Not Until the Millennium: 1978 and Fundamentalist Whitelash

Abstract

On June 8, 1978, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints removed restrictions that once barred Black Latter-day Saints from priesthood ordination and temple entry. Most members of the Church celebrated the decision as a revelation and long-awaited answer to prayer. However, some were angry about the end to theologically-justified segregation, and many left the Church to join the Mormon fundamentalist movement that sought to retain early Mormon teachings, including doctrinal racism. While most studies on Mormon fundamentalism present the tradition as one of continuity in the face of change, this article argues that Mormon fundamentalist doctrinal racism emerged as a central tenet of the faith only when desegregation became the subject of national debate in the 1970s. Rather than view the persistence of the priesthood and temple restrictions in Mormon fundamentalism as a continuation of early LDS teachings, this article reframes the persistence of the priesthood and temple ban as a form of white backlash in response to the Black civil rights movement and integration in LDS worship.