I’m again behind on catching up on all the recent events for Race and the Making of the Mormon People. 

But the big news this weekend from the 187th annual LDS Church General Conference was that on Sunday, Jane Manning James’s name and story was (very briefly) spoken of by M. Russell Ballard!

Here is the great Peggy Fletcher Stack’s story about the talk, in which Apostle Ballard called church members to reject racism, nationalism, and sexism.

The racism bit is fitting for a church that is, likely, more non white than white. The sexism bit is perhaps the most complicated one, for a church that doesn’t ordain women. The nationalism bit I think is the most interesting development. As I told Jana Riess, I think the church’s biggest issue in the next century will be less about race (“whiteness) and more about country (Americanness), as the church continues to grow into a “global” church.

But to hear Jane Manning James’s name from General Conference cannot be understated!