JERRI A. HARWELL
Jerri Allene Thornton Hale Harwell was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She is the youngest of four (living) children. Her father was Black, and her mother was American Indian (Grand River Band of the Ottawas). Her Indian name is “Wa-Wash- Ka-She,” which means “Baby Fawn.”
She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1977 and served a full-time mission in the Texas Houston Mission from 1980-81 as one of the first Black sister missionaries who served after June 1978. Jerri also began The Genesis Group’s newsletter, which served as communication tool for African-American members of the Church around the world. She is a former BYU Women’s Conference speaker, teaches a World Religions class at the Taylorsville Institute, and has written for the Ensign Magazine.
She is the author of Leaning on Prayer, which went into a second printing, and has been used at Salt Lake Community College and Harvard University’s Divinity School to discuss diversity and the rich life experiences of Mormons. She is a full-time Associate Professor at Salt Lake Community College where she teaches developmental writing thru freshman and sophomore composition in the English department; in addition, she was awarded Salt Lake Community College Foundation’s 2005 Teaching Excellence Award when she was an Adjunct instructor. In 2016, she received the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award; in 2017, she was the finalist for the Exemplary Faculty Service Award at SLCC.
She serves, or has served in the past, on the Cottonwood Heights Historic Committee, the Cottonwood Heights Planning Commission, Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Citizen Advisory Board, Jordan School District’s Diversity Advisory Committee, as a Region 6 PTA Associate Director, and was on the Utah State PTA Board. For several years, she has served on the scholarship committee for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
In 2003, Jerri began doing a one-woman portrayal of Jane Elizabeth Manning James, an early Black Mormon pioneer, at This Is the Place Heritage State Park, and still does the portrayal for various venues. Jerri also wrote the script for her portrayal. In February 2017, she was the featured speaker at the LDS Church History Museum’s “An Evening at the
Museum” portraying Jane.
She is married to Donald L. Harwell, former President of The Genesis Group, which is the LDS Church’s official support group for Black Latter-day Saints, organized in 1971. Together they are serving a two-year service mission at IHC Hospital in Murray.
Jerri and her husband Don have been married almost thirty-one years and have six children (five living). They reside in Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
Jerri Allene Thornton Hale Harwell was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She is the youngest of four (living) children. Her father was Black, and her mother was American Indian (Grand River Band of the Ottawas). Her Indian name is “Wa-Wash- Ka-She,” which means “Baby Fawn.”
She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1977 and served a full-time mission in the Texas Houston Mission from 1980-81 as one of the first Black sister missionaries who served after June 1978. Jerri also began The Genesis Group’s newsletter, which served as communication tool for African-American members of the Church around the world. She is a former BYU Women’s Conference speaker, teaches a World Religions class at the Taylorsville Institute, and has written for the Ensign Magazine.
She is the author of Leaning on Prayer, which went into a second printing, and has been used at Salt Lake Community College and Harvard University’s Divinity School to discuss diversity and the rich life experiences of Mormons. She is a full-time Associate Professor at Salt Lake Community College where she teaches developmental writing thru freshman and sophomore composition in the English department; in addition, she was awarded Salt Lake Community College Foundation’s 2005 Teaching Excellence Award when she was an Adjunct instructor. In 2016, she received the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award; in 2017, she was the finalist for the Exemplary Faculty Service Award at SLCC.
She serves, or has served in the past, on the Cottonwood Heights Historic Committee, the Cottonwood Heights Planning Commission, Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Citizen Advisory Board, Jordan School District’s Diversity Advisory Committee, as a Region 6 PTA Associate Director, and was on the Utah State PTA Board. For several years, she has served on the scholarship committee for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
In 2003, Jerri began doing a one-woman portrayal of Jane Elizabeth Manning James, an early Black Mormon pioneer, at This Is the Place Heritage State Park, and still does the portrayal for various venues. Jerri also wrote the script for her portrayal. In February 2017, she was the featured speaker at the LDS Church History Museum’s “An Evening at the
Museum” portraying Jane.
She is married to Donald L. Harwell, former President of The Genesis Group, which is the LDS Church’s official support group for Black Latter-day Saints, organized in 1971. Together they are serving a two-year service mission at IHC Hospital in Murray.
Jerri and her husband Don have been married almost thirty-one years and have six children (five living). They reside in Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
