Southwestern States Mission: Epithets for African Americans [edited]

Note: this post contains racial epithets.

As described last week, Mormon missionaries in the Southwestern States Mission (especially those in eastern Texas) had occasion to interact with and observe many African Americans. The missionaries in this study referred explicitly to African Americans in ninety-one diary entries. In this (and next week’s) post I will evaluate the racial epithets the missionaries used.

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Call for Submissions: JWHA Article/Book Awards

JWHA Best Article Award Criteria

Award Criteria

Judges will select the best articles (privileging works that are most relevant to Community of Christ history or theology, regardless of the time period they encompass) based on the following criteria:

Articles published in the calendar year prior to the award.

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The Public/Private World of Mormon Dances and Courtship

In February of 1892, Twenty-two year old Amelia Cannon mentioned the upcoming Valentine?s Day in her journal: ?Valentine?s Eve. I expect none of the fruits of this holiday. Two years ago this winter was the last time I was the recipient of a love token on Valentine?s Day.?[1]  It was not that Amelia was lacking in male attention?as her schedule was full of social engagements with various young men?yet her mentioning of the holiday references the weight that Valentine?s Day, a holiday centered upon romantic love and courtship, carried and still carries. Of course, Valentine?s Day seems no better time to ponder how the actual practice of courtship (and later dating) has changed in the United States. As a historian of American gender history, I have spent a lot of time reading and reviewing Beth L. Bailey?s aptly titled 1988 monograph From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America.  Bailey surmises that due to changes in consumption, the economy, and gender roles between men and women courtship began to occur more in public places instead of the ?sheltering and controlling contexts of home and local community.? [2] Socializing in public spaces afforded courting couples more anonymity and privacy then they previously held. As I have delved further and further into my research, I have wondered how the example of Mormon courtship in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century fit with other trends which affected the way men and women courted? Did Mormon courtship in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries evolve into a private practice in a public world?

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Two Communal Studies Awards/Grants

For those who, you know, do the communal studies thing, these might be of interest.

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Southwestern States Mission: The Number of African Americans

What follows is a very short, simple post, with one idea: in 1900, more African-Americans lived in eastern Texas than lived in the Mormon Culture Region. The missionary diaries often note the presence of African-Americans, but do so less frequently than the proportion of African-Americans in the population would suggest. This post will briefly describe the population sizes; later posts will analyze interactions involving missionaries and African-Americans.

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The cosmology of the “priesthood” restriction

In this post, I use the term ?cosmological priesthood? to describe the sacerdotal network of heaven and earth as mediated through the Nauvoo Temple. This network comprised priesthood, salvation, kinship, and government relationships. Participants in the Nauvoo temple quorums referred to their organization and this cosmology as simply, the ?priesthood.? Before reading this post, I heartily recommend reading this excerpt from my adoption paper that shortly introduces and contextualizes this usage, and more preferably pp. 56-81 of the paper.

The cosmological priesthood incorporated familial relationships, and as reified in Temple practice on earth, the most exalted station of human kind was to be king and priest, or queen and priestess over one?s progeny, biological or adoptive, throughout all eternity.[n1] The primary justification for sealing children to parents from Nauvoo to the early twentieth century was to establish heirship to the cosmological priesthood. As the governing quorums declared in preparation for the return of the temples in Utah, ?Which of them, if he understands the laws of God, can feel indifferent as to whether his wife shall be his for eternity or for time only; or whether his children shall be born in the covenant and be legal heirs to the priesthood or have to become such by adoption??[n2] Though addressed to men, implicit in this statement is the belief that both men and women had to become heirs to the priesthood network of heaven.

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What has Mormon Studies to do with Curriculum Vitaes?

Over at The Junto Blog, there is a solid discussion on cover letters and CVs. (Go join the discussion!) Lots of good suggestions about how to prepare oneself for the captivity of the academic job market, which is good because there are a lot of obstacles to hurdle. Beyond the philosophical issues of how to present yourself, there are also lots of technical minutia that seem trivial but maintain a significant role in how you are presented to hiring committees. 

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Southwestern States Mission: Lady Missionaries’ Perfect Right to Teach

A few weeks ago Julie M. Smith discussed 1 Corinthians 14:35 in ?Should Women Pray in Public?? at Times and Seasons. Amelia Carling, the first full-time, female missionary in the Southwestern States Mission, referred to this verse in her diary entry for 1901 Dec 03 [1]:

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The Empire Expands: JI Welcomes Saskia and Natalie R.

Thanks to our great contributors and fabulous online community, Juvenile Instructor is stronger than ever. To perpetuate the “Era of Good Feelings,” we are thrilled to welcome two new permabloggers: Saskia and Natalie R.

Both have guest-blogged with us before, and have been active in the comments. For a refresher, here is how the introduce themselves.

Saskia:

Saskia Tielens earned her BA and MA in American studies from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She is in her second year as a PhD student in Dortmund, Germany, and is writing her dissertation on the ritualization of Mormon history as well as teaching various courses in the American studies department there. Most recently, she was a participant in this year?s summer seminar on Mormon culture, led by Richard Bushman. Saskia particularly enjoys coming at Mormon studies as a non-Mormon, and considers the concept of funeral potatoes to have enriched her life.

Natalie R.:

I am a doctoral candidate in American history at Michigan State University. Prior to my time at MSU, I received my B.A. and M.A. in women?s history from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. My dissertation examines the disjunctures between how Mormon leaders and young women envisioned ideas of a ?Mormon girlhood? from 1869 to 1930. I analyze how the LDS leadership and influential church members created and presented their own ideas of an appropriate childhood and adolescence through church organizations and publications. Though many young women upheld these ideals, I argue that they used private writing, such as correspondences and daily journals, as a space to question, challenge, and often accept the leadership?s shifting attitudes toward women?s place and participation within the church. I am also interested in how Mormon conceptions of childhood and adolescence fit into more mainstream conversations about age and lifespan during the turn of the twentieth-century. After finishing a six-month research stint in Salt Lake City and Provo, I am finally starting to write my dissertation. I eagerly look forward to contributing to the Juvenile Instructor.

Please join me in welcoming these great additions to the JI community.

Review of Veda Hale’s “Swell Suffering: A Biography of Maurine Whipple”

Veda Hale, “‘Swell Suffering’: A Biography of Maurine Whipple”  http://www.amazon.com/Swell-Suffering-Biography-Maurine-Whipple/dp/1589581245

Note:  There is swearing in the first two paragraphs of this review.  I tried to edit it out, but doing so changed the meaning of the sentences it was in.  If swearing bothers you, skip the first two paragraphs.  Readers should also check out Blair Hodge’s review of “Swelling Suffering” at Faith Promoting Rumor: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithpromotingrumor/2011/05/im-pitching-the-whipple-biography-with-all-my-might/