From eternal servant to saint: Jane Elizabeth Manning James

Some recount her story like this: Jane Elizabeth Manning James was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was one of the first African-American women in Utah. She worked in the Smith home and was later sealed to Joseph Smith’s family as an eternal servant in 1894.

Others portray her life like this: Jane Elizabeth Manning James was a faithful LDS saint who is an example to modern-day Mormons of how to overcome trials.

“The way people narrate Jane’s story is all about perspective,” said Quincy D. Newell, an American religious scholar presenting at the 21st annual Leonard J. Arrington Lecture Thursday at the Logan Tabernacle at 7:00 p.m.

Newell said her lecture is not necessarily about Jane’s life. The focus of her discourse is about how different groups of people — Mormons, post-Mormons or anti-Mormons — tell her story.

“Different people connect to Jane in different ways, so you get a lot of variety within the narrations of Jane’s life,” she said.

Newell said understanding the different ways history is retold is important because it affects how we make decisions.

“History matters,” she said. “The way we tell those stories about our past matters because that opens up or forecloses certain possibilities for the future.”

It is fascinating how in which blackness gets represented in those different narratives about the same person, Newell said.

The positive version of the story:

Newell said one way of telling Jane’s story glosses over the fact that she is black.

“In this version of the story, Jane becomes a model for Mormonism, particularly for Mormon femininity, but also for Mormons in general of how to live a devout LDS life during trying circumstances,” she said.

That is the most accessible version of Jane for the majority American Mormons today, said Newell.

“Focusing in her blackness might make her less accessible because it is harder to imitate someone who is different than you in fundamental ways,” she said.

Also in this version of the story, Joseph Smith is often depicted as talking with and having a relationship with Jane, which illustrates him as being progressive for his time.

“Joseph Smith was relatively enlightened at his time,” she said. “He did oppose slavery, but he was not particularly enthused about abolitionist plans to free the slaves.”

The “incredibly awkward” interpretation of Jane’s story:

The alternative narration of Jane’s story focuses on the fact that she was a servant for the Smith family and highlights her race.

Emma Smith, Joseph’s wife, approached James and offered to let her be adopted into the family. She refused at the time, but after Joseph was assassinated, she wanted to join the Smith family. However, the church leaders at the time wouldn’t allow her to be adopted. They came up with a different solution: they sealed her to the Smith family as an eternal servant. This happened by proxy because James was not allowed to attend the sealing ceremony due to her race.

“It is incredibly awkward for Mormons because it perpetuates racial attitudes that Mormons really want to repudiate at this point in history,” she said.

Why perspectives matter:

“The malleability of her story so that it can be used to represent completely opposing viewpoints is a very interesting feature and it is a great illustration of why it matters that we pay attention to how we narrate a story,” Newell said.

The Associate Dean for Special Collections in the Merrill-Cazier Library Brad Cole said while there are different narratives from the past, people telling those stories is a way that we can learn from the mistakes of those who came before us.

“Ordinarily, anything that is going on today has some parallel in the past that you can go and learn from, so you don’t repeat the mistakes,” he said. “I don’t really look at it as taking advantage [of the story]. I look at it as trying to be smarter.”

Jared Call is the interim head of the Utah State University Religious Studies Club. He is also a senior studying religious studies and philosophy. Call disagrees with Cole, because those narrations can be used for good or bad when telling a story.

“The storyteller holds a sense power that can be willed for a variety of ends,” he said.

Call said wielding that power is like walking a fine line of leaving out as many biases as possible when recollecting history.

Cole said the lecture will also feature a student writing contest.

“If students come, take notes and they write a 2,500 word non-fiction essay, there is a $1000, $500 and $250 prize,” he said.

— morgan.pratt.robinson@gmail.com