On 12/19 in New Mormon History...

[New Mormon History]

Historic events in New Mormon History on 12/19

1886: John Taylor enters his first plural marriage since the passage of the 1862 federal law against Mormon polygamy. Performed by the brides father, and witnessed by his counselor George Q. Cannon and bodyguard Charles H. Wilcken.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1889: First Presidency and Twelve accept Wilford Woodruff's revelation of 24 Nov. 1889.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1962: David O. McKay privately tells LaMar Williams, the church's representative to self-converted Nigerian Mormons, to baptize the Nigerian polygamists "and admit them to the Church. They could keep the wives and families that they had at the time of baptism, but they were not to engage further in this practice." Although this is a typical example of McKay's pattern of privately reversing First Presidency decisions, circumstances prevent its implementation. A delay in getting visas and the subsequent Nigerian civil war prevent Williams and other LDS missionaries from actually being able to perform the baptisms until 1978 when the official decision of the McKay Presidency is enforced prohibiting the baptism of polygamists. Black African husbands, wives, and children have to renounce polygamous marriages in order to receive LDS baptism or to receive the priesthood. In tribal cultures a divorced wife is an outcast and her children suddenly become illegitimate. This refusal to recognize the legitimacy of black African polygamy contradicts the March 1897 letter of the First Presidency regarding marriages in non-western cultures. This seems to be a race-based policy contrary to the First Presidency's recent recognition of polygamy among Arabs ("children of Abraham") and the LDS church policy since 1959 to ignore the illegality and "technical adultery" of LDS converted Latin Americans ("blood of Israel") who are living in long-term relationships without legal marriage and without divorce from previous spouse(s).
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1968: BYU's Daily Universe publishes an article in favor of recruiting African-American athletes. BYU's president writes: "This argues all the more in favor of our making the student newspaper an agency of our Communications Department rather than a student publication." The Universe ceases to be an independent student paper on 18 Apr. 1969, but "nothing would be announced about this new policy."
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn

1993: An LDS missionary choir sings carols in St. Peter's Basilica during the broadcast of Christmas Mass by Vatican Radio. This is the spontaneous idea of a young missionary, apparently not coordinated by LDS headquarters.
Source: See The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn



To see the whole database in chronological order, Click here. Note that I'm not done entering all the information. While most of these facts come from Quinn's book, I'm seeking the primary sources for each, but this will take a long time.