Our conference
treats the important theme of "Race, Gender,
Ethnicity, and the Restoration," while marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of
Section 156 of the Community of Christ’s Doctrine and Covenants. This scripture,
canonized in 1984, paved the way for the ordination of women to priesthood
office. Jeanne Murphey and the Program Committee are pleased to announce this
year’s program, which will include a number of important presentations relating
to our theme and to the broader field of Restoration history.
Click here for the printable registration form
The Thursday evening sessions will be held at the Graceland University Independence Campus, 1400 W. Truman Road in Independence
(map).
All Friday and Saturday sessions will be held at the Truman Memorial Building, 416 W. Maple Avenue in Independence
(map).
The Sunday hymn festival will take place at the Community of Christ Temple, at 1001 W. Walnut Street in Independence
(map).
Kansas City International Airport is 30 miles from central Independence, and one-way shuttle rides will cost you
more than $50. If you are flying to the Symposium, we recommend renting a car rather than taking a shuttle or taxi
because you will likely spend less money and will have more freedom to get around Independence and the Kansas City metro
area.
If you need accommodations in Independence, JWHA has reserved a block of rooms at the Crossland Economy Studios,
located five miles south of the Graceland
campus, where rooms come with kitchenettes and work areas. Please mention JWHA when
booking your room to receive the special conference rate.
Crossland Economy Studios Kansas City - Independence
14800 E. 42nd St.
Independence, MO 64055
816-350-2151
Conference rate: $33 per night (1 queen), $43 per night (2 doubles)
>> Hotel Website
>> Map
Please contact the hotel directly at the listed phone number. We recommend reserving your room at your earliest convenience to assure the widest selection of options.
Thursday, September 24
Conference Registration, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Registration and Thursday’s events will take
place at the Graceland Independence Campus facility.
(1) Documentary Screening (Plenary), 8:00 PM
"Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black
Mormons"
Special Guests: Margaret Young and Darius Gray
Our conference will kick off with a
screening on the African American Mormon experience. This acclaimed documentary
brings confronts the hard issues which surfaced in the turbulent years of the
Civil Rights Movement, when the LDS Church restricted its priesthood from those
of African descent. It discusses how that restriction was lifted and what the
lives and challenges of the modern Black Mormon pioneers are. Besides
never-released footage shot in 1968 and many rare archival photographs, the
documentary includes interviews with renowned scholars, historians, Black
Mormons, with Martin Luther King III, and with Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray, retired
pastor of the First AME Church of Los Angeles, which was founded by a former
slave of Mormon pioneers.
(2) Opening Reception, 9:30 PM
Join us for an opening reception at the
Graceland University Independence Campus, welcoming attendees to this year’s
conference.
Friday, September 25
Conference Registration, 8:00 AM – 12:00 noon
Registration and all Friday and Saturday
events will take place at the Truman Memorial Building.
Book Sales, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Purchase the latest titles in the field from
our book vendors.
(3A) Cutlerites: Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and
Upper Room Work, (Concurrent) 8:30 AM –
10:00 AM
"Cutlerite Images of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender, 1853 to the
Present"
Presenter: Danny
Jorgenson
"‘The Upper Room Work’: An Analysis of Joseph Smith’s Endowment
Theology in the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)"
Presenter: Christopher
Blythe
(3B) Homosexuality and the Restoration,
(Concurrent) 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
"Homosexuality as Viewed through the Theology of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"
Presenter: Brian
Hales
"Strangers in Zion: Homosexuality and the Latter Day Saint
Movement"
Presenter: Seth Bryant
(3C) Re-Navigating the Minefield of Mormon
Polygamy, (Concurrent) 8:30 AM – 10:00
AM
"Joseph Smith’s 1843 Revelation on the ‘Plurality of Wives’: A
Reexamination and Closer Look at Its Origins and Shifting
Impact"
Presenter: Newell
Bringhurst
"Like two Crazy Aunts in the Attic: Anti-Polygamy Stereotyping and
Mormon Efforts to Distance Itself from Its Polygamous Past"
Presenter: Craig Foster
(4A) The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and the
Hedrickites, (Concurrent) 10:30 AM –
Noon
"The Historical, Geographical, and Sociological Beginnings of the
Church of Christ (Temple Lot)"
Presenter: Jean
Addams
"Contrasting Views of Race and Gender among the Hedrickite
Churches"
Presenter: Jason Smith
(4B) The Genetic Ethnicity of Joseph Smith Jr.,
(Concurrent) 10:30 AM –
noon
"DNA and Ancestry: The Joseph Smith Family as a Case
Study"
Presenter: Ugo Perego
(4C) African Americans in the Early Church,
(Concurrent) 10:30 AM –
noon
"African Americans in the Nauvoo Experience,
1839-46"
Presenter: Joseph
Johnstun
"Joseph T. Ball, the first African American High Priest in the LDS
Church"
Presenter: Connell
O’Donovan
(5) Women in the Priesthood Panel Discussion,
(Plenary Lunch) 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM
"Reflections on the 25th Anniversary
of D&C Section 156"
Panelists: Barbara Howard
Barbara Higdon
Marge Troeh
Stassi Cramm
Becky Savage
Gwen Hawks Blue
Moderator: Kris Judd
(6A) Strangites since Strang, (Concurrent) 2:45
PM – 4:15 PM
"The Strangite Church, 1856 to 1945"
Presenter: John Hamer
"The Strangite Church, 1945 to the Present"
Presenter: Michael
Karpowicz
(6B) Native Americans and the Restoration,
(Concurrent) 2:45 PM – 4:15 PM
"Stephen Mack’s Role in Illinois and Wisconsin Indian Relations,
1818-1850"
Presenter: Richard Behrens
"The Restoration and Indian Identities"
Presenter: Michael
Humiston
(6C) Women and Nauvoo, (Concurrent) 2:45 PM –
4:15 PM
"Sisters Indeed: The Ritual Rebellion of Nauvoo
Lodge"
Presenter: Nick
Literski
"Nauvoo Plural Marriage: Gender Distinctions in Celestial
Privilege"
Presenter: George D. Smith
(7A) The Community of Christ in Africa,
(Concurrent) 4:30 PM – 5:15 PM
"The Community of Christ Experience in Africa"
Presenter: Bunda Chibwe
(7B) LDS Women in Mexico, (Concurrent) 4:30
PM – 5:15 PM
"‘Our Faithful Sisters’: The Organization of the Relief Society in
Early 20th Century Mexico"
Presenter: Jared Tamez
(7C) The LDS and Afrikaaner Experiences
Compared, (Concurrent) 4:30 PM – 5:15
PM
"A Cross-cultural Comparitive Study of North America’s Latter-day
Saints and South Africa’s Afrikaaners"
Presenter: Kevin Bryant
(8) JWHA Business Meeting, (Reserved for
Members) 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM
(9) JWHA Awards Dinner & Sterling M.
McMurrin Lecture, (Plenary) 6:00 PM –
7:45 PM
"Reading the Lamanite Narrative as a Visceral Theology: Negating
the Identity, Relevancy, and Catholicity of Mestizo
Christianity"
Presenter: John
Glaser
Saturday, September 26
Conference Registration, 7:30 AM – 12:00 noon
Registration and all Friday and Saturday
events will take place at the Truman Memorial Building.
Book Sales, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Purchase the latest titles in the field from
our book vendors.
(10A) A Closer Look at Hancock County,
Illinois, (Concurrent) 8:00 AM – 9:30
AM
"Re-Examining Josiah Quincy’s 1844 Visit to
Nauvoo"
Presenter: John
Hammond
"Fuel for the Fire: A Comparison of Mormon and Non-Mormon Cultures
in Hancock County"
Presenter: Debra Marsh
(10B) Author Meets the Critics Panel
(Concurrent) 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM
George D. Smith’s Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial
marriage"
Chair: Newell Bringhurst
Panelists: Dick Howard, Linda Newell, Brian Hales
Response: George D. Smith
(10C) Patriarchal Blessings and Gender
(Concurrent) 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM
"Gender Differences in the Early Patriarchal Blessings of
the
LDS Church"
Presenters: Gordon Shepherd and Gary
Shepherd
(11A) Racial Prejudice and the Restoration,
(Concurrent) 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
"Joseph Smith and the Question of Racial
Prejudice"
Presenter: Christopher
Marshall
"‘I Would Confine them to their own Species’: Utah Mormon
Historical Rhetoric and Practice Regarding Marriage between Whites and
Blacks"
Presenter: Connell O’Donovan
(11B) Retrospective on Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale
Smith, (Concurrent) 10:00 AM – 11:30
AM
Panelists: Linda Newell
Jan Shipps
Madelon Brunson
(11C) Changing Roles of Women in the
Restoration, (Concurrent) 10:00 AM –
11:30 AM
"‘If I Had One, I’d Be ...:’ A View From the
Nursery"
Presenter: Paul
Edwards
"Reflections on the Role of Women in the Contemporary LDS
Church"
Presenter: Mary Ellen
Robertson
(12A) Segregation and the Reorganization,
(Concurrent) noon – 12:45 PM
"William Blue Sr. and His Struggle as a Pastor of a Segregated
Church in the South"
Presenter: Bill Russell
(12B) Alice Lundgren, (Concurrent) noon – 12:45
PM
"Alice Lundgren’s Aftermath: The Latest
Chapter"
Presenter: Jeanne Murphey
(12C) Mormon Ethnicity and the Community of
Christ, (Concurrent) noon – 12:45 PM
"Crossing the Bridge: Reflections on the journey of an ethnic
Mormon into the Community of Christ"
Presenter: Steve Shields
(13A) Tour #1: Divergent Restoration Churches
in Independence, Missouri, (Concurrent/Box Lunch) 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Known as the "Centerplace of Zion" in
Restoration theology, Independence is home to dozens of distinct denominations
within the Latter Day Saint movement. Our van tour will visit many examples and
our guide will describe their relationship to the movement.
(13B) Tour #2: The Early Mormon Experience in
Jackson County and Antebellum Material Culture Preserved in the Steamboat Arabia
Museum, (Concurrent/Box Lunch) 1:00 PM –
4:00 PM
Jackson County was a gathering place for
Mormons between 1831 and their expulsion in 1833. Our tour will visit the sites
of early Mormon settlements. We will then visit the Steamboat Arabia Museum,
which houses one of the most spectacular collections of everyday artifacts
dating from pre-Civil War America.
(13C) Tour #3: Liberty Jail, Zion’s Camp, and
the Witnesses: Clay and Ray County Mormon History Sites, (Concurrent/Box Lunch)
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Our tour will visit the Michael Arthur farm,
site of many important early events including the formation of the Missouri
Stake, and Liberty Jail in Clay County. We will also tour Ray County, including
the Three Witnesses Monument and other Whitmer family sites in and around
Richmond.
(13D) Tour #4: Far West and Haun’s Mill:
Caldwell County Mormon History Sites, (Concurrent/Box Lunch) 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Caldwell County was created specifically for
Mormon Settlement in 1836 and it became headquarters of the church in 1838. We
will visit the sites of Far West’s unfinished temple and the massacre at Haun’s
Mill.
(14) JWHA Presidential Banquet, (Plenary) 6:30
PM – 8:30 PM
"Wingfield Watson: Devoted Disciple, Preserver of the Strangite
Movement"
Presenter: Bill
Shepard
Sunday, September 27
Sunday events will take place at the
sanctuary of the Community of Christ Temple.
(15) Emma Smith Hymn Festival, (Plenary) 8:30
AM – 9:45 AM
