Race-Unity-Justice

Visiting All People 

Source: Earl Redman, Abdul-Baha in Their Midst | Finishing the Work:`Abdu’l-Baha in Dublin, New Hampshire, 1912

From 25 July to 16 August 1912, the rural New Hampshire town of Dublin was host to `Abdu’l-Baha… The most well-documented aspect of `Abdu’l-Baha’s visit is, unsurprisingly, public meetings and visits with the rich and famous. 

Though most of Abdul-Baha’s time was spent with the rich, famous and white people, He gave special attention to their [workers, most of which were Black], treating them no differently than their employers. This must be seen in the context of an America in which integration did not exist, and an American Baha’í community where, for example, the Washington, D.C. community of which Mrs. Parsons was a member had only begun to integrate starting in March 1910.

In fact, the Washington, D.C. Baha’í community was among the first in the United States to have a significant African-American membership…. were the first to seriously teach Blacks, [including] Louis Gregory, a Washington lawyer, who became a Baha’í in 1909.

On Friday, August 2, 1912 Abdu’l-Baha in the Parsons’ boathouse addressed a group of 28 black people, and spoke of the importance of unity and amity between black and white people.  He told them of the upcoming marriage of Louisa Mathew, a white woman, and Louis Gregory, a black man.  The white people in the audience were amazed at the influence the Cause of Baha’u’llah had on everyone, while the black people were very pleased to hear about such integration.  Some Americans considered the creation of unity between blacks and whites to be nearly miraculous and as difficult to accomplish as “splitting the moon in half”, but here was Abdu’l-Baha showing that it could happen.