Darius Gray, 1971

File — Box: 1, Folder: 7

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Gray discusses his childhood in Colorado Springs and describes growing up in a well-integrated neighborhood. As he grew older, he was better able to see the divide between races and felt especially left out once he entered high school. Gray was introduced to the LDS faith by some of his neighbors around the year 1964. He was particularly taken with the faith because he felt there were fewer loose ends and loopholes in their fundamental doctrines than in other religions he had studied. At this time, Gray was nineteen years old. He was troubled by the doctrine that did not allow African Americans to become priests, and this gave Gray some pause about converting. However, he decided to convert anyway. He talks about encountering tension in the church because of his skin color, as well as being the only African American in his ward both in Colorado Springs and Provo. He attended one year at Brigham Young University, but disliked living in Provo due to a strong feeling of segregation. He says there was only one other African American student at BYU at the time, as well as a few Nigerians who he got along with but who tended to keep to themselves and had few friends outside of Nigerians. He also encountered discrimination in his ward.

Not until Gray moved to Seattle and began to work at Lockheed Shipyard did he begin to develop his sense of African American culture. He says that this change was important for him in terms of gaining self-esteem and identity as an African American. Although he liked Seattle, he left in order to take a job at KSL in Salt Lake City. He spent quite a lot of time touring around various wards and talking to them about African Americans in the LDS church. He was married at the age of 22, to another member of the church.

Gray discusses the Priesthood doctrine of the LDS Church and how the Church is related to the continuing racism and discrimination present in Utah. He also discusses communication skills as a key to bypassing racial boundaries. He also emphasizes self-discovery and racial identity as important steps for African Americans: two things that are especially difficult in Utah due to the small minority population.

Gray also discussed Genesis, a group he created with two of his friends. Genesis focused on providing a sense of community for current African American LDS members as well as reaching out to those who had fallen away from the church because they felt out of place. They attempted to talk to President Smith but were put off again and again. They were eventually assigned a committee to talk to that consisted of Gordon Hinckley, Boyd Packer, and Thomas Monson. In their meetings Genesis raised concerns about discrimination in the church and declared that they wanted the priesthood made available to African Americans. They were encouraged to expand Genesis and eventually given their own relief society. Gray talks at length about the early success of the relief society as well as the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment that those involved received as a result of being in charge of these events as opposed to being an afterthought by the Church. However, even with this authority, there were still things the group could not accomplish as the priesthood was not open to them.

Gray goes on to discuss the Priesthood doctrine and his belief that the Church has acted out of fear of social and political prejudices in creating the doctrine instead of listening to the will of God. He states that there is no concrete reason anyone can tell him for his exclusion from the priesthood. In addition, he states that he is excluded from baptizing the dead, which does not require a priesthood, because it might upset the other members of the church. He also touches on the fact that there has yet to be a mission to serve Black people in Africa, and also mentions his marriage to a white woman and how the church regards interracial marriage. He has hopes that, with the help of God, the fact that African Americans are coming together as a group will help them achieve the goal of the priesthood in the LDS Church. Audio CDs A0038_B-1_01, A0038_B-2_01, A0038_B-3_01,02.

Dates

1971

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.