Brigham Young chides church members for dancing like black people.

Date
May 29, 1847
Type
Personal Journal / Diary
Source
William Clayton
LDS
Hearsay
Scribed Verbatim
Direct
Reprint
Reference

George D. Smith, ed., An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995), 327

Scribe/Publisher
Signature Books, William Clayton
People
Brigham Young, William Clayton, George D. Smith
Audience
Latter-day Saints
Transcription

I have let the brethren dance, and fiddle, and act the nigger night after night to see what they will do, and what extremes they would go to if suffered to go as they would but I don’t love to see it. The brethren say they want a little exercise to pass away time, but if you can’t tire yourselves bad enough with a days journey without dancing every night, carry your guns on your shoulders, and walk, carry your wood to Camp instead of lounging and laying sleeping in your wagons, increasing the load untill your teams are tired to death and ready to drop into the earth.

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