STANDING ON THE PROMISES, BOOK THREE: THE LAST MILE OF THE WAY, by Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray, Bookcraft, 448 pages, $21.95.
This is the third volume of "Standing on the Promises," a memorable trilogy of historical novels. They are written by Margaret Blair Young, who teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University, and Darius Aidan Gray, a former journalist who presides over the LDS Genesis Group, organized in 1971 to provide support to church members of African descent. Gray's grandfather, James Louis Gray, was born into slavery near Independence, Mo.
This novel is unusually true to the history it represents, including the real names of the black families who joined the LDS Church over the years and participated in the trek west. The authors have amassed an impressive bibliography of historical sources, including books about Utah history, interviews with descendants of black Mormon pioneers, letters and journal articles. Much information was gained through interviews and documents from Elder Marion D. Hanks, LDS Quorum of the Seventy Emeritus.
Even though the authors have written fiction, they have based it as firmly as possible in actual history — probably more than any other historical novel I have ever seen. They even use the actual dialect characteristic of many blacks during the 1900s — nicknamed "flat talk." The book also contains footnotes at the end of each chapter, citing the works used and the people interviewed.
Volumes 1 and 2 told the pioneer story, beginning with the founding of the LDS Church and including such notable black Mormons as Hark Lay, Oscar Crosby and Green Flake, the first black Mormons to enter the Great Basin (their names remain on the Brigham Young Monument, between the Salt Lake Temple and the Joseph Smith Building).
Volume 3 includes descendants of the original pioneers, including Jane Manning James, Isaac Lewis ("Lew") Manning, the Chambers family, the Leggroan family, the Hope family, the Howell family, the Gray family, the Bridgeforth family and the Orr family. The title of each chapter is taken from a Negro spiritual.
The most important contribution the authors make is to capture the cultural and emotional difficulty that many black Mormons felt because the LDS Church priesthood was denied to black males until 1978, when President Spencer W. Kimball announced he had received a revelation opening the way for them to receive the priesthood.
There are insightful descriptions about the overwhelming joy they received following President Kimball's revelation. One of the finest moments was Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles meeting Ruffin Bridgeforth to ordain him to the priesthood. Bridgeforth told Elder Packer that his wife was ill and asked if he would give her a priesthood blessing. Elder Packer said he would ordain Ruffin first, then he would assist Ruffin in giving his wife a blessing.
This is an exceptional historical novel — more historical than fictional — but expressive in its sensitive account of black Mormons.
E-MAIL: dennis@desnews.com