Genesis Group

Several African American families were among the earliest members of the Church and active in many events of Latter-day Saint history. Nevertheless, for many decades, new Black members often found themselves as the only Black person or family in their local wards and stakes. Looking to forge greater community, Black members in the Salt Lake City area in 1971 collaborated with Church leaders to form the Genesis Group, a monthly gathering and activity arm of the Salt Lake Liberty Stake that provided group members with additional support.

Prior to the organization of the Genesis Group, several Black members in the Salt Lake City area met together and planned activities, though they attended different wards. In the 1960s, Eugene and Leitha Orr hosted what became an annual reunion at their home.¹ During one gathering, Eugene asked Darius Gray and Ruffin Bridgeforth Jr. about how they might counteract some of the discouragement many of their Black friends and family members expressed while attending church.² The three men fasted and prayed together for heavenly guidance. For Gray, this was the first time he had knelt in prayer with two other Black Latter-day Saints since becoming a member of the Church.³ In 1971, they approached Church leaders with questions about the priesthood and temple restriction then in effect for members of Black African descent and how they might assist the Church in providing support for the Black community. President Joseph Fielding Smith assigned Elders Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Boyd K. Packer to work with Bridgeforth, Gray, and Orr to develop a solution.

On October 19, 1971, the Genesis Group—so named because their organization represented a “new beginning” for Black members—held its inaugural meeting. Elders Hinckley, Monson, and Packer set apart Bridgeforth as the group’s president with Gray as the first counselor and Orr as the second counselor. Lucille Bankhead, a descendant of pioneer Latter-day Saints Jane Manning James and Green Flake, was called as the group’s Relief Society President. The new presidency announced their plan for Black members to gather once a month to bear testimonies, build a community of support, and share cultural experiences. Genesis Group members would continue to attend their home wards as well.⁴

Ruffin Bridgeforth served as the Genesis Group president from Genesis’s formation in 1971 until his death in 1997. Speaking at Bridgeforth’s funeral, President Gordon B. Hinckley said he was “a man of faith, a man who was close to his people and loved them and counseled them and blessed them and helped them with their struggles, their problems, their questions, their outward reach as they served in the Church. He stands as a great pioneer in this day when we honor pioneers.”⁵ Succeeding presidents included Darius Gray, Donald Harwell, and Davis Stovall.⁶

Genesis Group gatherings have emphasized music, particularly gospel music, with its strong ties to group members’ heritage in worshiping and praising God through singing in African American Protestant congregations before they joined the Church. The group founded the Genesis Choir in 1979 and later renamed it the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir, whose performances became a regular feature of group fast Sunday meetings. Over its 50-year history, the Genesis Group commemorated events such as the June 8, 1978, revelation ending the priesthood and temple restriction as well as the group’s 25th and 50th anniversaries in 1996 and 2021.⁷ Since its organization, the Genesis Group has retained formal sanction from the Church as a multistake activity group and remains committed to its purpose of fellowshipping Black Latter-day Saints.

Related Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Priesthood and Temple Restriction, Racial Segregation