1174: Marlena Smith - Growing Up as a Black Mormon in Utah Pt. 1

Marlena Smith’s parents joined the Mormon church as black converts after the priesthood ban was lifted (1978). After her parents moved to Utah, Marlena was born in 1989 in Provo, Utah. Marlena was raised as a devout Mormon in Lindon and Pleasant Grove - as the only black family in her ward and stake. Later Marlena attended BYU and married in the Payson temple. This is Marlena’s story of growing up as a black Mormon woman in Utah