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Podcast: Church History Matters
Episode: 020 1852 and The Beginnings of the Priesthood-Temple Ban in the Church
Description: The historical record shows that Joseph Smith did not implement or endorse any practices or policies which specifically prevented Church members with black African ancestry from fully participating in priesthood offices or temple worship. But in 1847, only three years after Joseph’s death, attitudes and teachings of some church leaders began to shift away from full inclusion of blacks, to partial exclusion—until only five years later, in 1852, President Brigham Young first publicly articulated a priesthood restriction on blacks in the church.Â
In today’s episode of Church History Matters, we probe what exists in the historical record...