History of Master’s Life

Talk at Hull House

Source: The Promulgation of Universal Peace

Hull House in  Chicago, Illinois was an immigrant community centre, one of the earliest in Chicago, founded by Jane Addams of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

‘Abdu’l-Baha addressed the audience on Tuesday, April 30, 1912, discussing racial unity and the perceivable differences stating,

“…there are points of contact, properties common to all mankind; likewise, there are points of distinction which separate race from race, individual from individual. …numerous points of partnership and agreement exist between the two races; whereas the one point of distinction is that of color. Shall this, the least of all distinctions, be allowed to separate you as races and individuals? …A single point of distinction exists–that of racial color. God is not pleased with–neither should any reasonable or intelligent man be willing to recognize–inequality in the races because of this distinction. 

        But there is need of a superior power to overcome human prejudices, a power which nothing in the world of mankind can withstand and which will overshadow the effect of all other forces at work in human conditions. That irresistible power is the love of God. It is my hope and prayer that it may destroy the prejudice of this one point of distinction between you and unite you all permanently under its hallowed protection. Baha’u’llah has proclaimed the oneness of the world of humanity. He has caused various nations and divergent creeds to unite. He has declared that difference of race and color is like the variegated beauty of flowers in a garden.

…Baha’u’llah hath said that the various races of humankind lend a composite harmony and beauty of color to the whole. Let all associate, therefore, in this great human garden even as flowers grow and blend together side by side without discord or disagreement between them.