- 1911-07-26 —
The First Universal Races Congress was held at the University of London. It was the first important conference in which the British Bahá'ís participated. It was an international symposium on the theme of the brotherhood of humankind and attracted leading politicians, theologians and scholars from the whole of the British Empire and from Europe as well as North America. During the Congress itself there were several presentations from Bahá'ís including the reading of a letter from 'Abdu'l-Bahá who was in Egypt at the time. [NBAD45]
- See 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Letter and here.
- See SoW Vol II No 9 for a report by Wellesley Tudor-Pole, an article by Thorton Chase as well as the letter from 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the conference. See as well Speech for the Universal Races Congress translation and comments by Senn McGlinn.
- A translation was published in "The Christian Commonwealth" on August 2, 1911.
- A bibliography of the presentations, papers and contributions and secondary literature by Ralph Dumain can be found here.
- A paper by Dr W. E. B. DuBois entitled The Negro Race in the United States of America (pp348-364)was also presented at this conference.
- Alain Locke attended. It may have been where he first heard of the Bahá'í faith. He credits this conference as his inspiration to begin the first of five historic lectures on race relation he delivered at Howard University in 1916. [Alain Locke: Faith & Philosophy p43 by Dr Chrisopher Buck]
- See the website of the National Centre for Race Amity.
- The long term goal of the National Center for Race Amity is to have a resolution adopted by both the House and the Senate to have the second Sunday in June declared as an annual Day of Observance in the United States, with the President issuing a Proclamation supporting the passage of the Race Amity Day Resolution.
- 1919-03-00 —
"Red Summer" is the period from late winter through early autumn of 1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots took place in more than three dozen cities across the United States, as well as in one rural county in Arkansas.
Some historians claim that the racial terror connected with "Red Summer" began as early as 1917 during the bloody massacre that occurred in East St. Louis, Illinois, a barbaric pogrom that would eventually set the stage for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst episodes of post-Civil War racial violence ever committed against Black Americans. The Tulsa Massacre left as many as 300 Black people dead and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of Greenwood, an all-Black community so wealthy, the philosopher Booker T. Washington called it "Negro Wall Street." [Red Summer: When Racists Mobs Ruled]
- See Wikipedia for a partial list of locations where such events took place in 1919 alone.
It was against this backdrop of racial tension and hatred that the Baha'i community promoted racial amity. [SYH125-126] - 1919-04-26 —
The 14 Tablets of the Divine Plan were unveiled in a dramatic ceremony at the Hotel McAlpin in New York, during the `Convention of the Covenant'. The Tablets had been brought to America by Ahmad Sohrab at the request of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [ABNYP172Note24, BBD219; PP437; SBBH1:134; SBBH2:135; SBR86; AB434; TDPXI]
- For details of the convention programme, Tablets and talks given see SW10, 4:54-72; SW10, 5:83-94; SW10, 6:99-103, 111-12 SW10, 7:122-7, 138; SW10, 10:197-203; and SW10, 12:2279.
- Mary Maxwell (Rúhíyyih Khánum) was among the young people who unveil the Tablets. [PP437]
- Hyde and Clara Dunn and Martha Root responded immediately to the appeal, the Dunns went to Australia where they open 700 towns to the Faith, and Martha Root embarked on the first of her journeys which are to extend over 20 years. [GPB308; MR88]
- See also CT138-9.
- Agnes Parsons arrived from her pilgrimage just before the close of the convention and was able to convey the instructions from `Abdu'l-Bahá to arrange a Convention for `the unity of the coloured and white races'. [BW5:413; SBR87]
- The book Unveiling of the Divine Plan includes nine talks given by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab to the National Convention.
- Shoghi Effendi calls the Tablets of the Divine Plan a charter for the propagation and the establishment of the Administrative Order. It has also been called a charter for the teaching of the Faith. [MBW84; LOG1628]
- For the significance of the Tablets of the Divine Plan see 'Abdu'l-Bahá
Champion of Universal Peace by Hoda Mahmoudi and Janet Khan.
- 1921-05-19 —
The first Race Amity Conference was held in Washington DC at the old First Congregational Church,
10th & G Streets NW. This church had a reputation for opposition to racial prejudice and had close ties with Howard University. It had a capacity of 2,000. [BW2:281; CoO197; SYH126]
Referring back to this historic event, Abdu'l-Baha, in a Tablet to Roy Williams (an African-American Baha'i from New York City), wrote:
I hope that the Congress of the White and the Colored that was instituted will have great influence in the inhabitants of America, so that everyone may confess and bring witness that the teachings of His Holiness, Baha'u'llah, assembles the White, the Black, the Yellow, the Red and the Brown under the shade of the pavilion of the Oneness of the World of Humanity; and that if the teachings of His Holiness, Baha'u'llah, be not enforced, the antagonism between the Colored and the White, in America, will give rise to great calamities. The ointment for this wound and the remedy for this disease is only the Holy Breaths [Holy Spirit]. If the hearts be attracted to the Heavenly Bounties, surely will the White and the Colored, in a short time, according to the teachings of Baha'u'llah, put away hatred and animosity and [abide in] perfect love and fellowship. (Haifa, August 2, 1921, translated by Touhi [Ruhi] M. Afnan.) [The Bahá'í "Pupil of the Eye" Metaphor—What Does it Mean? by Christopher Buck]
- Martha Root handled the newspaper publicity for the conference and 'Abdu'l-Bahá sent a message to it via Mountfort Mills. [SYH126]
- Mabry and Sadie Oglesby and their daughter Bertha from Boston as well as Agnes Parsons and Louis Gregory were involved. Agnes Parsons, during her pilgrimage in 1920, was instructed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "I want you to arrange in Washington a convention for unity between the white and colored people."[SETPE1p141-145, BW2p281]
- For details of the conference see the article by Louis Gregory entitled "Inter-racial Amity". [BW2:281-2]
- See article The Bahá'í 'Race Amity' Movement and the Black Intelligentsia in Jim Crow America:Alain Locke and Robert Abbot by Christopher Buck [Bahá'í Studies Review, 17, pages 3-46, 2011] (includes a chronology of 29 Race Amity conferences organized in the United States between 1921 and 1935).
- The Washington Bee
(which, as part of its masthead, billed itself "Washington's Best and Leading
Negro Newspaper") published the text of the entire speech on May 25, 1912,
in an article headlined, "Abdue [ sic] Baha: Revolution in Religious Worship."
- Documentary: 'Abdu'l-Baha's Initiative on Race from 1921: Race Amity Conferences.
- See the film Root of the Race Amiy Movement.
- See the trailer for the film An American Story: Race Amity and the Other Tradition.
- See the website for the National Centre for Race Amity.
- 1921-12-05 —
The second Convention for Amity between the White and Coloured Races was held in Springfield, Massachusetts. [BW2:282; SBR92; SYH113-114, 126]
- Over a thousand people attended. [SW13, 3:51]
- For a report of the convention see SW13, 3:51-5, 601.
- For a photograph see SW13, 3:50.
- 1924-03-28 — A public conference devoted to Inter-racial Harmony and Peace, the third Race Amity Convention, was held at the public auditorium of the Community Church of NY on Park Avenue at 34th Street and at the Meeting House of the Society for Ethical Culture at 2 West 64th Street. Its organization was a collaborative effort with the NAACP, the National Urban League and the Bahá'í community participating. Presenters included Mr. Mountfort Mills, Mr. Franz Boas, Dr. Loro, Taracknath Das, Mr. Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Alain Locke, Mr. James Weldon Johnson, Ms. Ruth Morgan and Mr. John Finley. It was the third Racial Unity conference to be held. [Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá'í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p23; BW2:282-3; SBR93; TMW1467; SYH126]
- 1927-01-08 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada appointed seven people to a National Race Unity Committee. [SBR94; TMW166]
- For the functions and challenges faced by the committee see TMW165–72.
- 1927-04-08 —
The second conference for racial amity in Washington was held at the Mt Pleasant Congregational Church with the cooperation and participation of other like-minded groups and persons. [BW2p284]
- Members of the Race Amity committee were Louis Gregory; Agnes Parsons, Sia Baghdad, Alain Locke and Pauline Hannen. [SYH146]
- Other conferences were held inNew York state, in Portsmouth, NewHampshire, with monthly amity meetings in Boston and a second one in Washington in November. [SYH146]
- 1927-11-10 — The third convention for amity in inter-racial relations in Washington was held in the Mt. Pleasant Congregational Church. [BW2p285; SYH146]
- 1928-01-20 — The Chicago community held its first Race Amity Conference. Louis Gregory was a speaker at that gathering. [SYH147]
- 1928-02-11 —
The 'Conference for Inter-Racial Amity' was arranged by Inter-Racial Amity Committee of the Bahá'ís of Montreal'. There were three sessions in three venues: the YMCA, Channing Hall, and the Union Congregational Church. Speakers included Louis Gregory ('International Lecturer on Race Relations') and Agnes MacPhail, first Canadian woman Member of Parliament. [The Bahá'í 'Race Amity' Movement and the Black Intelligentsia in Jim Crow America: Alain Locke and Robert Abbot by Christopher Buck page 34, Bahá'í Studies Review, 17, pages 3-46, 2011, BW7p660]
- See BW6p659-664 for the essay by Louis Gregory entitled "Racial Likenesses and Differences: The Scientific Evidence and the Bahá'í Teachings".
- Date conflict: "The Origins of the Bahá'í Community of Canada, 1898-1948 by Will C. van den Hoonaard on page 90 says: "and on 2-4 March 1930 The Montreal Bahá'ís held Race Amity meeting." His source was the National Bahá'í Archives Canada, Notes on Montreal Bahá'í History.
- SYH147 confirms the conference in Montréal was in "mid-February".
- 1932-02-27 — Race Amity gatherings became an effective way promote the principle of racial equality. A number pf banquets were held and at one such gathering held in Los Angeles, the circle of racial amity activities was widened to include not only white and coloured but also Native Americans, as well as Chinese and Japanese. At the banquet dinner, Nellie French represented the National Assembly and Chief Luther Standing Bear, who attended in full regalia with a number of his tribesmen, offered a prayer and spoke of peace as a covenant among all races. A Native American tribal dance followed as part of the programme. [Louis Gregory, 'Racial Amity in America: An Historical Review', in BW7p652-666.]
- 1936-07-00 —
- 1954-06-09 —
The passing of Alain LeRoy Locke (b. September 13, 1885, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.) in New York. He was laid to rest in Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC.
- Locke graduated from Harvard University and was the first African American to win a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship (1907). Despite his intellect and clear talent, Locke faced significant barriers as an African American. In spite of the fact that he had been selected as the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, Locke was denied admission to several colleges at the University of Oxford because of his race. He finally gained entry into Hertford College, where he studied from 1907 to 1910. Locke also studied philosophy at the University of Berlin during his years abroad. He subsequently received a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard and taught at Howard University.
- Locke declared his belief in the Bahá'í Faith in 1918. He is thus among a list of some 40 known African Americans to join the religion during the ministry of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
- In 1925 he published The New Negro: An Interpretation of Negro Life. It was an anthology showcasing African American artists and is generally considered a seminal moment in the founding of the Harlem Renaissance and he became known as the "Dean of the Harlem Renaissance" which sought to advance African Americans through race relations, the arts, and social thought, leaving behind European and white American styles and celebrating the black experience.
- See Alain Locke: Four Talks Redefining Democracy, Education, and World Citizenship edited and introduced by Christoper Buck and Betty J Fisher in World Order Vol 38 No3 p21-41. [Uplifting Words; Wikipedia]
[Uplifting Words; Wikipedia]
- See his article "Impressions of Haifa". [BW3p527-528]
- See also his article "The Orientation of Hope". [BW5p527-528]
- See Alain Locke: Bahá'í Philosopher by Christopher Buck.
- See Alain Locke: Faith & Philosophy by Christopher Buck
- See the review by Derik Smith in World Order Vol 38 No3 p42-48.
- See Bahá'í Chronicles.
- See Bahá'í Teachings.
- See Uplifting Words.
- The Bahá'í Faith and African American History: Creating Racial and Religious Diversity, Chapter 3: "Alain Locke on Race, Religion, and the Bahá'í Faith" by Christopher Buck.
- The US Postal Service issued a series of stamps entitles Great Literary Movement: The voices of the Harlem Renaissance Forever on 21 May 2020.
- Find a grave.
- 1962-07-20 —
The passing of Harlan Foster Ober (b. October 6, 1881 in Beverly, Massachusetts) in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
- He had graduated from Harvard University in 1905 with a B.A. and later obtained a law degree from Northeastern University in Boston.
- Harlan Ober became a Bahá'í at Green Acre in 1905. Another source said it was in the spring of 1906 in a room in the Commonwealth Hotel in Boston that he overcame his doubts while using a prayer and other literature given to him by Lua Getsinger. [LDNW23; 100-101; SBR120-121]
- Hooper Harris and Lua Getsinger's brother, Dr. William Moore, were selected to make a teaching trip to India. When Moore died suddenly Harlan Ober was chosen to replace him. As he had no funds for the trip Lua borrowed the money from Mr Hervey Lunt, the father of Alfred Lunt. [LGHC105]
- In 1906 he made a visit to 'Abdu'l-Bahá while He was still confined to prison.
- On the 17th of July, 1912 he married Grace Roberts (aunt of future Hand of the Cause John Robarts) in a ceremony conducted by the Reverend Howard Colby Ives at 209 West 78th Street in New York. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited America in 1912 He had suggested that Grace Robarts and Harlan marry, and they both agreed with the match, with Harlan travelling to New York from Boston and proposing in Central Park after being informed of the suggestion by Lua Getsinger. 'Abdu'l-Bahá performed the marriage ceremony in the room he was staying in in New York on July 17, 1912, and Howard Colby Ives later performed a legal ceremony. [SoW Vol 3 No 12 p14; Bahaipedia; The Jouney West, July 2012; Mother's Stories: Stories of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Early Believers told by Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall to her son, p. 20]
- They adopted three children of English, German and Russian background.
- It was from their home in Cambridge, MA, from the office of the National Teaching Committee, that the first Teaching Bulletin was issued on November 19, 1919. This bulletin evolved to the US Baha'i News.
- He was closely involved with Race Unity work and made many teaching trips to the southern states with his friend Louis Gregory.
- He served on the Bahá'í Temple Unity Executive Board as president or secretary from 1918 to 1920. The work of this board was taken over by the National Spiritual Assembly when it was elected in 1922.
- In 1938 Harlan was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada and he served on it until 1941.
- Grace passed away in 1938, leaving Harlan widowed.
- He married his second wife, Dr Elizabeth Kidder Ober in Beverly, MA on the 21st of June, 1941. Shoghi Effendi was pleased with the way the marriage was conducted, without having any church ceremony or minister conduct the service. [BW13p869, 871]
- After their pilgrimage in 1956 Harlan and Elizabeth Ober travelled to South Africa where they helped form the first all-African Local Spiritual Assembly in Pretoria as had previously been request of them by the Guardian. They returned in December as pioneers. [BW13869]
- He was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for Protection in Africa in October of 1957 and served on the National Teaching Committee of South and West Africa for two years.
- He was buried in the Zandfontein Cemetery in Pretoria. [BW13p870; Find a grave;
Bahaipedia; BW13p869]
- 1993-03-21 — The presentation of the first Race Unity Award by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada.
- 2018-04-12 —
The premiere of the documentary film, An American Story: Race Amity and The Other Tradition in a television broadcast on station WBGH, channel 2 in Boston, MA. [Trailer]
- From the film website...."The primary purpose of the documentary project, An American Story: Race Amity and The Other Tradition, is to impact the public discourse on race. To move the discourse from the "blame/grievance/rejection" cycle to a view from a different lens, the lens of "amity/collaboration/access and equity."
- 2020-06-19 —
|
Site Map
