How can I make sense of our history of denying priesthood and temple blessings to our Black brothers and sisters?
There is no tidy or pretty answer to this question. But it is a question that, if openly engaged, can teach us a great deal.
We invited Paul Reeve, the Simmons Chair of Mormon Studies in the History Department at the University of Utah, to be our guide. If there is a definitive book on this subject, it may be Reeve’s Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, which received three best book awards. Deseret Book also published Paul Reeve’s book Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood in 2023.
You can read this essay Reeve wrote for us titled Making Sense of the Church’s History on Race. It’s a terrific, well-balanced summary of the history.
Making Sense of the Church's History on Race
The Latter-day Saint racial story is best understood in three phases:
And you can watch or listen to his conversation with Terryl Givens on the subject titled The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban:
The Real Story of the Priesthood-Temple Ban - Terryl Givens with Paul Reeve
In this episode, Terryl Givens and Paul Reeve explore the history of the Church’s priesthood-temple ban that concluded in 1978.
The church’s official essay on the subject is also a very good resource.