Portrait of Hugh B. Brown

First Presidency counselor

Hugh B. Brown

1883–1975

1 topic · 1 dated event

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Race and the Priesthood

First Presidency counselor

Brown told the New York Times in June 1963 that the Church was in the midst of a survey looking toward the possibility of admitting Black members to the priesthood, and read the Church's civil rights statement at October conference that year after meeting the Salt Lake NAACP. He pressed McKay repeatedly to lift the restriction and was overruled; he was dropped from the First Presidency in 1970.

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1 events across 1 topics, chronological. Only events this person was actually part of — present at, responsible for, or the subject of — not every event where the name comes up.

6 October 1963

Hugh B. Brown reads a civil rights statement to avert an NAACP marchhinge

The Salt Lake NAACP planned to picket Temple Square during general conference. Sterling McMurrin arranged a meeting; Brown promised a statement and, with McMurrin's help, drafted one that McKay approved. Brown read it: “There is in this Church no doctrine, belief, or practice that is intended to deny the enjoyment of full civil rights by any person, regardless of race, color, or creed.” The demonstration was cancelled.

Why this is a hingeThe Church's first strong public civil rights statement was produced under the threat of a picket line and drafted by a man it had nearly excommunicated.
Disputed Whether it was an official First Presidency statement was questioned at the time; the Deseret News reprinted it in 1965 as given officially.
People: Hugh B. Brown · David O. McKay

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People who share the most dated events with Hugh B. Brown.

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