Students at Morehouse College recently raised concerns over a newly unveiled painting of Joseph Smith to be displayed in the Martin Luther King International Chapel gallery on campus. The artwork, intended as part of an interfaith partnership highlighting individuals who champion racial equality, quickly became the center of a student-led pushback and dialogue about representation, historical memory, and institutional values. Some students questioned why Smith—founder The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—was selected for prominent display at a historically Black college, particularly given the LDS Church’s racist past, restrictions on Black members holding the priesthood prior to 1978, and Smith's own views and writings. For most students, the issue was not merely about a single painting, but about the broader symbolism of honoring religious figures whose institutions and they themselves have complicated histories regarding race. Mormonish Podcast is joined by Alonzo Brinson, 40th President of the Martin Luther King International Chapel Assistants Program to discuss the developing situation at Morehouse College.

At a recent painting unveiling at Morehouse College, a provocative phrase caught everyone’s attention when the dean of the college stated that Joseph Smith was “Lincoln before Lincoln.”

What did that mean? Was it poetic praise, historical argument, or symbolic comparison? And the even bigger question, did Joseph Smith actually ever express or exhibit anti-slavery views?

In this episode, Rebecca Bibliotheca is joined by Master Peace, Ron Yorgason as we explore the life and legacy of Joseph Smith, searching for the history behind the headline.

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Mormonish Podcast's Landon and Rebecca report back on their recent trip to Missouri. Hitting many of the LDS church history sites like Independence, Far West, Liberty Jail, The Garden of Eden, etc was a revelatory experience that we can't wait to share with all of you! We are calling this new subseries, "Where Will You Go?"