Lamanites
It is considered scripture in the sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement and says that God called Oliver Cowdery (D&C 28:8) and later Peter Whitmer and Parley P. Pratt (D&C 32:1–2) to teach the gospel to the Lamanites.
[16] Early Mormons expected large numbers of Native American converts, who would teach gentiles how to interpret scripture, according to a revelation given to Joseph Smith in May 1829.
In the Book of Mormon, Jesus told people in the New World that conversion would precede the millennium, and members interpreted this promise as one referring to Lamanites, and by extension, Native Americans.
[17] Twentieth century teachings connecting modern Native Americans and Lamanites reached their height under the presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (1973 –1985),[18]: 159 then declined, but did not disappear.
[26] In the twenty-first century, LDS Church outlets have stated that "[n]othing in the Book of Mormon precludes migration into the Americas by peoples of Asiatic origin".
[28] This has involved supposing that Nephites and Lamanites dwelled in only part of the Americas while genetically identified ancestors of Indigenous peoples occupied the rest.
For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, and they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.On the other hand, the Book of Mormon teaches that skin color is not a bar to salvation and that God:[31] denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.The non-canonical 1981 footnote text of the Book of Mormon closely linked the concept of "skin of blackness" with that of "scales of darkness falling from their eyes," which suggests that the LDS Church has now interpreted both cases as being examples of figurative language.
[32] Several Book of Mormon passages have been interpreted by some Latter Day Saints as indicating that Lamanites would revert to a lighter skin tone upon accepting the gospel.
For example, at a 1960 LDS Church General Conference, apostle Spencer W. Kimball suggested that the skin of Latter-day Saint Native American was gradually turning lighter: I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today.
[33] That view was buoyed by passages such as 2 Nephi 30:6, which in early editions of the Book of Mormon, read: [T]heir scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and a delightsome people.
"[b] Eventually in the Book of Mormon narrative, the labels "Nephite" and "Lamanite" became terms of political convenience, and membership was both varied and fluid and not based on skin color.
[39] As Grant Hardy, Jared Hickman, Elizabeth Fenton, and Terryl Givens explain, the Book of Mormon's first-person narration means its content is couched in "limited, human perspectives".
[41] Deidre Green, a professor of Mormon studies, suggests that the prophet Jacob condemns the Nephites' racist attitudes towards the Lamanite people and "clarifies that righteousness is manifest through right intentions and actions, not physical appearance.
"[42] Michael Austin argues that Jacob's warning to the Nephite people concerning their prejudice against the Lamanites is one of the book's attempts to combat the "anti-Lamanite" biases presented by the individual narrators.
Others, such as Marvin Perkins, see the changes as better conforming the chapter headers and footnotes to the meaning of the text in light of the LDS Church's 1978 Revelation on Priesthood.
