Upward mobility is not a factor since black members are rich and poor, educated and semi-literate, urban and rural. Nor do they necessarily embrace white culture when they join this new church. Jessie L. Embry sees black Latter-day Saints as individuals who are truly converted to their church. They have little but their individual spiritual experiences and an abiding faith to keep them in the pews, while many in their congregations are still ambivalent about their presence. An African American convert is generally the first Mormon in his or her family, the first black in an all-white congregation, and the first person of color to hold a position in their ward.
Answers come from oral history interviews and mailed surveys.
Not surprisingly, many tell of discrimination, both subtle and overt. Yet Embry sees signs that stereotypes are disappearing and that differences are beginning to be appreciated. Jessie L. Embry is the director of the Oral History Program at the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and an instructor of history at Brigham Young University. A History of the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1894-1994 .