Mormon leaders did, at one time, teach that black people were the descendants of Cain, through Ham, and that they inherited the “Curse of Cain” which included a ‘mark’ (black skin) and also a denial of the Holy Priesthood of God and a denial of the higher ordinances of Mormon Temples. This “Curse of Cain Doctrine” and “Priesthood-ban Policy” existed in the Church from 1848 until 1978.
Since the 1978 Revelation (granting all worthy males the Priesthood) the numbers of Black Mormons have risen dramatically. Black Mormons worldwide number anywhere from 350,000 to perhaps 500,000 (this would include “Mulattoes”; or people of part-black and part-white descent). About 150,000 Black Mormons live in Africa, about 150,000 (or more) in Brazil, about 20,000 in the Caribbean, anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 in the U.S., and the rest in other countries.
Read more about Mormonism here
