November 4, 1965, meeting of First Presidency and Twelve. Elder Gordon B. Hinckley mentioned the work of Brother Lamar Williams, who is in Nigeria, and said he had received a telephone call from Sister [Nyal Bowen] Williams, who had told him that she had some reason to believe that Brother [Monroe] Fleming, a colored man who works in the Hotel Utah, who is a member of the Church, may have some connection with NAACP, and she expressed the thought that we should be very careful regarding the information we give him. Secondly, she wanted to know about her husband LaMar’s trip to Nigeria, and when he was going to move his family there. She explained that Brother Williams is making arrangements to get permanent visas for himself and family with the thought that they would move there right after Christmas if he can get the visas. She further reported that day before yesterday she learned that he was negotiating with the office of immigration, and he thought that he would have a favorable response.

Elder [Harold B.] Lee commented that most of the Twelve have had occasion to be somewhat anxious about Brother Williams’ connections in Nigeria, that they had talked about this in their Council meetings many times. He mentioned that Brother Williams had accepted invitations to speak at fireside groups, special interest groups, etc., and the subject they had asked him to speak about was his proposed mission to Nigeria.

Elder Lee said that Evan Wright, the former President of the South African Mission and one who had lived in South Africa for some years, had told him (Brother Lee) that he was shocked on one occasion to hear Brother Williams say that in his (Brother Williams’) judgment the Negroes should receive at least the Aaronic Priesthood. Brother Wright said that if that statement were made in South Africa, or if they learned about it down there, it might close up our missionary effort in South Africa because there is a very strict policy of segregation.

Elder Lee further stated that Brother Williams had met him a couple of months ago on the sidewalk and said that he wanted to talk with him about the kind of organization he should set up in Nigeria. Elder Lee had told him that there is no other organization for us to set up but the church organization, and that he should talk to the President of the Church about anything that was to be done there.

Elder Lee said he wondered if this long delay in getting a permanent visa may not be evidence that the Lord is not ready to have this work done, and what he was concerned about is that if we go there with the NAACP on alert as they are to try to find something on the Church to warrant a demonstration, that if they learn that we baptize some Negro people and then have to send White missionaries to perform the ordinances of the Gospel, it could result in serious consequences, as to them it would indicate that we are considering the Negro as a second-class citizen. He thought that to go there and do proselyting among the Nigerians would be about as dangerous a thing as we could do.

Elder Lee also referred to the work that had been done in bringing Nigerian students to attend the BYU, some of whom have been baptized while here, and that these students are attending the BYU on scholarships which Brother Williams has arranged through the help of a number of our brethren who have put up the money. He said this had created a social situation at the BYU, bringing a half a dozen Negro students in the midst of 18,000 of our own students. He stated that the Executive Committee had had little understanding of it, that it had never come to their attention, that it presented a program which it seems is going forward without proper permission, and that with Brother Williams working among these people in Nigeria, undoubtedly others will come, as many in fact as they can find money to support.

Elder Hinckley mentioned that he had been given to understand that it was the decision of the First Presidency that Brother Williams was not to encourage any more of these scholarship students.

President [N. Eldon] Tanner said that during the past six months arrangements had been made to take care of three of these students through collections, and that another student is there, making four all told; that one of the leaders who calls himself a Latter-day Saint, has sent another student from over there, and he is providing his own expense. He also stated that he understood two of these students have been baptized, perhaps three, and that Brother Williams had been definitely told to discourage any others from coming. He thought that had been the practice during the past three months.

In regard to the matter of Brother Williams’ going there, President Tanner said Brother Williams had met with the First Presidency and discussed this possibility and was given approval to get his visitor’s visa, he having been carrying on correspondence with these people quite regularly, that probably a year or a year and a half ago, Brother Williams was told by the First Presidency that we should not do anything further toward getting visas, that it was up to the people over there to get them, and they have been working on them. Recently Brother Williams received a letter from some man in the government telling him he could get a visitor’s visa, and if he would go there, they thought they could get him a permanent visa. Brother Williams was told that he could go on this visitor’s visa and endeavor to get a permanent visa, but he was not to do any baptizing or proselyting, that he could meet with these people while there and find out whether he could get a permanent visa.

President Tanner further stated that a young man by the name of [Bryce] Wright, who is a Canadian and has been called on a mission, was appointed to go with Brother Williams—he being Canadian it is not necessary that he have a visa. Brother Wright was called to fill a mission in the South African Mission, but was permitted to go with Brother Williams as his companion to Nigeria, and in the event a permanent visa could not be obtained, he was to go on to his mission in South Africa. Brother Williams was instructed that he should do no baptizing and no proselyting, that while there he was to determine whether or not he could get a permanent visa and then was to return home.

Elder Lee mentioned a discussion held in the council some few years ago as to whether or not we should gather the Negro members here in the valley together and give them a little chapel and set up a branch for our Negro members, that at first they seemed enthusiastic about the possibility, that they had not gone far, however, in talking about the matter until word came from the NAACP that the Church having planned now to take a step forward, they were demanding that the Church bring them in as full-fledged members with the Priesthood and all. It was then that Brother [Abner] Howells and another Negro Church member advised that in their judgment we had better let the whole matter drop.

Elder [Mark E.] Petersen commented that this was right, that the NAACP had sent a committee of three or four Negro men and one White woman to the Council of the Twelve office demanding that they be permitted to organize this group for us. Elder Petersen said that personally he would like to see Brother Williams called home and kept home, and that we proceed no further with this program. He thought it would do us great damage.

Elder [Ezra Taft] Benson said he shared the feeling of the Brethren who had expressed themselves on this question, that he was confident in his own mind from a study he had made of the Negro question that we are only seeing something being carried out today that was planned by the highest councils of the Communist party twenty years ago, and that Martin Luther King is an agent, if not a power in the Communist party. He said that this whole thing is being directed and supported and promoted by agents of the communist party, that the Negroes are being used in this whole question of Civil Rights, integration, etc., and that the NAACP are largely made up of men who are affiliated with from one to a dozen communist-front organizations, and he thought they would do anything in their power to embarrass the Church. Elder Benson thought we ought to be very careful what we do in the Negro field, whether it be in Nigeria, here, or any other place in the world, and he felt that so far as brother Williams is concerned, his work in Nigeria should be terminated and he be brought home to report.

Elder Petersen, referring to the young Canadian who is accompanying Brother Williams, Brother Wright, expressed the hope that he would not be sent to South Africa after his stay in Nigeria, that his experience in Nigeria might upset the situation in South Africa, particularly if they thought we were favoring the Negroes in their problems. He [Petersen] expressed the hope that Elder Wright would be assigned in England or somewhere else.

Elder Lee referred to his visit to South Africa three or four years ago, at which time he was instructed to endeavor to increase the church’s quota of missionaries, and that the Prime Minister there had said that because the Archbishop of the Episcopal Church having proselyted among the Negroes there and having criticized their national policy regarding the Bantu, all foreign missionaries were stopped from coming there, including our missionaries, until there could be a complete investigation. He said their investigation has indicated that we were not proselyting among the Bantu nor violating the tripartite policy; therefore, we were permitted to have a quota and he made the statement to Brother Lee and Brother [Glen G.] Fisher that we had been fairly treated because of our attitude toward this situation. Elder Lee said he was also told by a number of Saints that government investigators had made inquiry as to what the Church was doing among the native Bantu. In other words, they moved among our people to see if the truth were being told by our Church leaders, and finding that we were not working among them nor favoring them, they permitted us to have a quota of sixty missionaries, and now, plus our local missionaries, we have, including those sent to Rhodesia, 75. Elder Lee said he came back recommending that we do nothing about it, that we leave it as it was and that it would not be wise for us to agitate it at the moment.

Elder Hinckley mentioned that Brother Layton Alldredge who recently returned from presiding over the South African Mission had expressed the fear that if we took an interest in the Negroes it would jeopardize our position in South Africa.

Elder Petersen moved that Brother LaMar Williams be brought home at once, and that we assign Wright to one of the missions in Great Britain. This motion was seconded by Elder [Delbert L.] Stapley and unanimously approved.