or ethnicity. It most frequently refers to someone of mixed racial ancestry who assimilates into the white majority in order to escape discrimination. For Century of Black Mormons, this item set tracks Latter-day Saints of mixed race (typically people of white and Black-African ancestry) who eventually passed as white. Many of those in this item set received the lay priesthood and/or temple rituals in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is unlikely that those who performed the priesthood ordinations or temple rituals were aware of a given individual's racial ancestry although in some circumstances local leaders and/or central leaders were aware. After 1896, when the United States Supreme Court put its stamp of approval on racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, some states adopted "one drop" laws that allowed them to segregate any person of African ancestry, even if that person had only "one drop" of Black blood, to use the language of the time. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints followed suit. In 1900, George Q. Cannon, a member of the faith’s First Presidency, the highest governing quorum in the Church, expressed his belief that “however white a man may be and though every trace of negro blood be lost in his appearance, still if he were a descendant of that race in any degree, he could not legally hold the priesthood.” It was not until 1907 that the First Presidency adopted this view as official policy. That year the First Presidency decided that “no one known to have in his veins negro blood, (it matters not how remote a degree) can either have the Priesthood in any degree or the blessings of the Temple of God.” Despite such a declaration, the men and women in this item set, both before and after 1907, illustrate the challenges of policing racial boundaries and the impossibilities of ferreting out "one drop" of anyone's ancestry.
• Received Living Temple Rituals before June 1978
  This item set tracks men and women of Black African descent who, while living, received LDS temple rituals before June 1978 when those rituals were again made available to men and women of all races and ethnicities. A separate item set traces those who received temple ordinances by proxy after death.
• Received Temple Rituals by Proxy after Death before June 1978
  This item set tracks men and women of Black African descent who received LDS temple rituals by proxy after death before the June 1978 revelation made such rituals open again to people of all races and ethnicities. LDS policy attempted to prevent such proxy rituals but policing racial boundaries was difficult enough in life, let alone in death. This item set traces those who slipped through the cracks in the racial policy.
• Unproven Baptisms
  This item set tracks those who researchers at Century of Black Mormons were unable to verify a baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but the possibility exists that they were baptized.
• Mary Ann Adams and Elijah Able Family
  This data set includes all identified descendants of Mary Ann Adams and Elijah Able who were baptized before 1930.
• Green and Martha Ann Morris Flake Family
  This item set includes all descendants of the Green Flake and Martha Ann Morris family baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in or before 1930.
• Jane Elizabeth Manning and Isaac James Family
  This data set includes all identified descendants of Jane Elizabeth Manning and Isaac James who were baptized before 1930.
• Rachel Knight Family
  This item set includes members of the Rachel Knight family baptized into the faith in or before 1930.
• Susan Gray Reed and Edward "Ned" Leggroan Family
  This data set includes all identified descendants of Susan Gray Reed Leggroan and Edward "Ned" Leggroan who were baptized before 1930.
• Samuel and Ardella Bickham Magee Family
  This item set includes descendants of the Samuel Magee and Ardella Bickham family baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in or before 1930.
• Annie Cowan Russell and Nelson Holder Ritchie Family
  This item set tracks members of the Annie Cowan Russell and Nelson Holder Ritchie Family. Nelson and Annie were denied temple admission because of Nelson's racial heritage, but their children received priesthood ordinations and temple rituals.
• John and Nellie Gray Patron Sargent Family
  This item set tracks all known descendants of the John and Nellie Gray Patron Sargent family baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before 1930.