‘Mormon Land’: Cathy Stokes discusses her life as a black Latter-day Saint and the state of race relations inside and outside the church
(Tribune File Photo) Catherine M. Stokes, of Salt Lake City, talks in 2008 about the 1978 revelation at Temple Square to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the revelation ending the ban on blacks in the LDS priesthood.
The year after the LDS Church lifted its ban on black men and boys holding its all-male priesthood and on black women and girls entering its temples, Cathy Stokes became a Mormon.
As the Utah-based faith prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the end of that priesthood/temple ban, this black Latter-day Saint discusses her conversion on Chicago’s South Side and the state of race relations inside and outside the faith.
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