ood. Smith, thereafter, decreed that no other black men were to be ordained to either the Aaronic (the lower) or Melchizadek (the higher) Priesthoods. Yet, Elijah Abel was allowed to remain an ordained elder and later became aSome people know, but most don't, about the segregationist theology of Mormonism prior to 1978, and the radical, unexpected change that occured thereafter, that kept the entire black race from participating in the Priesthood functions of the LDS Church from around 1835 until Mormon Prophet Spencer W. Kimball saw fit to change the doctrine. The history of the Mormon policy that excluded blacks from obtaining the two Priesthoods of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is obscured by the Church itself, in that most Mormon scholars don't really want to discuss it objectively. The facts are that Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. had ordained a black man, Elijah Abel, to the high Melchizadek Priesthood in 1835, in Kirtland, Ohio. About a week after, Heber C. Kimball and Sidney Rigdon, counselors to Smith, persuaded Smith that the blacks were a cursed race and were not deserving of the Priesthood. Smith, thereafter, decreed that no other black men were to be ordained to either the Aaronic (the lower) or Melchizadek (the higher) Priesthoods. Yet, Elijah Abel was allowed to remain an ordained elder and later became a ctions of the LDS Church from around 1835 until Mormon Prophet Spencer W. Kimball saw fit to change the doctrine. The history of the Mormon policy that excluded blacks from obtaining the two Priesthoods of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is obscured by the Church itself, in that most Mormon scholars don't really want to discuss it objectively. The facts are that Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. had ordained a black man, Elijah Abel, to the high Melchizadek Priesthood in 1835, in Kirtland, Ohio. About a week after, Heber C. Kimball and Sidney Rigdon, counselors to Smith, persuaded Smith that the blacks were a cursed race and were not deserving of the Priesthood. Smith, thereafter, decreed that no other black men were to be ordained to either the Aaronic (the lower) or Melchizadek (the higher) Priesthoods. Yet, Elijah Abel was allowed to remain an ordained elder and later became ahrist of Latter-Day Saints is obscured by the Church itself, in that most Mormon scholars don't really want to discuss it objectively. The facts are that Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. had ordained a black man, Elijah Abel, to the high Melchizadek Priesthood in 1835, in Kirtland, Ohio. About a week after, Heber C. Kimball and Sidney Rigdon, counselors to Smith, persuaded Smith that the blacks were a cursed race and were not deserving of the Priesthood. Smith, thereafter, decreed that no other black men were to be ordained to either the Aaronic (the lower) or Melchizadek (the higher) Priesthoods. Yet, Elijah Abel was allowed to remain an ordained elder and later became ao the high Melchizadek Priesthood in 1835, in Kirtland, Ohio. About a week after, Heber C. Kimball and Sidney Rigdon, counselors to Smith, persuaded Smith that the blacks were a cursed race and were not deserving of the Priesthood. Smith, thereafter, decreed that no other black men were to be ordained to either the Aaronic (the lower) or Melchizadek (the higher) Priesthoods. Yet, Elijah Abel was allowed to remain an ordained elder and later became aood. Smith, thereafter, decreed that no other black men were to be ordained to either the Aaronic (the lower) or Melchizadek (the higher) Priesthoods. Yet, Elijah Abel was allowed to remain an ordained elder and later became a Seventy in the Mormon Church.

Brigham Young later developed a full theology about the inferiority and curse of the black race, calling them the offspring of Cain. He declared ex cathedra in the Mormon Tabernacle that exclusion of the black race would last until Jesus Christ came again at the advent of the millineum. When Spence W. Kimball retracted in 1978 what Brigham Young had declared as doctrine, from 1852 until 1877, there were no apologies given to the black people for the many decades of segregation and denial of Priesthood rights. To this day, there are many people, including Mormons, who believe that the proclamation by Kimball, allowing all men, of all races, to right to obtain the Priesthood, was merely political, much like their thoughts about the Manifesto ending polygamy, in order to make the Mormon Church appear more as a mainstream Christian religion. No regrets were admit