The One Drop Rule was used to justify slavery and segregation in America. Unfortunately, it seeped into the LDS Church in the form of a ban on blacks from priesthood and temple ordinances. But did Brigham Young use the word in his famous 1852 speech to the Utah Legislature? Paul Reeve says no. Find out more in our next conversation.....https://youtu.be/OzVtpb8pfxwCopyright © 2023Gospel TangentsAll Rights ReservedExcept for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permissionRussell Dewey RitchiePaul  00:56  So we have other people who have who pass as white in the database. In the database, we have a couple of cases where people, Latter-day Saints in the 21st century have written to us and said, "Hey, we have African ancestry in our DNA in the 21st century, and we think it traces back to ancestor X or Y, and if so, we would love to have them included in the database." And we've done the research and there have been other examples like that. Russell...GT  01:34  Stephenson?Paul  01:35  Russell Dewey Ritchie is in the database, and he is ordained in 1971. He's in his 70s. And his father was formerly enslaved. So, he's the son...GT  01:53  Did you say 1871 or 1971?Paul  01:54  Correct, 1971, 1971. His father was born into slavery. So, this is the son of a slave. He was ordained in 1971. But, you know, he passed as white by that point. His father is likely the result of interracial rape and born into slavery,GT  02:21  Because the slaveholders used to purposely impregnate slaves to get more slaves, right?Paul  02:26  Correct.GT  02:27  Is that probably what happened?Paul  02:28  Well, I don't know the intent. The family has done all kinds of DNA work in this particular case. And so Russell's father, Nelson Holder Ritchie is the descendant of a white enslaver, and a black enslaved [mother.] And the circumstantial evidence suggests that it was more than likely an interracial rape and she becomes pregnant, is sold into Missouri. That's where Nelson Holder Ritchie is born. And then he shows up in the 1860s, in the home of a man by the last name of Ritchie in Kansas, who runs a stop on the Underground Railroad. And Nelson takes that as his last name. He fights in the Civil War on the side of freedom. He's a product of an interracial rape, more than likely. And then after the Civil War, he establishes a livery stable and hotel in Great Bend, Kansas, marries a white woman. Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints take room and board at his hotel. You can predict the rest of the story. The family converts, they moved to Utah. Nelson and his wife, Annie Kellen Russell, apply to be sealed to each other. They apply for a temple admission in 1909 and are prevented because Nelson is black, and his bishop says "No. You can't." And they appeal and they say, "But our two oldest daughters have already been sealed in the Salt Lake Temple."GT  04:20  Oh, wow.Paul  04:21  And they had. They had. So they are, then, the product of two generations of interracial marriages, because Nelson's wife, Annie is white. He's a formerly enslaved man. Their children are light enough to pass [as white.] The two oldest daughters had moved out of the home, weren't living in the same ward, found people to marry and went to the Salt Lake Temple. No one had any questions about it. So, they were sealed. So, when Nelson and Annie wanted to be sealed as well, they said, "Well, our two oldest daughters are sealed." The bishop said "I don't care. I'm not letting you go," and never gave them a recommend. They had nine kids and every one of the kids either in life or by proxy after death received priesthood ordination and temple admission before 1978. One of the daughters is a Relief Society president in Layton, Utah and sealed to her husband, and passes away in 1976. The daughter of a slave dies in Utah as a temple worker in 1976.GT  05:32  Wow.