Read the touching responses of black members of the LDS Church when they learned about the 1978 priesthood revelation by following the link below.

Marcus Martins is a former mission president who served as the first Black missionary following the 1978 revelation on the priesthood. In a 2021 “All In” episode, he discusses how misguided attempts at explaining the priesthood ban hold lessons for all of us regarding racism of all kinds.

Recently, two biographies were published on Elijah Abel/Ables, a black Mormon man who held the priesthood in the nineteenth century with the blessing of Joseph Smith and many of his contemporaries. Rather than attempt a traditional review, I decided to write a conversations post with Russell Stevenson, the author of one of the two biographies. Stevenson is an independent scholar with a master’s degree in history from the University of Kentucky. He recently self-published Black Mormon: The Story of Elijah Ables. In order to make the post easier to read, I have arranged the questions I asked and Stevenson’s responses into categories.

On June 1, 2018, a worldwide celebration will be held celebrating the 40 year anniversary of the 1978 revelation that extended the priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church. The First Presidency announced the celebration on April 9, which will be held in Salt Lake City.

By now the notion that we are in the midst of a Mormon moment is clichéd, although if Rick Santorum continues to threaten Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries, the public focus on the Latter-day Saints could fade. For the time being, however, my religion is being examined in the public square like never before. It can be an uncomfortable experience. Consider a recent Washington Post article on race and Mormonism. Before 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints denied its priesthood, which is normally extended to all adult males, to black men. In examining the legacy of that ban, the Post interviewed Randy Bott, a religion professor at church-owned Brigham Young University.

Editor's Note: This is an opinion piece published in 2017 and represents the thoughts and experiences of one black Latter-day Saint. Read the Church's 2013 essay "Race and the Priesthood" to learn more.

We all want to be good member missionaries, and usually we can answer questions about our religion without too much difficulty. But occasionally a particularly difficult question comes up. Thankfully, the Church is providing valuable resources and very recently released new topic pages to help with these challenging questions at the "Gospel Topics" section of LDS.org.

The following article, posted on lds.org, shares the story of six faithful black Latter-day Saints who were members of the Church when the priesthood ban was lifted.

In 1830, the same year the Church was organized, a former slave named Peter became the first documented Black member of the Church. Nearly 200 years later, Mauli Bonner first heard Peter's story when he started exploring his own faith as a Black member of the Church. This journey led him to Paul Reeve, a professor at the University of Utah who has studied Blacks in Church history extensively. On today's episode, Mauli and Paul explain not only the importance of the stories of early Black Latter-day Saints, but also how their stories can strengthen our faith and our testimonies of the restored gospel.

During the Church's "Be One" event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the priesthood revelation, touching stories were shared of the black pioneers in the Church who remained faithful despite painful priesthood and temple restrictions. President Dallin H. Oaks acknowledged, “I observed the pain and frustration experienced by those who suffered these restrictions and those who criticized them and sought for reasons. I studied the reasons then being given and could not feel confirmation of the truth of any of them.” He also shared the touching moment when he sat down and cried for joy learning of the priesthood revelation. President Russell M. Nelson added, "Differences in culture, language, gender, race, and nationality fade into insignificance as the faithful enter the covenant path and come unto our beloved Redeemer." Read President Nelson's full remarks here, and President Oaks's full remarks here.