Church history · Faith and understanding
Remembering Black Latter-day Saints, studying the historical restrictions, and receiving the 1978 revelation with reverence.
Begin with care
For many readers, this history is personal. Approach it with reverence for sacred covenants and respect for the women, men, and families whose lives it affected. This study follows the Church’s published accounts and links to the sources so you can read them in their own context.
Begin with the Church’s Gospel Topics essay Race and the Priesthood. Its historical account accompanies the current topic Race and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Together they guide the history and teachings presented here.
01 · Remember and study
The Church’s Gospel Topics essay describes a few Black men receiving priesthood ordination during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. In 1852, Brigham Young publicly announced a restriction on ordaining men of Black African descent. Over subsequent decades, Black women and men were also restricted from receiving temple endowment and sealing ordinances. Black people continued to join the Church through baptism and confirmation. These distinctions matter when reading the lives of individual members.
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A family gathers around scripture. Begin with the truth that all are alike unto God, while listening carefully to the lives affected by the historical restrictions.
2018 historical reflection
President Dallin H. Oaks reflects on the revelation at the 2018 Be One celebration. Listen to his counsel alongside the Church’s written historical account.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Media Library; copyright Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
The Church’s current Topics and Questions article states that there is no documented revelation establishing the restriction’s origin. It explains that later Church Presidents believed revelation was needed to end it. The article counsels against speculation. We can acknowledge what the records establish without assigning causes or motives beyond what those sources document. The Church disavows past racial explanations for the restriction.
Race and the Priesthood: Gospel Topics Essay Race and the Church: current questions and answers
Our relationship with God precedes every social category. Paul teaches that we are God’s children and that, through Christ, we may become heirs of God (Romans 8:16–17). Divine worth is therefore not earned through race, ancestry, office, wealth, or another person’s approval. This doctrine gives us a reason to recognize dignity in each person while speaking honestly about the unequal treatment recorded in history.
Keep the Church’s current teaching beside the historical account as you study. Consider how its counsel should shape your own words and actions.
Read Race and the Church alongside 2 Nephi 26:24–33. Notice whom the Savior invites and what the passage says about excluding people from His goodness.
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The Savior invites all to come unto Him. Read His invitation alongside the Church’s account of race and the priesthood, and consider how you can extend His welcome to others.
Follow the essay’s notes to examine the evidence for each historical claim. Distinguish the record from later explanations, and read the Church’s rejection of racial theories in its own words.
02 · Remember and study
Elijah Able joined the Church in Ohio in September 1832. The Church’s historical biography places his birth in Maryland between 1808 and 1812. His story includes the ordinary responsibilities of work and family alongside significant service in the early Church.
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Based on Elijah Able’s surviving likeness.
In Kirtland, Ambrose Palmer ordained him to the Melchizedek Priesthood in 1836. He received washing and anointing ordinances in the Kirtland Temple, a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith Sr., and ordination as a Seventy by Zebedee Coltrin. He later lived among the Saints in Nauvoo.
The Church’s account of his 1838 mission tells of Elijah teaching and baptizing Eunice and Charles Franklin. Later, while serving elsewhere, he dreamed that Eunice was struggling with her belief. He returned to visit her and invited her to hear him preach at a school. The account describes her renewed conviction as she listened.
His promise to return brought opposition. People circulated false accusations that he had killed others and offered a reward for his capture. Eunice defended him. When Elijah arrived again, a crowd gathered at the school. He faced those who wanted him arrested and offered them the opportunity to act before he taught.
No one moved. Elijah sang, prayed, and taught the gospel, then spoke with the Franklins and continued his mission. This Church-published narrative lets us remember him as a teacher attending to particular people, as well as a missionary confronting hostility. It is a retrospective account, with references to Saints, rather than a surviving transcript of every spoken word.
By 1842 he was a carpenter in Cincinnati and active in the local branch. He married Mary Ann Adams in 1847. After moving to Utah, he served in his ward and worked on the Salt Lake Temple.
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Elijah worked as a carpenter in Cincinnati from 1842.
Doctrine and Covenants 121:34–46 Priesthood Historical source
The Church History Biographical Database places Elijah and Mary Ann in the Appleton M. Harmon company in 1853. Its traveling-group record names their young children Moroni, Enoch, and Rebecca Ann. These names give the westward journey a family dimension: migration involved children and parents building a life together.
Elijah retained his priesthood office, yet his requests for his temple endowment and sealing to Mary Ann were denied by Brigham Young and, in 1879, John Taylor. His continued faithfulness deserves remembrance alongside the reality of the blessings he sought and could not then receive.
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Elijah Able’s missionary service continued into his seventies.
Decades later, the database records another missionary assignment. Elijah was set apart for the Northern States Mission on October 23, 1883, with Ohio listed as his place of service and Seventy as his priesthood office. It records his arrival home on December 11, 1884. He died in Salt Lake City on Christmas Day, two weeks later.
The database gives a specific birth date in 1808, while the Church’s historical biography retains a range of 1808–1812. This study therefore describes him as being in his seventies during that final mission without resolving the difference beyond the sources.
Illustrated Church story
This illustrated Church story follows Elijah’s missionary service. Read his historical biography alongside the film to learn more about his family, work, and temple requests.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Elijah Able: Church History Topics
Priesthood ordinances direct us toward Jesus Christ and His power to redeem. Doctrine and Covenants 84:19–22 connects the greater priesthood with the knowledge of God and the power of godliness made manifest through ordinances. Doctrine and Covenants 121:41–42 describes the manner of righteous service: persuasion, patience, gentleness, meekness, and sincere love. Authority and Christlike conduct belong together.
The Gospel Topics overview describes priesthood as God’s power and authority and, in mortal service, authority entrusted to people for the salvation of His children. Receiving an office is therefore a call to serve in the name of Jesus Christ. It is not a measure of a person’s racial worth. Elijah’s ministry invites us to consider the responsibilities he carried and the people he served, rather than reducing his life to an exception in a policy discussion.
Study Priesthood with Doctrine and Covenants 121:34–46. Identify the qualities that should govern any exercise of priesthood influence.
Return to the biography with a question about Elijah’s work, family or service. Which details does the account establish? What remains unknown? Let the record guide your understanding without filling its silences with imagined experiences.
03 · Remember and study
Jane was born into a free Black family in Connecticut. She joined the Church in the winter of 1842–43 and set out to gather with the Saints.
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Jane and her family walked toward Nauvoo in 1843. The journey brought hardship to the young Jane and her family.
In her later life sketch, Jane recalled that the family’s shoes wore out on the long walk to Nauvoo. Their feet cracked and bled; they prayed together, and she remembered their healing as an answer from God. She also described walking barefoot through morning frost. These are Jane’s own remembered experiences, preserved in the Church’s account of her autobiography.
Jane recalled Emma inviting the travelers inside the Mansion House. Joseph arranged chairs and listened as Jane described their journey. The welcome included shelter while her relatives found places to live and work. When Jane remained without a home and grieved the loss of her belongings, she remembered Joseph assuring her that she could stay.
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Based on Jane Manning James’s surviving likeness.
Doctrine and Covenants 124:37–40 Jane Elizabeth Manning James
Jane lived and worked in the Smith household for several months. The Church’s account describes the friendships she formed there and the conviction she retained that Joseph was a prophet. Her story gives hospitality a human scale: a place to sit, someone willing to listen, and practical help for a traveler far from home.
Jane married Isaac James, a free Black convert, and reached Utah in 1847. She provided for family through sewing, spinning and washing, contributed to temple construction, and participated in Relief Society.
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Jane supported her family through skilled work, including sewing. Her daily labor belongs beside her remembered journeys, generosity and requests for temple blessings.
Later family losses and separation made her questions about eternal belonging especially personal. Saints describes her appeals for temple blessings and her hope in God’s promise to bless all nations through Abraham. Remembering Jane means taking those requests seriously. Her perseverance does not make the restrictions painless, and the restrictions do not exhaust the story of her life.
Between 1884 and 1904 Jane sought temple blessings; in 1888 she received permission for baptisms for deceased relatives. She did not receive her endowment or family sealings in life. An unusual 1894 proxy sealing to Joseph Smith’s household as a servant did not fulfill those requests. She died in 1908; her endowment and family sealing ordinances were performed on her behalf in 1979.
Illustrated Church story
The Church’s illustrated account follows Jane’s journey to Nauvoo. Continue with her biography to learn about her years of worship, service, and seeking temple blessings.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Jane Elizabeth Manning James: Church History Topics
The work of salvation also reaches beyond death. In Doctrine and Covenants 138:32–34, the gospel is taught among the dead, including to those who lacked an opportunity to receive it in mortality. The Church’s account of ordinances performed for Jane in 1979 belongs within this doctrine of redemption. It should be read together with, rather than used to dismiss, the record of what she sought during her life.
To understand Jane’s requests, consider what temples mean within Latter-day Saint faith. The Church describes temples as houses of the Lord where people learn about His plan and enter sacred covenants. Temple ordinances point to the blessings made possible through Jesus Christ. Jane’s desire to participate deserves attention as a serious religious longing, with consequences for her understanding of family and eternity.
Read Temples before returning to Jane’s biography. Consider the difference between describing an institutional restriction and listening to the person seeking the blessings it withheld.
A covenant is a sacred relationship with God that includes His promises and our commitments. The Church’s topic explains that baptism, the temple endowment, and sealing involve covenants. These teachings help clarify why historical accounts distinguish membership and baptism from access to other ordinances. They also keep the study centered on devotion to God rather than treating sacred blessings as social recognition.
Continue with Covenant and Mosiah 18:8–10. Reflect on the obligation to share burdens and offer comfort.
04 · Remember and study
Baptized in Mississippi in 1844, Green Flake traveled west while enslaved. The Church’s history records his work preparing the road, driving a wagon into Emigration Canyon and planting crops before Brigham Young arrived. Read Green Flake’s history.
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Green traveled with the 1847 vanguard company while enslaved. This youthful trail scene follows that history.
The Church History Biographical Database lists his birth as January 6, 1828, and records his place in the Brigham Young Vanguard Company. Other records place his birth between 1825 and 1828. He was therefore a young adult during the journey, approximately nineteen to twenty-two. That uncertainty deserves to remain visible when we tell his story.
Green farmed in Union and participated in his ward. He and Martha raised two children. The Church’s account leaves his precise emancipation date uncertain. Study his life after the journey.
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Green farmed in Union and remained active in his ward. This scene recalls that everyday labor.
As you read, notice the difference between what a record establishes and what we hope to understand about a person. Faithful remembrance requires room for both honest questions and the evidence that survives.
Green spoke at pioneer commemorations and returned for the 1897 jubilee. His shared gravestone with Martha expressed hope in the Father’s house. Read John 14:1–3. Read the account of his later years.
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A later description remembered Green’s broad shoulders, vigor and spectacles. This portrait follows his surviving likeness.
In July 2022, President M. Russell Ballard dedicated a monument honoring Green Flake, Jane Manning James and fellow Black pioneers at This Is The Place Heritage Park. The Church’s report describes a place intended for learning, reflection and healing. Read the dedication report. Their remembrance invites us to learn names, acknowledge the conditions people endured and recognize their contributions with care.
05 · Remember and study
In Brazil, Helvécio and Rudá Martins welcomed missionaries in 1972 and joined the Church. Helvécio later served on the São Paulo Temple public relations committee while expecting that the restriction would prevent him from receiving its ordinances. The Church’s account, “Joy of an Eternal Covenant,” remembers the couple’s gratitude when they learned of the revelation. They were subsequently sealed in the São Paulo Temple. Read their account as the story of a family seeking the Lord and cherishing His covenants.
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Saints in Ghana studied, prayed and sought the restored gospel before missionaries arrived. The gathering shown invites us to honor that desire. Read the Church’s account to learn about Billy Johnson and the people whose faith shaped this history.
Church film
In A New Day, Latter-day Saints remember the 1978 revelation. Hear their personal accounts alongside the histories of believers in Brazil and Ghana.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
In Ghana, Joseph William Billy Johnson, Raphael Abraham Frank Mensah, Rebecca Mould, and other believers shared the Book of Mormon and gathered for worship before the Church was officially established there. These were congregations of believers awaiting baptism and formal organization. The Church’s Ghana history recounts Johnson hearing news of the revelation on the radio in the summer of 1978. On December 9, Johnson, Mensah, and 123 other converts were baptized; a branch was organized in Cape Coast the next morning.
Joy of an Eternal Covenant · Brazil We’ve Waited Long for Thee · Ghana
Paul connects baptism into Christ with becoming one in Him and heirs to the promise made to Abraham (Galatians 3:26–29). This unity does not require people to lose their families, cultures, or individual histories. It asks disciples to share their faith and responsibilities as members of Christ’s household. The lives of Saints in Brazil and Ghana give this worldwide fellowship personal names and places.
The history extends beyond Church headquarters. The Brazil account follows a family’s desire for temple blessings; the Ghana account describes believers who studied, gathered, and waited before the Church was formally established there. Read each account separately before comparing them. Place, family circumstances, and opportunities to participate differed, even when people shared faith in Jesus Christ.
For a longer Ghana narrative, read Billy Johnson—Ghana. It places his work with Frank Mensah and unofficial congregations within the wider story.
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Temple covenants turn our attention toward Jesus Christ and the eternal possibilities of family life. Consider the blessings opened more widely after the 1978 revelation and what temple worship means to your own family.
Watch the accompanying Church film after reading its historical source. Ask which details the written account establishes and which experiences the speaker describes personally. A person’s account can convey the meaning of an event in a life or family without being made to stand for every Black member’s experience. Leave room for both gratitude and difficult questions.
06 · Remember and study
President Spencer W. Kimball sought the Lord’s will through prayer, study, and counsel with other Church leaders. “Witnessing the Faithfulness,” in Revelations in Context, places that seeking alongside the lives of Black members and believers. By early 1978, President Kimball was spending many hours praying in the temple. His counselors and the Apostles were also studying and praying about extending priesthood and temple blessings.
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President Spencer W. Kimball sought the Lord’s direction concerning priesthood and temple blessings. Read Official Declaration 2 in full.
Church film
Hear N. Eldon Tanner present the revelation at general conference on September 30, 1978. This recording preserves its public acceptance and the sustaining of Church officers.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Official Declaration 2 records that the revelation was affirmed to Church leaders in the Salt Lake Temple on June 1, 1978. The First Presidency’s letter, dated June 8, announced that every worthy male Church member could be ordained without regard to race or color, and that members and their loved ones could receive temple blessings. On September 30, N. Eldon Tanner presented the revelation in general conference. The assembly unanimously sustained it. These are distinct moments: sacred confirmation, the written announcement, and the Church’s public acceptance.
Witnessing the Faithfulness · Revelations in Context Official Declaration 2
Revelation is more than a change of public opinion in the Church’s account of 1978. Official Declaration 2 identifies an answer to prayer and an assurance received through the Holy Ghost. Its announced blessings concern both priesthood ordination and temple worship with loved ones. Reading the entire declaration lets the Church’s own words establish what was announced, while the Gospel Topics account explains the historical setting.
Read both the First Presidency’s letter and the conference record in Official Declaration 2. What does each contribute to your understanding?
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The 1978 revelation reached real families with hopes, questions and gratitude. Read the declaration and the Church’s historical account, then reflect on the place of prayer in receiving and responding to revelation.
Witnessing the Faithfulness brings the account into homes and congregations, including people in Africa and the Americas. Read it beside the declaration rather than substituting a brief timeline for the full account.
07 · Remember and study
The revelation opened the way for Black men to receive priesthood ordination and for Black women and men to receive temple endowment and sealing ordinances. The Gospel Topics essay describes members responding with joy and entering temples throughout the world. Its concluding teaching affirms that redemption through Jesus Christ is available to the whole human family. Race does not determine a person’s standing before God.
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Priesthood service is accountable to the Lord’s pattern of persuasion, gentleness, meekness and love unfeigned. Caring for another person invites reflection on the conditions of righteous priesthood influence taught in the linked passage.
Church film
A Person and A Sister shares personal experiences of belonging in the Church. Listen with care to the people telling their stories.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
The Church today rejects theories that associate Black skin with divine disfavor or conduct before birth, condemn interracial marriage, or claim that one race is inferior to another. Its current teaching calls members to repent of racial prejudice and oppose racism. Studying this history invites us to listen carefully, speak truthfully, and treat one another with the dignity and love owed to every child of God.
Race and the Priesthood: Gospel Topics Essay Race and the Church: current questions and answers
The Savior joins love of God with love of our neighbor (Matthew 22:37–40). At baptism, disciples commit to bear burdens and comfort those who mourn (Mosiah 18:8–10). These commitments call for more than courteous words. Listening to painful experiences, correcting a demeaning remark, and including someone in friendship and service are practical ways to act on them.
Studying priesthood and temple blessings should also lead to the everyday work of discipleship. Prayer, scripture study, worship, and service offer settings in which people can strengthen one another.
For the Church’s direct teaching on racial prejudice, read What is the Church’s stance on racism?. Its counsel calls disciples to reject disparaging treatment and repent of prejudice. Consider one concrete way to make a conversation, class, or congregation more welcoming without asking someone else to minimize a painful experience.
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The work of belonging continues in how we welcome, listen and serve. Respond to the Church’s rejection of racism by treating each person with dignity and extending the love we hope to receive ourselves.
Read Matthew 25:34–40 with the Savior’s invitation in 2 Nephi 26:24–33. Then return to the people whose lives you have studied. What would it mean to remember them accurately, honor their faith, and respond with compassion to people living around you now?
Read the revelation in full. Then turn to the Savior’s invitation and the qualities scripture asks of those who serve in His name.
Official Declaration 2 · Read the First Presidency’s letter and the record of the Church’s sustaining vote.
2 Nephi 26:24–33 · Consider the invitation to come unto Christ and the declaration that all are alike unto God.
Doctrine and Covenants 121:34–46 · Reflect on persuasion, gentleness, love, and the warning against unrighteous dominion.
These optional questions are invitations to personal study. Take the time you need.
What did you learn about Elijah’s or Jane’s service, family, and desire to worship? Which part of the official biography would you like to understand more fully?
What does the June 8 letter say about prayer, faithfulness, priesthood, and temple blessings? Keep its words beside the historical account as you study.
How could this study help you listen more carefully to someone’s experience? What can you do to welcome others and respond to prejudice with courage and kindness?
All historical and doctrinal sources in this study are published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The biographies and global histories are later accounts; Official Declaration 2 preserves the 1978 letter and conference presentation. The illustrated films are Church storytelling, while the conference recording documents the public proceedings.
Continue learning about priesthood authority and the call to serve.
Study the place of covenants and family sealing in temple worship.
Meet other Saints through their lives and recorded experiences.