Students at Morehouse College in Atlanta are outraged over a recently unveiled portrait of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the HBCU’s Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.
According to an article in Morehouse’s student news outlet, The Maroon Tiger, oil paintings of Smith and Harold Bennett, chair of the college’s philosophy and religion department, were unveiled in the chapel’s Hall of Honor during a February 1 service. Students who were present at the event said there were notable differences in how long Smith and Bennett’s paintings were addressed, with a dedication introducing Smith lasting some 15 minutes, compared to Bennett’s introduction lasting just 4 minutes.
After the event, a group of students, led by Chapel Assistant Program president Alonzo Brinson and vice president Damarion King, drafted a formal letter of dissent, citing Smith’s views on race and slavery as contradictory to Morehouse’s values.
Although he eventually publicly supported emancipation during his 1844 presidential campaign, Smith never prohibited church members from enslaving people. However, Smith’s position was starkly different than that of Smith’s political opponent James G. Birney, who openly opposed slavery. Smith, on the other hand, supported a gradual emancipation that included compensation for slave owners.
In an interview with The Maroon Tiger, Lawrence Edward Carter, dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, praised Smith and his stance on abolition.
“Smith wanted to free the enslaved Africans, and he wanted to have the federal government pay reparations to slave owners,” said Carter. “If elected, there would have been no civil war.”
Brinson and King, both in their third year at Morehouse, disagree. The student leaders say the decision to feature Smith in the chapel disregards the legacy of Morehouse.
“When I wrote the letter, it was not out of frustration but out of standing for something,” said Brinson. “Because if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. We have prostituted ourselves, in a manner of speaking, for the Mormons. I was very disappointed by Dean Carter for doing that.”
