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Black History Month: Talking about LDS pioneer Jane James

ane James haunts me. Not in the way you’re thinking—I don’t see her ghostly specter on cold evenings, or hear her humming a tune in the other room as I’m trying to sleep. What I mean is that she just won’t let me go. Every time I learn something new about her, it seems that I go down a rabbit hole. It takes me days to return, mentally, to whatever I was doing. James, an African American woman who converted to Mormonism in the early 1840s, moved to Nauvoo after her conversion and worked as a servant in Joseph Smith’s home. After Smith’s death, she worked for Brigham Young. She was in one of the first companies to arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847, and she remained a faithful Latter-day Saint until her death in 1908.

Latter-day Saint Life

Elder Cook Opens Black Church Leadership Summit (+Video)

“If there is to be ‘fairness for all,’ no one should face a threat to their very existence,” Elder Cook said at the Black Church Leadership Summit. “All should affirmatively recognize that everyone is entitled to protection for their core freedoms and interests. We cannot abandon the basic moral high ground that gives meaning to this life and has guided civilizations for centuries.”

Fun

Watch: LDS Artist Creates Heart-Stopping Disney Mashup of "Tangled" and "Hercules"

By LDS Living

LDS pianist Jason Lyle Black and Canadian baritone Jonathan Estabrooks came together to create a Disney mashup of Hercules' "Go The Distance" and Tangled's "I See The Light" that is simply gorgeous.

Podcasts

Join this episode of the Sunday on Monday study group for free in honor of Black History Month

Celebrate Black History Month with free access to this week’s episode of LDS Living’s Come, Follow Me podcast, The Sunday on Monday study group. An episode that focuses on the experiences of Black members of the Church, is now available for free on Deseret Bookshelf through the end of February 2021.

43: "O God, Where Art Thou?" (Doctrine and Covenants 121–123)"

"Prison temple." Now there are two words that don’t seem like they belong together. And while these words seem contradictory, they are exactly how Latter-day Saint historians have described the experience of Liberty Jail for Joseph Smith and his friends. As we study Doctrine and Covenants 121–123, we’ll see that while this experience was beyond harrowing, it also had moments of unspeakable sacredness. And we'll learn that we too can have sacred moments of comfort and peace during our most difficult trials.

10: "This Is the Way" (March 2–March 8)

Hey Friends! Here's a little public service announcement for the week. If you're looking for a way to celebrate the bicentennial of the First Vision with your whole family and you're in the Salt Lake or Ogden area, you should totally check out Deseret Book's First Light concert event on March 14 in Ogden, Utah. It's one night only and it's full of beautiful songs sung by some of our favorite artists to celebrate this significant event in our church's history. Find more information and reserve tickets at blog.deseretbook.com.

Fun

New BYUtv Show Is Unexpected Mashup of Family History Meets Reality TV

By Michelle Prince, BYUtv

HI! YOU DON’T KNOW US, BUT WE’RE RELATED…CAN WE STAY AT YOUR HOUSE?

Latter-day Saint Life

How an Old Hawaiian Church Plaque Changed the Way I Think About the Atonement

By Cameron C. Taylor

The following is an excerpt from the book The Way of Aloha: Lanai by Cameron C. Taylor. Manu is a Hawaiian Kahuna teaching two missionaries, Elder Taylor and Elder Balane, who are serving on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

Dean Hughes: Digging Into Polygamy and Other "Muddy" Issues

When Dean Hughes began writing his latest book, he didn't plan on writing about polygamy but the topic became impossible to ignore. At times, there are things (both past and present) that may affect our beliefs and be impossible to ignore. Dean describes these things as "muddy," but explains that there are faithful ways to approach seemingly messy aspects of our faith or our Church's history.

Filling Our Lives with Honesty with Kayla Jackson

In Philippians 4, Paul shared: “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest…think on these things.” We’ve heard it before that “honesty is the best policy” so how do we discover what it really means to be honest with God, honest with ourselves, and honest with others? President Nelson has shared that we can change the world and find peace in our lives when we interact with others managing our differences with honesty and respect.