Black people and temple and priesthood policies (LDS Church)

From 1852 to 1978, temple and priesthood policies in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) prohibited both black women and men from temple ordinances and ordination in the all-male priesthood. In 1978, the church's highest governing body, the First Presidency, declared in the "Official Declaration 2" statement, that the restriction had been lifted. Between 1830 and 1852, a few black men had been ordained to the Mormon priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement under Joseph Smith.

As part of this restriction, both black men and women of African descent at various times, were prohibited from taking part in ceremonies in the church's temples (e.g. endowments and marriage sealings), serving in certain leadership callings, attending priesthood meetings, and speaking at firesides. Spouses of black people of African descent were also prohibited from entering the temple. Over time, the restriction was relaxed so that dark-skinned people of non-African descent could attend priesthood meetings and people with a "questionable lineage" were given the priesthood, such as Fijians, Indigenous Australians, and Egyptians, as well as Brazilians and South Africans with an unknown heritage who did not appear to have any black heritage.

During this time, leaders in Mormonism's largest denomination—the LDS Church—taught that the restriction came from curses of Cain and Ham and their descendants, and that black people were less valiant in their premortal life. Top church leaders (called general authorities) used LDS scriptures to justify their explanations, including the Book of Moses, which teaches that the descendants of Canaan had "a blackness come upon them", and the Book of Abraham which says a Pharaoh could not have the priesthood because of his lineage. In 1978, the church president and apostles declared that the restrictions were lifted as a result of a revelation.