Mormon leader's called racist doctrine folklore #mormon #blackhistory #ldschurch

The 2013 Gospel Topics Essay on race and the priesthood attempted to draw a bright line between Mormonism's official teachings and its racist past. Church historians labeled previous statements about Black inferiority and the priesthood ban as "folklore" and individual opinion rather than binding doctrine. This reframing of racist doctrine folklore as unofficial speculation has become the standard institutional response to questions about the Church's 150-year exclusion of Black members from priesthood ordination and temple ordinances.

Yet the archives tell a different story. Documents bearing the official letterhead and signatures of the First Presidency contradict the notion that these were merely scattered theories or cultural misconceptions. When an institution reclassifies its signed policy statements as folklore, it raises questions not just about history, but about how religious organizations manage accountability when the historical record refuses to fade.

Background: From Ban to Essay

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints barred Black men of African descent from priesthood ordination and Black women from temple rituals from 1852 until 1978. Church presidents from Brigham Young through Spencer W. Kimball maintained this prohibition, offering theological justifications ranging from premortal unworthiness to the curse of Cain.

After the 1978 revelation lifted the ban, the Church remained largely silent on the racist theological underpinnings for three decades. The 2013 Gospel Topics Essay marked the first official attempt to address the racism embedded in these teachings. The essay disavowed "racist theories" and characterized past explanations as reflecting the cultural biases of earlier generations rather than