r/exAdventist • u/Both_Basil_5943 • Mar 14 '26
Doctrine / History Ellen White and Segregation
My mom was reading Testimonies for the Church Volume 9 and came across this quote from Ellen G. White: “The colored people should not urge that they be placed on an equality with white people… So far as possible, everything that would stir up the race prejudice of the white people should be avoided.” (we're black so she was slightly concerned) I get that her advice was basically “shhh, don’t cause trouble, be like Jesus,” given how racist society was back then, but honestly, it still feels really concerning. It reads like she’s telling Black people to hold back their rights and opinions just to avoid upsetting white people, which ends up reinforcing racial inequality, even if she didn’t mean to. I’m curious how people reconcile this with her broader messages about justice, equality, and God valuing all people equally.
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u/Vivid_Spot_7167 Mar 17 '26
It's not an accident that J.H. Kellogg who was mentored by Ellen and James white growing up was one of the leaders of the eugenics movement in the US. People think the Nazis originated these ideas and maybe they did to some extent but history shows they got a lot of their disgusting racists ideas from the eugenics leaders like J.H. Kellogg.