OREM, Utah -- Mormons are successfully assimilating into the larger American culture, according to G. Wesley Johnson.

Johnson, an emeritus professor of business history at BYU, and his wife, Marian, are co-directors of the Outmigration Project, which gathered more than 600 interviews with Mormons living across the country. He spoke on Nov. 5 at the 10th annual Mormon Studies Conference at Utah Valley University. The conference theme this year was "Outmigration and the Mormon Quest for Education."

After 1900, according to Johnson, young Mormons began to leave the Mormon corridor in the West to seek better jobs and higher education in a variety of larger American cities. They joined other Americans who were searching for a better way of life.

By 2000, about three-quarters of the 6 million Mormons in the United States were living in large urban areas in the United States. It was similar to the spread of Jewish people across the country. The key for both similarly sized groups was, according to Johnson, a belief that "education was the passport to success and prestige."



This outmigration of mainly white-collar workers led to greater assimilation into the larger society. "Yet, on the other hand, they brought with them, part and parcel, their peculiar religion," Johnson said. "These traveling Mormons continued to cling to their own religious world and culture while fully embracing urban and suburban American society, jobs, schools, institutions and, most important, values."

The outmigrating Mormons had a new concept that the promised land or Zion could be wherever members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered.

The Johnsons' project of gathering data and oral histories of outmigrants found stories of remarkable success. "Almost all of these persons departed from Utah with little except ambition and a solid work ethic," Johnson said. "The collected stories ... (are) an important addition to the history of how ethnic and religious minorities raise themselves up from lower status to become a meaningful and integral part within a huge society."

Within a century, Mormons became leaders of corporations, universities and government -- local, state and national.

The migration of Mormons happened in four periods, according to Johnson.
The first period of outmigration was from 1900 to 1930, especially during the '20s. These were mainly individuals seeking an education they could not get in Utah.

The second period was from 1930 to 1945. Families left looking for any job they could find during the Great Depression. They also left during World War II in pursuit of defense and government jobs.

The third wave of outmigration began after the war from 1945 to 1970. Veterans sought jobs. Utah universities began to "pour out tens of thousands of graduates into the main society and a great number of them became outmigrants," Johnson said.

The final period, from 1970 to 2000, was a time of mass migration. Johnson gave the example of Phoenix, where he grew up. In 1950, there was one Mormon stake in Phoenix. By 2000, Johnson said, there were more than 50 stakes.

 "I can assure you that my friends in Phoenix did not have that many children," he said. "The only way it could have grown that way is by influx of outmigrants."

The story repeated itself in other urban areas around the country, and large enclaves of Mormons arose is places like Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C. The Mormons began to participate in local school boards, cultural groups and local government. "Mormons developed a reputation as hard workers who could be trusted," Johnson said.

Mormons around the country were becoming affluent. But even though these "high rollers" had the responsibility of paying 10 percent of their income to the LDS Church, Johnson said they were also generous: "They supported the homeless, they set up microcredit organizations, they donated heavily to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, set up summer camps for underprivileged children in Chicago, and created college scholarships for disadvantaged ethnic groups in California."

Although many people planned to retire in Utah during the first half of the 20th century, that trend is changing, according to Johnson. The reason? Mormon temples are in or soon will be in most major urban areas in the United States.

Another reason is that many outmigrants are now beginning to feel that their adopted city is their home. They feel like New Yorkers. They feel like Bostonians.

The numbers support this. Fewer than 2 million Mormons live in Utah, according to Johnson. Four million live in other areas around the United States. A significant number of those 4 million Mormons are outmigrants or their children.

"Mormons are no longer an isolated, unusual, provincial and rural people," Johnson said. "Solid research suggests the opposite. The Mormon of today is highly urbanized, living mainly in large metropolitan areas. He or she is mostly well educated -- often affluent. ... They tend to be tolerant people. They have to. To get along they've learned tolerance. And they're a cosmopolitan bunch."

E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com