Stevenson argues that understanding the restriction requires a global history of Black Mormon communities, including their agency and lived relationships, alongside decisions by church leaders. He situates the 2013 disavowal within a long struggle over the restriction’s justifications and gives Black participants’ own documents a central place in that history.
- Russell W. Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830–2013 (Greg Kofford Books, 2014).