On Saturday, March 8, at 11:00 am, the new film “Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons” (You Tube Overview)will be shown at Peery’s Egyptian Theater, 2415 Washington Blvd. The ticket price is $10.
Information on the film is as follows:
Using interviews with scholars, Civil Rights workers, clergy, and Black Mormons and former Mormons, as well as rare archival footage, this documentary introduces the audience to an unfamiliar history: Black Mormons, who have been present in the faith from its earliest days and who were ordained in the priesthood and served as missionaries. The documentary traces the origins and consequences of the early racialist policies which denied Blacks priesthood and the most important privileges of the faith (performed in temples). The restriction ended in 1978, but as the documentary shows, the folklore which once upheld past policies was not repudiated, and continues to circulate within the Mormon Church. Nonetheless, there are modern Black Mormon pioneers, just as there were Black pioneers in the Mormon migration of 1847.
Finally an honest and truthful documentary that looks at the hard issues that the LDS Church would rather bury deep. Instead of revising and whitewashing the history, this feature film has faced the real history of the racial discrimination of black mormons. Two thumbs up!