Race Ban Best Seller: 2nd Class Saints (Matt Harris 1 of 6)

Dr Matt Harris from Colorado State University-Pueblo has an amazing book called 2nd Class Saints. It's about the race ban from World War 2 to the present. It's a best seller and sold out in about a month! I think it will win book of the year! We'll discuss his cutting-edge scholarship, how he got access to some amazing diaries and meeting minutes, and the amazing discoveries that help describe the removal of the race ban in June 1978. We'll dive in deep! Check out our conversation... https://youtu.be/mk3_jVGW95U Don't miss our other conversations with Matt: https://gospeltangents.com/people/matt-harris/ Copyright © 2024 Gospel Tangents All Rights Reserved Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission. GT  00:54  Welcome to Gospel Tangents. I have one of my absolute favorite guests on the show, and it's been way too long. It's been more than three years since he's been on. Could you go ahead and tell us who you are and where you teach? Matt  01:08  My name is Matt Harris, and I teach at Colorado State University-Pueblo, where I've taught since 2005.  I teach legal history, civil rights history, race and politics, church and state and the American Constitution. GT  01:25  Oh, wow! Matt  01:25  All the stuff that I write about usually shows up in some form in my classroom, lectures and teachings. So, it's a lot of fun. GT  01:37  Well, and you've got a best selling book. I fact, I think it's only been out a month or two. Matt  01:44  It's been out since July 1st. GT  01:46  So, less than a month, and it's already sold out. Matt  01:49  It's already sold out. GT  01:50  So tell us the name of the book. Matt  01:52  The book is called Second Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality. I'm happy to say it sold out the first print run. But there's a second printing that'll come out probably in a few days. So, the gap is not it's not big. GT  02:11  I just want to point out that Matt was kind enough to autograph a copy of Second Class Saints, and one of you is going to win this book. It's a fantastic book, I'm sure. Here's the thing. I already think it's going to win the Best Book Award for next year, although you are going to have a run for your money, because Paul Reeve is coming out with his book on the 1852 legislature, a similar topic, so he might give you a run for your money.[1] But this book is incredible. Matt  02:57  Thank you. GT  02:58  For those of you, you know, nobody watches on my podcast like I do. We have already talked about a lot of this book from about six years ago, I think it was. Matt  03:12  Probably. GT  03:12  And so, we're going to dive into a little bit, because I'm sure in the last six years I've got some new listeners that haven't heard that. But I will say, go check it out. We're going to talk about some of the other stuff in this book that doesn't get as much play. Also, I don't know if I should ask you now. I'll ask you later, but I'll just preview it here. I'm going to ask what you had to put on the cutting room floor? Matt  03:41  Yeah. I've been asked that. That's a good question. GT  03:46  Anyway, just for those of you, by the way, you're my first five-time guest. Matt  03:52  Woo! GT  03:52  But, it's been three years. Matt  03:56  Wow, oh my goodness, five times. Where does time go?   Pres Benson GT  04:00  Although one of them technically, we started talking about this book, and we then we got, then I asked a question about Ezra Taft Benson, and then we went for another two hours. So I, actually, split that one up twice. So, you're a big Benson fan. Right? Matt  04:20  No. I mean, that's not a comment on him, personally, it's a comment on his politics.  I do not think that right wing extremism is good for anybody. Anyway, I have written about Elder Benson, and I've written about how his political views have influenced the Church.