blacks and the priesthood

Mormonism has included both official and unofficial discrimination against black people. From the mid-1800s to 1978, the church prevented men of black African descent from being ordained to the church's lay priesthood, barred black men and women from participating in temple ordinances and opposed interracial marriage. Since black men of African descent could not receive the priesthood, they were excluded from holding leadership roles and performing these rituals. Ezra Taft Benson was vocally opposed to the civil rights movement. In 1978 the church issued Official Declaration 2, which officially ended the temple and priesthood restrictions.

Profiles with blacks and the priesthood on their "shelf":