This week in Mormon Land: the lives of black Latter-day Saints past and present — and whose idea was the priesthood and temple ban in the first place?

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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.