Scott Lloyd Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Just came from the Mormon History Association awards dinner. A special citation was given to Darius Gray for outstanding contributions to Mormon History. My friend Darius not only is a co-founder of Genesis (support group for black Latter-day Saints founded in 1971) but has produced books, documentaries and TV series helping share the story and experience of black Latter-day Saints. A well-deserved honor. I'll post a link to my story as soon as I see it online. I feel privileged to know him and to have interviewed him on a number of occasions. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 In searching online for my story, I learned that Darius writes a blog on Huffington Post. I never knew that until now. Glancing through some of his blog posts, I was struck in particular by this one. Since it is in the nature of Mormon apolgetics, and that is still in large measure what is found on MDDB, I'll post this link to Darius's blog post. He describes himself as "a Christian in the Mormon tradition." I like that. Link to comment
rpn Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Hard to believe it's been 43 years since Genesis. Link to comment
Bill “Papa” Lee Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Just came from the Mormon History Association awards dinner. A special citation was given to Darius Gray for outstanding contributions to Mormon History. My friend Darius not only is a co-founder of Genesis (support group for black Latter-day Saints founded in 1971) but has produced books, documentaries and TV series helping share the story and experience of black Latter-day Saints. A well-deserved honor. I'll post a link to my story as soon as I see it online. I feel privileged to know him and to have interviewed him on a number of occasions.Long overdue! Link to comment
Deborah Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I love hearing him speak. What a faithful man to have endured so much and still believing in the restored church. Link to comment
juliann Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 He will be speaking at the FairMormon conference in August. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 I agree that Darius Gray is wonderful, but it's a bit strange to see him being recognized for "outstanding contributions to Mormon History." Maybe he's contributed in other ways than writing articles and books. I'll have to wait for Scott's article to find out, I guess. The making of Mormon history has to do with his co-founding of the Genesis group. This was a remarkable thing for its day: three black men who, stemming from their own initiative, were set apart by apostles of the Church to preside over a support group for faithful African American Latter-day Saints at a time when the racial restriction on the priesthood was increasingly becoming a point of criticism of the Church. The revelation on the priesthood would come seven years later, but none of us who were around at the time had any inkling that it would happen so soon. Genesis helped set the stage for it. Ruffin Bridgeforth (now deceased), the first president of Genesis, was one of the first black men ordained to the priesthood and was the first back high priest. Maybe one had to have lived and been aware back then to understand and appreciate the import of it. Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 I see your article is now online. It does help me to understand the award better. I agree that it is well deserved. (I wish I could have attended MHA this year, but San Antonio was a bit beyond my means. Hopefully next year!)It's in Provo next year, which makes it easily accessible for a good many folks, I daresay. Link to comment
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