1844 May 24 Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first telegraphic message over an experimental line from Washington D.C. to Baltimore; the message said: "What hath God wrought?" which is a verse from The Book of Numbers 23:23. Also see The Book of Job 38:35 where it says Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?

1858 Aug 16 the first transatlantic telegraph cable was an undersea cable running under the Atlantic Ocean used for telegraph communications was laid across the floor of the Atlantic from Telegraph Field, Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The first communications occurred August 16, 1858, reducing the communication time between North America and Europe from ten days.

1894 May 10 Marconi sent a radio wave 3/4 mile, the first "wireless" transmission.

1897 Marconi Co sent the first ship-to-shore message 12 miles. 1899 Mar 3 the ship "East Goodwin" was saved after sending the distress signal "HELP". This system of HF radio for safety at sea communications as replaced globally by geostationary satellites with the launch of the INMARSAT system (International Marine Satellite) on the 1st of February 1982. [International Journal of Maritime History]

1969 October 29 The birth of the Internet. First message from computer to computer in different locations. UCLA student Charley Kline attempts to transmit the text "login" to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute over the first link on the ARPANET, which was the precursor to the modern Internet. After the letters "l" and "o" are sent the system crashed, making the first message ever sent on the Internet "lo" and the first crash of the system.

On August 5, 1969, the wheels of our plane touched down at Entebbe airport, Kampala, Uganda—at last the long-promised visit of Amatu'l-Bahá to the believers of Africa was commencing. In 1961, at the time when she dedicated the Mother Temple of Africa for public worship, Rúḥíyyih Khánum promised the friends to come back and really visit them, touring as many Centres as possible. After nine years, this has now been fulfilled. [BW15p594]

It was the start of a four-leg journey that took the Hand of the Cause to 34 African countries, travelling 36,000 miles, addressing 40,000 people including 19 heads of state in some 400 gatherings. Beginning her Safari in East Africa, she crossed the whole breadth of the continent to the Gambia, turned back to the center of the Congo, and went down to the tip of South Africa in Cape Town before returning to East Africa. She met nineteen Heads of State among them Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, President Hamani Diori of Niger, President Dr. William V.S Tubman of Liberia, King Motlotletlehi Sobhuza II of Swaziland, President Gregoire Kayibanda of Rwanda, and President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia.

Number of Localities where Bahá'ís Reside:
United States ............. 2,533
Worldwide ................ 33,326

Number of Administrative Bodies:
National spiritual assemblies ................ 83
Local spiritual assemblies worldwide .............. 6,828
Local spiritual assemblies in the United States ............ 440

Number of languages into which Bahá'í literature has been translated ..... 428

Bahá'í schools and institutes-worldwide ........ 109

Sites acquired for future houses of worship ....... 51

Number of tribes and minority groups representedworldwide .............. 1,136 [Bahá'í National Review Issue 20 August 1969 p16]

The proper call number of Bahá'í literature is 297.89. The number 297 is given to Islam, and religions under that parentage are listed in that same general sequence. While the Bahá'í Faith is not a branch of Islam, our roots are in that faith, as the roots of Christianity were within Judaism. Most Bahá'í books published in North America under Bahá'í auspices will have the proper call number along with the copyright information inside the front cover.

It was recognized that the changing classifications of library listings is a very serious matter and once any change is made it must remain in effect a very long time in order to avoid the tremendous confusion that frequent changes and revisions would create in the library system involving thousands of local public libraries throughout the country. For this reason they asked that the community not make an issue of this with their local library not take up the question with the National Library of Congress. [Bahá'í National Review Issue 19 July 1969 p4-5]

While in Canada he visited St. Johns, Newfoundland, Vancouver, British Columbia and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and he taught at summer schools at Laurentian, Sylvan Lake, the Pacific Youth Institutes and he attended the Continental Indian Conference held at Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. [BN No 466 January 1970 p3-4]

Mr. Eichelberger, Chairman of the Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, will receive the award for his accomplishments in the field of human rights over a period of many years. He was a consultant to the League of Nations Secretariat and was a member of a committee to prepare the first U.S. working draft of the United Nations Charter. He was a consultant to the U.S. delegation to the 1945 Conference in San Francisco to organize the United Nations. His most recent effort was overseeing the drafting and presentation of a special report on The United Nations and Human Rights. He is the author of four books on the U.N.

The Xerox Corporation was selected because of its sponsorship of the television series Of Black America and its other outstanding efforts in behalf of human rights. [Bahá'í National Review Issue 12 December 1968 p3; Bahá'í National Review Issue 14 February 1969 p10]

Wellesley Tudor Pole first encountered 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Alexandria during His first sojourn in Egypt in 1910. At that time he wanted to find out more about the Faith and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. He met 'Abdu'l-Bahá many times over many years, specifically in Palestine in 1918 when he was able to assist in the protection 'Abdu'l-Bahá's home against the occupying Turks. [The Servant, the General and Armageddon by Roderick and Derwent Maude]

"As regards the Bahá'í principle of obedience to just governments, what is meant here by just is recognized and well-established authority."

"What the Master's statement really means is obedience to a duly constituted government, whatever that government may be in form. We are not the ones, as individual Bahá'ís to judge our government as just or unjust - for each believer would be sure to hold a different viewpoint, and within our own Bahá'í fold a hotbed of dissension would spring up and destroy our unity. We must build up our Bahá'í system, and leave the faulty systems of the world to go their way. We cannot change them through our becoming involved in them; on the contrary, they will destroy us."

"Under the present circumstances in the United States it is preferable that Bahá'ís not buy or own arms for their protection or the protection of their families."

The Bahá'í Communities of North America, on the occasion of the world-wide commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the call to the world's leaders to establish universal peace through justice and unity by Bahá'u'lláh, observed 1968 as the International Year for Human Rights. At the Bahá'í Intercontinental Conference in Chicago the Bahá'ís affirmed that in accordance with the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, human rights are God given rights.

A 30-minute memorial service for Catherine Huxtable was added to the program that included an eulogy by Michael Rochester. [LNW176-179]

Hussein Ahdieh and Hillary Chapman, two who served at the school in both a teaching and administrative capacity, have documented the decade of operation of the school with a website as well as a youtube video Harlem Prep Step by Step and a book A Way Out of No Way: Transforming Dropouts Into Scholars, 1967-1977.

Upon forming the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Guatemala in 1961, it was made responsible for administrating the Bahá'í community of British Honduras although there were no Bahá'ís in British Honduras at the time. British Honduras remained under its jurisdiction until forming its own National Spiritual Assembly in 1967. [Bahaipedia Guatemala; BN No 435 June 1967 p6]

". . . we realize there are occasions on which the use of the term 'Bahá'í World Faith' may be justified and useful. However, it is our hope that the friends will gradually lose the habit of using this term as widely as they do now. The designation 'The Bahá'í Faith' is more dignified and is preferable. Any adjective added to this name tends to a diminution of its stature and might be taken to mean there are other 'Bahá'í Faiths'. . . ."

It is for each believer, under pain of his own conscience, to determine for himself what his actions should be, bearing in mind that the application of these principles is the spiritual obligation of every Bahá'í. It is rather for your Assembly to see that adequate instruction is provided so that the friends will let these principles be mirrored forth in their actions, and that they will be so steadfast in their love for Bahá'u'lláh that it would be unthinkable for them to willingly place themselves in a position where they must take human life. [Universal House of Justice letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States ref41]

He translated the first literature to Greenlandic and in July 1965 he invited Johanne Sorensen Hoeg to travel to Greenland. She visited several locations where she gave public speeches for approximately 50 to 100 people. Hendrik declared his faith as the first Bahá’í in Greenland. [Bahá'í Chronicles Johanne Sorensen Hoeg]

She was convinced of the truth of the Bahá'í Revelation because of the similarities between it and her Lakota heritage; to cite two examples, the legend of the return of White Buffalo Calf Maiden and the prophecies of Black Elk and his vision of Bahá'u'lláh. [Article by Radiance Talley]

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Indian Ocean was formed with its seat in Port Louis had jurisdiction over the following countries: Mauritius, Chagos Archipelago, Rodriguez Island, Malagasy Republic, (formerly Madagascar; name changed in 1958) Seychelles Islands, Comoro Islands, and Reunion Island. [BW14p96; BW15:195]

The National Spiritual Assembly of South Central Africa was formed with its seat in Salisbury had jurisdiction over the following countries: Northern Rhodesia, Malawi (formerly changed in 1964 from Nyasaland), Southern Rhodesia, and Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland; name changed in 1966). [BW14p96; BW15:195; BN no608 November 1981 p11]

This latter assembly, Spiritual Assembly of West Africa, Ivory Coast; Mali, and Upper Volta, had jurisdiction over the following countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Portuguese Guinea, and Cape Verde Islands. [BW14p96; BN No 393 Dec 1964 p2 ]

Pope John XXIII called the Council because he felt the Church needed "updating". In order to connect with 20th century people in an increasingly secularized world, some of the Church's practices needed to be improved, and its teaching needed to be presented in a way that would appear relevant and understandable to them.

Roman Catholic bishops at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) called for outlawing war by international consent and creating a universal public authority that would safeguard security, justice, and human rights. In their encyclicals, Pope John XXIII, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have stated that there is an urgent need for a true world political authority that would be regulated by law, observe the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, promote human development, manage globalization, and establish the common good. [Wikipedia; Black News 6FEB2022]

Reginald ("Rex") King, who had been elected secretary of the short-lived New Mexico "National Assembly", dissolved by Remey in 1964. Unhappy about Remey's resistance to his leadership role in the United States, King eventually went to Italy where Remey was living, and had an apparently acrimonious meeting with him. Following this encounter, on 13 September 1969 Remey issued a letter denouncing King: "his station to be ever and eternally that of Satan for evermore". King switched his allegiance to Marangella when the latter advanced his own claims two months later.

This relationship, however, also soon broke down. King decided that Marangella had made "a number of faulty 'interpretations' of the Writings" and declared that Marangella "had ceased to fulfill the requirements of the office of guardian". He argued, indeed, that "neither Mason Remey nor Joel Marangella had in truth ever been guardians … because of the lack of lineal descendancy" (i.e., from Bahá'u'lláh). What Remey had actually been, King said, was "a regent", and King came to the "realization" that he himself "was in actuality the Second Regent…." [Mason Remey and Those Who Followed Him]

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