John Whitmer Historical Association Best Book Award

Second Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality

“A nuanced account of the Mormon church’s uneven progress toward social justice.” — Publishers Weekly

“This striking book deals with arguably the Mormon church’s most challenging, enduring, and thorniest social and religious issue. Harris is superb at showcasing Black Mormons’ efforts to overcome LDS leaders’ bigotry. Second-Class Saints is a must-read for anyone hoping to increase their understanding of how the Mormon faith has produced dubious racial theories as well as Black Mormons’ ongoing struggle for racial equity.” — Cameron Mccoy, author of Contested Valor: African American Marines In The Age of Power, Protest, and Tokenism

“This painstakingly researched book tells the heart-rending history of Mormonism’s race-based Priesthood and temple restrictions. In tracking the conflicts, constraints, and contingencies, The politics, pretexts, and planning, and the human actors who struggled for and against a more inclusive theology and church organization, Harris creates a powerful narrative – one that opens possibilities for healing in the present.” — Rebecca De Schweinitz, Associate Professor of History, Brigham Young University

“Second-Class Saints is a masterful exploration of the Black struggle for racial equality within The LDS Church. Harris dissects the entrenched history of documented white supremacy Among church leadership and its theology, revealing a compelling, yet often overlooked, Chapter of religious history.” — Darron T. Smith, author of Black And Mormon

“The implications of the book reverberate far beyond it merely being a more detailed retelling of events surrounding this pivotal event in Mormon history. It will be impossible for anyone who reads it to be unaffected by what it clearly and irrefutably shows about the history of the priesthood and temple ban” — Ryan Ward, Association of Mormon Letters  

“…An excellent, if painful, look into racism and its effects on the people in the Church that is worth reading.” — Chad Nielsen, Times and Seasons

“Matthew L. Harris’ Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality is a stunning, monumental book…a must-read.” — Conor Hilton, Dawning of a Brighter Day

“A remarkable new book — one of the best I’ve read in a long time.” — Bill Tammeus, Faith Matters

“I don’t typically get emotional when reading history books, but I did with Matthew L. Harris’ groundbreaking Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality. It’s a gripping, and often heartbreaking, read.” — Jana Riess, Religion News Service 

“Extraordinary. That’s the word for “Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality,” a 2024 book-of-the-year candidate written by Colorado State University-Pueblo historian Matthew L. Harris.” — Richard Ostling, Religion Unplugged

“Harris has written the best and most digestible history of the debates and decisions that culminated in the end of the Latter-day Saint racial restriction. Any future histories on the topic will stand on Harris’s shoulders.” — Joseph R. Stuart, The Journal of Mormon History

“This story will be riveting to New Mormon historians-its wealth of juicy detail will appeal as much as its argument. Harris has transformed a story of procedures into a story about people, and every bit of it illuminates the largely unspoken theoretical question of the definition of race, and its service as a theological, biological, or social category.” — Matthew Bowman, Nova Religio

“It is both well-researched and well-written. Readers will be richly rewarded for engaging with it.”– James B. Bennett, Journal of Religious History