The One We Forgot: Quaku Walker Lewis

Editor's Note : This is the fifth in a series telling the stories of significant black Mormons in history. Read earlier posts:

The Introduction to the series The story of Jane Manning James Pastor Hinckley's apology for racism The story of Green Flake

Perhaps the most compelling reason Darius Gray and I have revised our books about black Mormon pioneers is that in our first pass, we left out one of the most important characters in the historical saga: Q. Walker Lewis. We knew so little about him when we wrote our trilogy that we included only one sentence alluding to him, and nothing about his revolutionary life.

After our books were published, I was researching Lewis and found an article by Connell O'Donovan. I emailed him and eventually joined Newell Bringhurst in nagging him to write a full article about Walker Lewis. He did, and the article won the JWHA award and was subsequently published. Any of us researching black pioneers knows Connell as one of our best and most generous allies. I mention this because much of what I present here must be credited to him.

The sentence referencing Q. Walker Lewis that we used in our first edition is of tremendous significance. It was spoken by Brigham Young to William McCary, a mixed-race, self-styled prophet who persisted in bedding white woman under the pretext of authorized polygamy at Winter Quarters. McCary felt betrayed when he was cast out, and thought he was being badly treated because of his lineage and color. Brigham Young assured him that his treatment had nothing to do with race, and told him that skin color was not an issue to Mormons. "We don't care about the color," said Young, and then asked those present to voice their agreement. "[D]o I hear that from all?" The question was met with a resounding, "Aye!" (General Church Minutes, 1839-1877, March 1847). It was then that Young alluded to a distinguished Black convert in Lowell, Massachusetts, Quacko Walker Lewis, as an example of equality in Mormonism: "It has nothing to do with the blood for [of] one blood has God made all flesh . . . ,"said Young. "We have one of the best Elders, an African, in Lowell" (spelling standardized).

That last sentence is the one we used. It clarifies the fact that as of 1847, there was no priesthood restriction, and that Brigham Young himself referred to a Black "elder" admirably as evidence that the LDS Church considered all humankind "of one blood."

Quaku (various spellings include Quack or Quock or Quork) Walker Lewis was named for his uncle Quaku, the son of Mingo and Dinah, who were enslaved in Ghana and brought to Massachusetts.

Quaku and his entire family were all sold to James and Isabel Caldwell, but Caldwell promised Quaku emancipation when he reached age twenty-five. Unfortunately, Caldwell died before the promise was fulfilled.

The building where "Quock v. Jennison" was heard Mrs. Caldwell subsequently married Nathaniel Jennison, who failed to honor his predecessor's promise. Quaku ran away from this new master, and Caldwell's sons attempted to make good on their father's word, hiring him on their farm. It didn't take long for Jennison to find him, enslave him again, and to have him beaten nearly to death. The case (actually several cases) then went to the courts—Quaku suing Jennison for battery, and Jennison suing the Caldwell brothers for stealing his slave. Ultimately, Quaku was freed and Jennison fined.

The Commonwealth's chief justice, William Cushing, spoke about the ideals that upheld the decision, suggesting that slavery violated the laws of nature and of God. Invoking the ideals of Heaven—as the civil rights movement has always done—Cushing stated in 1783:

[O]ur Constitution of Government, by which the People of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, sets out with declaring that all men are born free and equal—and that every subject is entitled to liberty, and to have it guarded by the laws, as well as life and property—and in short is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves.

Quaku adopted the last name Walker, and Quaku Walker Lewis was given that name as an inheritance and a legacy.

:::page break::: Freedom and equality seemed to run in the blood of Dinah and Mingo's descendants. Some of their female descendants became activists in women's issues and in abolitionism, which were often linked. Q. Walker Lewis became a founding member of the MCGA—the Massachusetts General Colored Association—in 1826, the first all-black abolitionist society in the United States.

David Walker Plaque in Boston Alongside Lewis was David Walker, who had written a radical book on abolition, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World . Though David Walker died in 1830—possibly murdered—his words had a profound effect on his colleagues and readers: "There is great work for you to do. You have to prove to the Americans and the world that we are MEN, and not brutes."

When I was in Boston seven years ago, I visited the places marked with tributes to David Walker and the MCGA. One of the guides was thrilled that I had heard about this unsung hero, and graciously led me to other important sites where David Walker had been. I looked in the indexes of books about him and consistently found references to Walker Lewis, though his first name, Quaku, was not used. I told the guide that Walker Lewis had been a Mormon convert, that he was a member of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge (a lodge specifically for blacks), and that he had been ordained an elder in the Church. This was all new information for the guide.

Prince Hall Masonic Lodge Though there is some confusion as to who baptized Quaku Walker Lewis and who ordained him to the priesthood, Connell O'Donovan provides compelling evidence that Parley P. Pratt baptized him and William Smith ordained him an elder. We know that Lewis was well aware of his ordination and the authority that came with it. When he finally came to Utah in September 1851, he met Jane James, and apparently proposed that the two of them be sealed in marriage, inasmuch as Jane's husband did not have the priesthood and Walker Lewis did.

Jane did not report this to anyone for another forty years; long after Walker Lewis's death, she used it in one of many her many efforts to receive her temple endowment. In a letter written on February 7, 1890 to Apostle Joseph F. Smith, Jane wrote:

As Brother James has left me 21 years and a coloured brother, Brother Lewis, wished me to be sealed to him (he has been dead 35 or 36 years) can I be sealed to him? Parley P. Pratt ordained him an elder. When or how can I ever be sealed to him? (Joseph F. Smith Papers, CHD; punctuation standardized)

We know of no response to this request.

Sadly, Quaku Walker Lewis did not remain long in Utah. O'Donovan suggests that he likely expected some welcome, inasmuch as he had entertained many church leaders during his days in Lowell, and received no reciprocal treatment. By the time he was in Utah, slavery was accepted. Within a few months of his arrival, Brigham Young as governor of the state made his famous speech to the Territorial Legislature (February 5, 1852), declaring the priesthood restriction, as written verbatim by his scribe, George Watt: "If there never was a prophet or apostle of Jesus Christ [that] spoke it before, I tell you, this people that are commonly called Negroes are the children of old Cain. I know they are; I know that they cannot bear rule in the Priesthood."

When Wilford Woodruff summarized Young's speech, he added a phrase, which has survived in many if not most historical accounts: "Any man having one drop of the seed of Cain in him cannot hold the Priesthood, and if no other prophet ever spake it before, I will say it now, in the name of Jesus Christ, I know it is true, and others know it!" This version of Young's words, including the "one drop" rule may be the reason anyone with the slightest indication of African features/ancestry was denied the priesthood until President David O. McKay started making exceptions to the rule.

Meeting place for MCGA, Boston Q. Walker Lewis stayed in Utah for only a year, and returned to Massachusetts in October 1852. He died of consumption on October 26, 1856.

This is a man whose life deserves greater attention, not only by Mormon but by all American historians. He was born into a legacy of freedom spearheaded by his uncle and magnified by his family. He found something good and soul-enlivening in the LDS Church, and pursued his religion and his dreams across the wilderness—only to return to his home the next year. We have no pictures of him, only of the places he frequented. We don't yet know where his tombstone is. If we find it, or if one is erected, it should perhaps bear the words of his fellow abolitionist, David Walker: Go to work and enlighten your brethren! (Appeal 33).