I heard of the revelation on the priesthood I think on June 2, 1978. The revelation was announced the day before, and the church did not waste any time in letting the missionaries know of the revelation. We received a call from our district leader, who was following the chain I am sure, making sure all the missionaries knew of the change as soon as it happened. Of course this opened to us the possibility of actively proselyting to people of African descent. However there were not a great deal of people who fit this category in Argentina. There were a few, and it felt good to treat all people the same.
We attended a zone conference shortly after and during the testimony period another missionary shared an experience. Shortly after hearing of the revelation and investigator questioned them as he had heard the Church discriminated against people of African descent. The missionary boldly responded, the Church extends the priesthood to all worthy male members irregardless of race. It was a great day, a testimony affirming day as we know that prophets still receive revelation for our behalf.
Nola Van Wagenen: There is a book out with so many great explanations why this ban was ever started in the first place... In the beginning.. Joseph Smith and even Brigham Young and many members were all for blacks to have freedom and also the priesthood and temple marriages.. it was even given out to them.. but one of the starting things that was a problem is that they came forth against slavery in a state that was a slave state.. so ofcorse .. on top of what we already stood for with polygamy .. and other things.. that was just one more thing to add to the early saints persecution.. and then there truly was many mormons out there that were not prepared to accept blacks at the same exhalted level... sadly within many churches and not just ours that was the case.. many other churches still required segregation even if they did accept blacks in their church .. many members of other faiths still thought of them as lesser.. But this book also brings to light that there was one black man that was well known and liked in the entertainment world and it seemed as he joined the church only for the true purpose of being able to marry more than one wife and white wifes as that and many were smitten and he married more and more and it was as he was marrying more with that intent .. and so that also brought many members distress between both topics.. of how he was taking advantage of that and then it was indeed a rare occasion of another race marrying another race and that was a big controversy not just in our religion but with many religions and even non religious persons throughout the United States.. Sadly as with so many struggling with the revelation of the Word of Wisdom at these times.. as Joseph Smith put forth with his thoughts of the Word of Wisdom... : It will have to be another generation that will be prepared to truly live this principle... and there is alot more behind it also .. It is not just a Mormon thing.. I feel that at first most in our religion desired that the blacks truly be free and not slaves.. his book puts that forth also.. but there was too much that came up over and over to continue to allow them full rights within the church.. I feel that it would have come about earlier in our history to have it reinstated with other prophets also but there again things came up that it did not.. read this book and it will truly help one realize why these blessings were withheld for as long as they were.. It was not just a Mormon thing.. JUST SO SO THANKFUL AND HAPPY WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED.. i HAVE HAD MANY BLACK FRIENDS THROUGH THE YEARS IN AND OUT OF THE CHURCH THAT I JUST LUV SO DEARLY .. SO MANY PRECIOUS SOULS IN THAT RACE.. ..
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