Much has changed for LDS blacks since '78

Recording artist Gladys Knight was working on her first solo single in 1978, a disco-dancing song whose title, "It's a Better Than Good Time," would come to describe the feeling of many Latter-day Saints on June 8 that year.

After more than a century of excluding black males from holding the faith's priesthood, church leaders announced publicly that day that then-church President Spencer W. Kimball had received a revelation extending the priesthood to "all worthy males."

While Knight was likely unaware of the change — or even the LDS Church — back then, Darius Gray was a young black member who will never forget where he was or how he felt. The legacy of that announcement would change the future not only for both Knight and Gray, but for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution.

In the decades since, Knight and thousands of other black members have joined the faith, with LDS temples now operating in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, and another seven temples operating in Brazil, where a large black population has helped propel record church growth in South America.

As a longtime ambassador of sorts for the church, Gray has worked tirelessly to explain his faith and to dispel the continuing folklore about the "premortal valiancy" of black Latter-day Saints to those who still question the reason for the priesthood ban or who hang on to discredited LDS folklore about its origin.

So Sunday's 30th anniversary commemoration of the priesthood announcement — the first sponsored officially by the LDS Church — provides many who have watched or experienced the faith's growing pains among black members a chance to hear from two general authorities about a subject they have long wondered about (see accompanying box).

Church spokesman Mark Tuttle said the local Genesis group — comprised mainly of black Latter-day Saints — approached the church about about the celebration, and "after consideration, church leaders decided to hold a church-sponsored event."

The church's public affairs department officially announced the event to the media on Wednesday, but the thousands of tickets made available to gain entry were already gone before the media announcement was made.

Tuttle said the event was originally announced on the church's Web site, and tickets were distributed through Genesis and to local stakes beginning May 14. Overflow seating will be available on Temple Square, and Brigham Young University will broadcast the event as part of its regular devotional program schedule, he said.