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Race, women and health · Claim record

Zion's Watch Tower of 15 February 1904 reported a newspaper account of a black boy in Missouri said to be turning white, and drew from it the conclusion that "God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time", offering this as an answer to the question of how all people could be restored to perfection.

Claim ID claim-attitudes-race-1904-god-can-change-skinConcerns 15 February 1904Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 15 February 1904 Verified

Zion's Watch Tower of 15 February 1904 reported a newspaper account of a black boy in Missouri said to be turning white, and drew from it the conclusion that "God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time", offering this as an answer to the question of how all people could be restored to perfection. Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 February 1904

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, “Views From the Watch Tower — "Can the Ethiopian Change His Skin?"”

15 February 1904 · pp.52-53 (Reprints p. 3320) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“We answer, No. But all will admit that what the Ethiopian cannot do for himself God could readily do for him. The difference between the races of men and the differences between their languages have long been arguments against the solidarity of the human family. The doctrine of restitution has also raised the question, How could all men be brought to perfection and which color of skin was the original? The answer is now provided. God can change the Ethiopian's skin in his own due time.”

The item appears in the magazine's unsigned news department "Views From the Watch Tower". It goes on to report a newspaper account by Prof. H. A. Edwards, superintendent of schools at Slater, Missouri, of a nine-year-old boy at New Frankfort, Missouri, said to have begun turning white in September 1901, together with a corroborating letter from a railway surgeon.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Read in the 1904 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026. The Reprints page carrying the item has the running head “(52-53) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.” and closes with the marker [3320]; the department opens on the page carrying the masthead “Vol. XXV ALLEGHENY, PA., FEBRUARY 15, 1904 No. 4 VIEWS FROM THE [WATCH TOWER]”. This confirms the commonly cited pages 52-53.

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1904”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1904.

Notes. The magazine does not say that black skin is a defect to be cured in so many words; it treats the newspaper report as evidence that restitution to "the grand original standard" is physically possible. Critics' paraphrases sometimes drop the opening words "We answer, No".

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-race-zwt-1904-0215-ethiopian-skin

Claim page Correct or update

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-attitudes-race-1904-god-can-change-skin/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.