Confronting and Condemning “Hard Doctrine,” 1978–2013

Although Spencer W. Kimball’s 1978 revelation in the Salt Lake Temple ended the 126-year-old priesthood and temple ban affecting persons of African descent, questions about racial teachings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lingered. The revelation, canonized as “Official Declaration 2” in Latter-day Saint scripture, failed to repudiate the theology justifying the ban.1 Some members, consequently, continued to assert that black people were cursed, equating their dark skin with misdeeds they allegedly committed in a pre-earth life.2 Anguished over these microaggressions, black Latter-day Saints petitioned church officials to condemn racism within the church as well as remove all literature from church-owned bookstores that promulgated racist views. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles—the highest governing bodies in the church—agonized over the pain and despair that black Latter-day Saints experienced and took stark measures to reshape Mormon racial teachings, first by revising racialist passages in the Book of Mormon, second by withdrawing racially demeaning literature from circulation, and third by ultimately repudiating the rationales behind the priesthood and temple ban.3 This process occurred gradually, over a thirty-year period from 1978 to 2013, culminating in the unprecedented step of church leaders disavowing what were once considered essential Latter-day Saint teachings

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