Religion of a Different Color

The Protestant white majority in the nineteenth century was convinced that Mormonism represented a racial-not merely religious-departure from the mainstream and they spent considerable effort attempting to deny Mormon whiteness. Being white equalled access to political, social, and economic power, all aspects of citizenship in which outsiders sought to limit or prevent Mormon participation. At least a part of those efforts came through persistent attacks on thecollective Mormon body, ways in which outsiders suggested that Mormons were physically different, racially more similar to marginalized groups than they were white. Medical doctors went so far as to suggest that Mormon polygamy was spawning a new race. Mormons responded with aspirations towardwhiteness. It was a back and forth struggle between what outsiders imagined and what Mormons believed. Mormons ultimately emerged triumphant, but not unscathed. At least a portion of the cost of their struggle came at the expense of their own black converts. Mormon leaders moved away from universalistic ideals toward segregated priesthood and temples, policies firmly in place by the early twentieth century. So successful were they at claiming whiteness for themselves, that by the timeMormon Mitt Romney sought the White House in 2012, he was labelled "the whitest white man to run for office in recent memory. " Mormons once again found themselves on the wrong side of white.

Cleverly framed....Reeve's book is a landmark in Mormon studies. For non-Mormon and Mormon audiences alike, it offers answers to the long-vexing questions of the when, where, who, and why of the origins of what is colloquially called the 'priesthood ban.' And Reeve's book adds Mormons to the well-established historiography on how ethnic and cultural minorities in America became white. Reeve's book is now the definitive history on Mormonism and race., a timely and provocative account [...] This study is a welcome contribution to a number of fields[...] Students of American religious history will also find much to learn from this study as it joins the growing body of literature that serves to blur distinctions between religious and racial othering and reveals the complex interplay between religion and race in American history., Overall, Reeve's book is a tremendous step forward in studies of Mormonism, race, and racialization, and indeed of race in American history more broadly. By examining a spectrum of groups, Reeve creates an unprecedentedly fleshed-out picture of these racial processes., This will be the definitive work on race and Mormonism from the religions origins to the early twentieth century

W. Paul Reeve is associate professor of history at the University of Utah and the author of Making Space on the Western Frontier: Mormons, Miners, and Southern Paiutes, and co-editor of Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia.