Seer Stone

Why were Black members denied the priesthood until 1978?

Short answer

Black members of African descent were denied priesthood ordination and temple ordinances because Church leaders from the nineteenth century through 1978 interpreted certain traditions and teachings as requiring a racial restriction. Those explanations included ideas about Cain’s lineage, premortal conduct, and supposed divine assignment, but the Church now rejects the theories that were used to justify racial inferiority or the restriction. The Church’s official Gospel Topics essay states that the reasons for the restriction are not known, and President Gordon B. Hinckley accurately summarized the historical situation by saying that earlier leaders ‘interpreted that doctrine that way.’

The restriction was lifted by revelation in June 1978. Elder Bruce R. McConkie later taught that earlier leaders, including himself, had spoken ‘with a limited understanding’ and that the 1978 revelation superseded those earlier interpretations. The Church therefore does not teach that Black people were less valiant in premortality, that they were cursed, or that they deserved the restriction; those were historical explanations, not revealed doctrine. Every person is accountable for their own sins, and God is no respecter of persons (Articles of Faith 1:2; Acts 10:34-35).

Articles of Faith 1:2

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

Acts 10:34-35

34. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

FAIR - Blacks and the Priesthood

The leaders of the church up through the 1970s made it very clear why blacks were denied the priesthood....Mike Wallace: From 1830 to 1978, blacks could not become priests in the Mormon church. Right?

Light and Truth - Prophets and Ongoing Revelation

Until June 1978, the Church banned black members of African descent from holding the priesthood and participating in temple ordinances.3 Two months after the restriction was lifted, apostle Bruce R. McConkie said the following:4

Mormonr - Black Saints and the Priesthood (Post 1978)

Topic: Black Saints and the Priesthood (Post 1978) Source: Research Record: 1877-01-01 — Traditions historically used to justify priesthood restrictions Summary William E. Berrett provides expanded version of 1949 First Presidency statement dated August 17, 1951. Transcription The attitude of the Church with reference to the Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the Priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: "Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to." President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: "The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have." The position of the Church regarding the negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the pre-mortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality, and that while the details of this priniciple have not been made known, the principle itself indicates that the coming to this earth and taking on mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintained their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood, is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the negroes. Why the Negro was denied the Priesthood from the days of Adam to our day is not known. The few known facts about our pre-earth life and our entrance into mortality must be taken into account in any attempt at an explanation. 1. Not all intelligences reached the same degree of attainment in the pre-earth life.

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