The ban denying priesthood and temple blessings to black members of the LDS Church existed for more than a century before being repealed via revelation in 1978. Many Latter-day Saints have tried to justify the ban, as when BYU professor Randy Bott offered an explanation in a recent Washington Post interview; his justification was condemned by an official Church statement the next day. This essay will examine the historical record for clues that can help us determine more “precisely why, how, or when this restriction began” and will look at a group of interracial marriages in the 1840s that appear to have influenced early Church leaders’ thoughts on the propriety of such relationships.

Rick Bennett, Marguerite Driessen