"The LDS Church and the Problem of Race: Mormonism in Nigeria, 1946-1978," International Journal of African Historical Studies 51, no. 1 (2018): 1-16

Introduction On 24 October 1946, the Office of the First Presidency, the executive triumvirate of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), received a letter from an unlikely place: Nigeria, a British colony that would gain its independence in 1960.1 Written by O.J. Umondak, an Ibibio man who lived in a village outside of Uyo in the Eastern region, the letter requested missionaries and literature about teachings of the LDS Church. After discussing its obligations to preach the gospel to the world, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second highest governing body within the church’s hierarchy, decided to delay responding to this letter, because the church had actively avoided proselytizing among “Africans of the black race” since around 1830.2 This long-standing policy was based on two assumptions. First, Mormons conceived of Africa as a gloomy