Over the past two centuries, the relationship between black people and Mormonism has been tumultuous. While at least two black men held the priesthood in the early church, from the mid-1800s until 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy which prevented most men of black African descent from being ordained to the church's lay priesthood and barred black men and women from access to its holy temples. Under the temple and priesthood restrictions before 1978, most black members of African descent could not be ordained to offices in the Priesthood nor participate in temple ordinances besides baptisms for the dead. For a time in the 1960s and 1970s, they were not allowed to perform baptisms for the dead either. For men and boys at age 12 in the LDS church, priesthood ordination is required to hold leadership roles, perform baptisms, bless the sacrament, and give other blessings. Since black men of African descent could not hold the priesthood, they were excluded from holding leadership roles and performing these rituals. Temple ordinances are necessary for members to receive the endowment and marriage sealings necessary for exaltation, and most black members could not enjoy these privileges during their lifetimes. Church leaders taught that these restrictions were commanded by God. In 1978, the First Presidency and the Twelve, led by church president Spencer W. Kimball, declared they had received a revelation that the time had come to end these restrictions. After this revelation, people of African descent could hold priesthood offices and could be granted temple admittance. As early as 1908, a church publication stated that blacks could not receive the priesthood because their spirits were less valiant in the pre-existence. Church leaders used this explanation until 1978, when Kimball publicly refuted it; later church leaders have called the explanation a folk belief. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young reasoned that black skin was a result of the Curse of Cain or the Curse of Ham. They used these Biblical curses to justify slavery. Young believed the curse made black people ineligible to vote, marry white people, or hold the priesthood. Successive church presidents continued to use the Biblical curses to justify excluding black men from priesthood ordination and excluding black men and women from the Church's temples. The racist theories that black skin was a curse or mark of inferiority were not officially contradicted until 2013.Young was instrumental in officially legalizing slavery in Utah Territory, teaching that the doctrine of slavery was connected to the priesthood ban. Slavery in Utah ended in 1862 when Congress abolished it. Blacks gained the right to vote in 1867, also through an act of Congress. Young and other church leaders were against interracial marriage. Utah's anti-miscegenation law was repealed in 1963. There has never been a written church policy against interracial marriage. Church publications from 2003 still recommended that young people marry those with similar racial backgrounds. Black people in the LDS Church suffered exclusion and discrimination even after the 1978 revelation, and many still feel the effects of racist attitudes. Before the civil rights movement, the LDS Church's doctrine-based policy went largely unnoticed and unchallenged for about a century with the First Presidency stating in 1947 that the doctrine of the LDS Church which banned interracial marriage and black people from entering the temple or receiving the priesthood was never questioned by any of the church leaders. In the 1960s, the NAACP twice threatened to protest the LDS Church if they did not support civil rights. The first time, Hugh B. Brown made a statement in general conference supporting civil rights; the second time, the LDS Church refused to support a piece of legislation and the NAACP led an anti-discrimination march in Salt Lake City to protest. In response to a NAACP lawsuit in 1974, the LDS Church changed their policy to allow any boy to be troop leader in Boy Scouting troops. Apostle Ezra Taft Benson was vocally against civil rights. In 1968 and 1969, various collegiate athletic teams refused to play matches with Brigham Young University. In the 1970s, three members were excommunicated for criticizing the LDS Church's racial exclusion policies. Church president Kimball refuted racism in the 1970s, and in 2017 the LDS Church denounced racism and white supremacy. Though the LDS Church had an open membership policy for all races, they avoided opening missions in areas with large black populations and discouraged people with black ancestry from investigating the church. After the 1978 revelation, the LDS Church actively proselyted to blacks, and black membership greatly increased. Six temples are planned or built in Africa outside of South Africa. In 2008, there were about 1 million black members worldwide. Compared to other churches, the LDS Church is not growing as fast as other religions in Africa. The priesthood of most other Mormon denominations, such as the Community of Christ, Bickertonite, and Strangite, have always been open to persons of all races.
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