Associate Professor of Religious Studies Quincy Newell recently presented a lecture about Jane Manning James, a black woman who converted to Mormonism in the early 1840s, at Montana State University.
In “The Story of Jane: How an Obscure Black Woman Changes American History,” Newell discussed the life of one of the earliest known black members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She explored James’ experience with the Mormon church, including the role of race and gender in how James was regarded in the Mormon faith.
Newell also spoke to the Salt Lake Tribune's Mormon Land about her book this week. The discussion can be heard here.
Newell published Your Sister in the Gospel: The Life of Jane Manning James, a Nineteenth-Century Black Mormon in the spring. The book is described by publisher Oxford University Press as “the first scholarly biography of Jane Manning James or, for that matter, any black Mormon.”
