Film Review
During an early scene in the documentary, Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons, Darius Aidan Gray sums up the line he’s walked since he joined the LDS Church in the early sixties, years before he was eligible to hold the priesthood: “I am a proud black man … yet I embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ and I’ve stayed in that faith for forty-five years. That should say something; I hope it does. I’m not stupid, I’m not a fool, and I’m not an Uncle Tom. This gospel is for all people.”
Gray and the film’s co-creator, Margaret Blair Young, redefine viewers’ expectations of what it means to be a Mormon and explore the complicated history between black Mormons and the institutional Church. Young is a writer and creative writing teacher at Brigham Young University. Gray was one of the founding members of the Genesis Group, an official LDS fellowshipping group formed in 1971 for African-Americans.
Young and Gray structure the film chronologically, beginning with the 1832 baptism of Elijah Abel, a man of African heritage who served as a missionary, was ordained an elder by Joseph Smith, and later became a Seventy. In 1847, Brigham Young, speaking of the prevailing Christian theology that those of African descent were cursed due to their blood, said, “It’s nothing to do with the blood, for in one blood has God made all flesh.” However, by 1852 the Church adopted the policy of denying blacks the priesthood. The film’s narrator suggests the change was influenced by converts from Southern states and by prevailing Christian theology.
For the next hundred years, segregation was so pervasive in America that the priesthood ban did not gain much attention. During the 1960s, as the civil rights movement gained momentum, the Church came under criticism. However, as the 1970s wore on, many people started to feel that no change in policy would ever happen. Gray recounts an extended story of the delighted astonishment he felt on June 8, 1978, the day President Spencer W. Kimball announced that the priesthood would be extended to all worthy males. Gray adds, “It was something totally unexpected. It did not come as a result of political pressure because there was none in 1978.”
In the three decades since President Kimball’s announcement, the Church and its members have encouraged black converts and tried to retain black members, but the road hasn’t always been easy. James Sheppard describes the atmosphere of an LDS sacrament meeting as “dead” for people who grew up going to church clapping hands, stomping feet, saying “Amen” and having a joyous time. Vestiges of prejudice also remain among some LDS Church members. Tamu Smith says, “I don’t mind defending the Church to black people; I do mind defending my blackness to members of the Church.”
The filmmakers interview African-American religious figures, including Martin Luther King III and the retired Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church to provide background both on African- American religious traditions and their perceptions of the Mormon community. Rev. King quotes his father as saying, “The most segregated hour in America is the hour in which we get our religious orientation.” Rev. Murray talks about a meeting he had with President Gordon B. Hinckley in which he says President Hinckley apologized for “whatever role the Mormon Church … played in racism in America.”
Although the voices of religious figures and Mormon scholars add depth to the film, stories from black Mormons provide its heart. Keith Hamilton, a former LDS bishop, says, “I believe I chose to come to Earth as a black man. I don’t believe God forced my spirit into a black body … I chose my mission.” Joan Akers relates how she had to have faith that “even before blacks could hold the priesthood … I never worried … that someday [my son] wouldn’t be able to hold the priesthood. I knew someday it would happen. I just knew.” I love the contrast between Gill’s 1968 question, “I can’t have the priesthood because I’m cursed?” and his tearful 2008 statement that his greatest wish is that he would have the “ability to convince others that the Church is true.”
Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons doesn’t shy away from taking viewers to hard places in the Church’s relationship with African-Americans, it but does so with sensitivity and honesty. The stories and testimonies of black Mormons who have chosen to stay on the path convey the message that although the way has been rough at times, they’re glad to be making the journey.
