“Contents,” Ensign, June 1975, 1
Ensign
June 1975
Volume 5 Number 6
Inside back cover: Joseph Smith Preaches to the Lamanites by C. C. A. Christensen.
It is reasonable that from its earliest time The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would take the gospel to the Indians, for the Book of Mormon is a record concerning their people. Although the first missionaries to the Lamanites were called in the fall of 1830, the accompanying painting depicts an historic meeting of the Prophet Joseph Smith and a large company of Sac and Fox Indians who crossed the Mississippi River to Nauvoo on August 12, 1841, to meet him.
“At the landing, I was introduced by Brother Hyrum to them,” the Prophet records, “and after salutations, I conducted them to the meeting grounds in the grove, and instructed them in many things which the Lord had revealed unto me concerning their fathers, and the promises that were made concerning them in the Book of Mormon. …” (History of the Church 4:401.)
In the painting, the Prophet Joseph, holds a Book of Mormon in his hand. The painter, C. C. A. Christensen (1831–1912), was a Danish convert who, with his young bride, pushed a handcart across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1857. A dedicated servant of the Lord all his days, he carried on lecture tours a panorama of Church history paintings which were sewn together and unrolled as he explained the gospel. One of the scenes in his panorama was this one depicting the Lamanites.