In part 1 of a 3 part series, we interview Darron Smith--a black man who joined the LDS church as a teenager in Tennessee. After serving a mission for the LDS Church and graduating from the University of Utah, Darron began a 10 year teaching career at church-owned Brigham Young University. After 10 years of teaching at BYU, Darron's employment was terminated in response to (according to Darron) his public writings and speaking--wherein Darron openly called for the LDS Church to apologize for, and renounce the racists statements of past Church leaders. In this series, Darron discusses his upbringing in the Church, provides a brief history of Blacks within the Church, discusses his termination from BYU, and his hopes for the LDS Church in the future with regard to these issues.