{"product_id":"second-class-saints-matthew-l-harris-9798228378902","title":"Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality","description":"On June 9, 1978, the phones at the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) were ringing nonstop. On that historic day, LDS church president Spencer W. Kimball announced a revelation lifting the church's 126-year-old ban barring Black people from the priesthood and Mormon temples. It was the most significant change in LDS doctrine since the end of polygamy almost 100 years earlier. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawing on never-before-seen private papers of LDS apostles and church presidents, including Spencer W. Kimball, Matthew L. Harris probes the plot twists and turns, the near-misses and paths not taken, of this incredible story. While the notion that Kimball received a revelation might imply a sudden command from God, Harris shows that a variety of factors motivated Kimball and other church leaders to reconsider the ban, including the civil rights movement, which placed LDS racial policies and practices under a glaring spotlight, perceptions of racism that dogged the church and its leaders, and Kimball's own growing sense that the ban was morally wrong. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Deeply informed, engagingly written, and grounded in deep archival research, Harris provides a compelling and detailed account of how Mormon leaders lifted the priesthood and temple ban, then came to reckon with the church's controversial racial heritage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Matthew L. Harris\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798228378902\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Tantor Audio\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/25\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e CD","brand":"Matthew L. Harris","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49148344959231,"sku":"9798228378902","price":55.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/second-class-saints-matthew-l-harris-9798228378902","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}