Sareta Dobbs was the first Black sister missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her story “‘We all belong’—How the first Black woman called to serve a full-time mission inspires the next generation,” was told by her daughter Kendra Bybee in LDS Living in 2023. As she describes her mother’s conversion and time as a missionary, the story becomes more remarkable when you understand that Sareta joined LDS Church during a period when Black people were denied all of the blessings of the gospel, under the policy called the priesthood ban.
Sareta was born in Wichita, Kansas and her father was a pastor at the Eastside Church of God in Christ. Sareta had questions about where we come from and where people go when they die. She remembers learning in her church taught about heaven and hell and that heaven was only for those that were saved, which led her to question if she was saved. She prayed and never felt that she had received an answer. For a period of time, Sareta was agnostic.
Sareta moved to Stockton, California, and began attending a community college. In her printing class, Sareta met a woman named Joyce. Joyce invited Sareta to attend a Relief Society activity where Joyce was presenting. Sareta attended the Relief Society meeting and then began meeting with the missionaries. She felt a spiritual connection to the doctrine of the plan of salvation, finally feeling like her questions about pre-mortality and the afterlife were answered. She also learned that she was a daughter of God, who loved her.
Sareta was baptized in May of 1976. After one year of membership, Sareta asked her Bishop if she could serve a mission. He said he would have to ask the stake president. The Bishop came back to her and said that she could not serve a mission because Blacks in Mormonism were not allowed to receive their temple endowment. Sareta noted for the bishop all the places in the world where missionaries served without a temple endowment because there was not a temple near them. Despite this, Sareta was not allowed to serve.
Sareta moved back to Kansas where some of the members were unkind, even racist to her. Then, Sareta felt inspired to move to Utah, but she did not know why. While living in Utah, President Kimball announced the end of the Mormon priesthood ban, something that Sareta had felt assured would happen at some point. Later, she attended a stake conference, presided over by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. Because Sareta was still unsure why God had inspired her to move to Utah, she approached Elder Maxwell and asked for a blessing, which he gave her. In the blessing, she was blessed that her tongue would be loosed and that she would be able to bear her testimony to her own people. Sareta felt like this was a call to serve a mission.
Shortly after, Sareta called her bishop, who said “I was just getting ready to call you and make an appointment when I saw that you had already scheduled one. Elder Maxwell called me and said that he feels you need to serve a mission.” She was called to serve in the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil mission. Sareta entered the temple to receive her endowment on September 1, 1978. She served faithfully. When her daughter asked her if she ever felt tempted to leave the church because of their treatment of Blacks in Mormonism, her mother replied “Never. Ever.” Sarah Dobbs stands woman of faith, even in extremely difficult circumstances.
By Todd Noall, Source Expert
Todd Noall is an author and religious scholar at Mormonism Explained with a focus on the history and theology of religion.
Fact Checked by Mr. Kevin Prince, Source Expert
Kevin Prince is a religious scholar and host of the Gospel Learning Youtube channel. His channel has garnered over 41,000 subscribers and accumulated over 4.5 million views. Mr. Prince also created the Gospel Learning App, a reliable platform where individuals seeking truth can access trustworthy answers to religious questions from top educators worldwide.
About Mormonism Explained
Mormonism Explained is a resource that was designed to provide objective and factual information about Mormonism, its history, doctrines, and policies. Our team of researchers consults experts and primary sources to present factual information on a variety of topics relevant to the Mormon Church.
Tags