“We have one of the best Elders, an African in Lowell.” — Brigham Young

Quack Walker Lewis was one of at least three men of African descent who were ordained to the priesthood during Joseph Smith's lifetime. Born in 1798 in Massachusetts, Lewis was deeply involved in the abolitionist movement and the Black community in Boston and Lowell, holding leadership positions in the African Humane Society, the Massachusetts General Colored Association, and the Freemason African Lodge #459. In Boston, Lewis worked as a barber. He was probably baptized by 1842 and was ordained as an elder in the Church by William Smith, Joseph Smith’s brother, in 1843 or 1844. His ordination by William Smith and the interracial marriage of his son drew negative attention from some Church leaders.^2,3

1. William Appleby Letter to Brigham Young, June 1847, Church History Library

2. “Lewis, Quack Walker,” Century of Black Mormonism

3. Q. Walker Lewis, Church History Biographical Database, churchofjesuschrist.org