Black people and the Latter Day Saint movement
Overview articles Black people and Mormonism Black people and early Mormonism History of African Americans in Utah Black Mormons Genesis Group LDS temple and priesthood policies 1978 Revelation on Priesthood
Historical teachings Mormon teachings on skin color Curses of Cain and Ham Mormonism and slavery History of slavery in Utah Act in Relation to Service Joseph Smith's views Premortal life Patriarchal blessings Civil rights and Mormonism Segregation Interracial marriage Lynching of Thomas Coleman
Living people Michelle Amos Thurl Bailey Alex Boyé Alan Cherry Brandon Davies Joseph Freeman Darius Gray Keith N. Hamilton Alvin B. Jackson Frank Jackson Peter M. Johnson JTM Bryan Kehl Gladys Knight Mia Love Burgess Owens Mark Paredes Jabari Parker Marvin Perkins Darron Smith Catherine Stokes Shaquille Walker Winston Wilkinson Jamal Willis
Deceased people Elijah Abel Joseph T. Ball Amanda and Samuel Chambers Eldridge Cleaver Gobo Fango Green Flake Mary Lee Pugh Hope Jane Manning James Peter Kerr Walker Lewis William McCary
Category Pan-Africanism

Black Pete, or Peter Kerr, was an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the second black man to be ordained to the priesthood in that faith.

Peter Kerr was born c. 1775, to an enslaved woman named Kino, who was of Mandinka heritage.^[1] He and his mother lived in western Pennsylvania, where they were enslaved to a man named John Kerr Jr. Following Kerr's death, Peter was willed to his son, who moved to Ohio, a free state, in 1813. Peter was freed from servitude, and came into contact with a group known as "The Family," which practiced a combination of Christian principles and communism. Many members of that group converted to Mormonism in the early 1830s, including Peter. There is, however, no official record of his baptism, but his membership was recognized by George A. Smith, another member of the church, and in local newspapers.^[2] He was notably accustomed to seeing "angels and letters [that] would come down from heaven..." and once jumped off a bridge to catch a letter, which he said was delivered by a black angel.^[3] He acted as a Revelator in the community, was ordained to the priesthood, and baptized others into the faith, along with Levi W. Hancock, Edson Fuller, and Herman Bassett.^{[1]: 64–65} A colleague, Reuben Harmon, mentioned that "White women would chase him about..."^[4][5] and Peter soon entered into a relationship with fourteen-year-old Lovina Williams, of whom he said he had received revelation to marry.^[6] Lovina replied that if she received a revelation as well, she would marry him.^[6] Peter consulted the prophet Joseph Smith, about whether he should marry Lovina, but Smith said he could not receive personal revelation for him.^[4][1] Peter and Lovina did not marry, and, after 1831, there is no record of him. Some scholars have suggested that he died, being around 60 years old in 1835,^[7] when the average lifespan of an African-American man at the time was around forty.^[8]

• Black Members in Church History

• Walker Lewis
• Green Flake
• Black people and early Mormonism