page_title: Black people and Mormon priesthood
section_title: 1880–1950
hierarchical_section_title: Black people and Mormon priesthood / History / 1880–1950
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Elijah Abel the first black elder and seventy in the Latter Day Saint movement, and one of the few black members in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to receive the priesthood. Català: Elijah Abel fou el primer elder i setanta negre al Moviment dels Sants dels Últims Dies i un dels membres negres a la història antiga de l'Església de Jesucrist dels Sants dels Últims Dies que es convertí en sacerdot. Español: Elijah Abel fue el primer élder y setenta negro en el Movimiento de los Santos de los Últimos Días, y uno de los pocos miembros negros en la historia temprana de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días que recibieran el sacerdocio.
context_page_description: From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prohibited men of black African descent from being ordained to the priesthood. In 1978, the church's First Presidency declared in a statement known as "Official Declaration 2" that the restriction had been lifted. Before 1849, a few black men had been ordained to the priesthood under Joseph Smith.
  As part of this restriction, both black men and women of African descent at various times were prohibited from taking part in ceremonies in LDS temples, serving in certain leadership church callings, attending priesthood meetings, and speaking at firesides. Spouses of black people of African descent were also prohibited from entering the temple. Over time, the restriction was relaxed so that black people of non African descent could attend priesthood meetings and people with a "questionable lineage" were given the priesthood, such as Fijians, Indigenous Australians, Egyptians, as well as Brazilians and South Africans with an unknown heritage who did not appear to have any black heritage.
context_section_description: Under John Taylor's presidency (1880–87), there was confusion in the church regarding the origin of the racial restrictions. [[Elijah Abel], an African American, was ordained to the priesthood in the days of Joseph Smith. Apostle Joseph F. Smith argued that Abel's priesthood had been declared null and void by Joseph Smith, though this seems to conflict with Joseph F. Smith's teachings that the priesthood could not be removed from any man without removing that man from the church. Zebedee Coltrin and Abraham O. Smoot provided conflicting testimony of whether or not Joseph Smith stated that Abel was allowed hold the priesthood, though the veracity of their testimony is doubted. From this point on, many statements on the priesthood restriction were attributed to Joseph Smith; all such statements had actually been made by Brigham Young.
  In 1947 the First Presidency, consisting of George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark, and David O. McKay, in a private communication with Dr. Lowry Nelson, where Dr. Nelson questioned whether "there is no irrevocable church doctrine on this subject [of blacks and the priesthood]" the First Presidency stated:
  The basic element of your ideas and concepts seems to be that all God's children stand in equal positions before Him in all things.
  Your knowledge of the Gospel will indicate to you that this is contrary to the very fundamentals of God's dealings with Israel dating from the time of His promise to Abraham regarding Abraham's seed and their position vis-a~vis God Himself. Indeed, some of God's children were assigned to superior positions before the world was formed. We are aware that some Higher Critics do not accept this, but the Church does.
  Your position seems to lose sight of the revelations of the Lord touching the preexistence of our spirits, the rebellion in heaven, and the doctrines that our birth into this life and the advantages under which we may be born, have a relationship in the life heretofore.
  From the days of the Prophet Joseph even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.
  
  Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people...
  Later, reflecting on this exchange with the First Presidency, Dr. Nelson would say, "I believe I was the first Mormon to protest the church policy with regard to blacks in a letter to the First Presidency of the church in 1947" and in 1953 published the article "Mormons and the Negro", saying that "This was the first [time] the non-Mormon world knew of this policy, and it was widely publicized through the Negro press."
  In 1949, the First Presidency under the direction of George Albert Smith made a declaration which included the statement that the priesthood restriction was divinely commanded and not a matter of church policy. The declaration goes on to state that the conditions in which people are born on Earth are affected by their conduct in the premortal existence, although the details of the principle are said not to be known. It then says that the privilege of mortal existence is so great that spirits were willing to come to earth even though they would not be able to possess the priesthood. The mentioning of the curse of Cain began during this time period and took the place of previous justifications for the priesthood ban. The older arguments included the idea that black people were not as valiant in the pre-mortal life and that they had "inherent inferiority."
caption: Elijah Abel: black man who was given the priesthood during the times of Joseph Smith
exif: {"Image Artist": "Audrey Huff", "Image ExifOffset": "2134", "Image XPAuthor": "Audrey Huff", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:09:23 16:10:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:09:23 16:10:49", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "51", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "51", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}