Joseph Fielding Smith reports that Joseph instituted priesthood and temple restriction.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Letter to Joseph H. Henderson, April 10, 1963
It is true that elders of the church laid hands on a Negro and blessed him 'apparently' with the Priesthood, but they could not give that which the Lord had denied. It is true that Elijah Abel was so 'ordained'. This was however before the matter had been submitted to the Prophet Joseph Smith. However for some reason this statement that Elijah Abel was so ordained has traveled to the end of the earth. It was afterwards that the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that the Negro was not to be ordained.