Also, when you are speaking about black members, Primary should be careful to include Green Flake, Hank ? and Oscar? in all Pioneer sharing times/activities, as well as pointing out that Green Flake joined the church with his slave keeping master.

I have concerns about the use of Jane Manning James. I am no expert of her, but based on limited reading I understand:

She joined the church in 1842.

She made it to Nauvoo where she was closely associated with the Joseph Smith household until Joseph’s death. Thus the warm welcome described above.

She emigrated to Utah and lived there I believe until her death in 1908. Joseph F Smith spoke at her funeral. She and Joseph F Smith may have known each-other all the way back in Nauvoo.

So here is the obvious hard part: she never was allowed full fellowship with the church. She was denied access to the temple and to standard temple ceremonies. From her Wikipedia page:

“James continued to ask that she and her family be given the ordinance of adoption so that they could be sealed together forever. Her justification for asking to be the exception to the church’s rule was Emma Smith’s offer in 1844 to have her sealed to the Smith family as a child. James was now reconsidering her decision, and asked to be sealed to the Smiths. Her requests were again refused. Instead, the First Presidency “decided she might be adopted into the family of Joseph Smith as a servant, which was done, a special ceremony having been prepared for the purpose.”[10] The ceremony took place on May 18, 1894, with Joseph F. Smith acting as proxy for Joseph Smith, and Bathsheba W. Smith acting as proxy for James (who was not allowed into the temple for the ordinance).[11] In the ceremony, James was “attached as a Servitor for eternity to the prophet Joseph Smith and in this capacity be connected with his family and be obedient to him in all things in the Lord as a faithful Servitor””

Back to me now: Thus Jane Manning James was denied an endowment and was attached as a servant to the Joseph Smith family. Her proxy work was done, I understand, in 1979, 71 years after her death.

She provides me with an example not of equality, but of pure stark institutional racism.

I would have a hard time teaching only part of this story, to my peers, to the youth, and to the primary. If we are going to include her in a lesson on “all being alike unto God” then we have to make it clear that we as a church, as an institution, fell far short of living up to that ideal. I likely would have been comfortable teaching that to my children at home. I am not likely to teach such a thing to a group of LDS children at Sharing Time. The story of her warm welcome in Nauvoo must be made in contrast to her unfair and racist treatment as a faithful member. Yes she was welcomed and protected. She was not a peer.

Lest we think that her status in Utah was somehow downgraded from whatever status she had in Nauvoo, lets remember that she did not apparently take advantage of the Nauvoo temple. As a member of the Joseph Smith household. Why was that? Does anyone know?

Let me say again: this is a FANTASTIC sharing time, and I would use it. I would however likely drop the inclusion of Sister Jane Manning James, and consider finding another person of color in her place. I would be interested if anyone else would be uncomfortable telling only part of her story.

respectfully,

I feel the need to speak to speak to jj’s comment, though it bteaks my personal policy of avoiding crosstalk.

Has there ever been a time and place where a primary or sunday school teacher, or even a seminary or institute teacher, been accountable to parents for their lessons, particularly in advance of the lessons themselves?

Again, I know these kids are young, but for me, freshman year at BYU was way too late to be finding out that the Church’s experience with diversity was not as harmonious as every teacher from primary, young men’s, and seminary wanted me to think it was.