Black Baha’i History & Race Amity articles

Alain Locke   articles about and by Alain Locke

Universal Emancipation Proclamation series of articles by Christopher Buck – Early Black Baha’i in America – over 70 articles

Abdu’l-Baha’s Radical Approach to Race Unity JONATHAN MENON | JUN 15, 2020

Seeing Race through Abdu’l-Baha’s Eyes JAMAR M. WHEELER | NOV 8, 2020

Celebrating the Birth of Robert Turner, America’s First Black Baha’i DAVID LANGNESS | OCT 14, 2020

The Ride: Black and White Unity in the Jim Crow South JANET RUHE-SCHOEN | OCT 23, 2020 – PART 1 IN SERIES THE WISDOM OF LOUIS GREGORY

The Mandate of Justice: Woke a Hundred Years Ago JANET RUHE-SCHOEN | SEP 23, 2020 – PART 1 IN SERIES THE WISDOM OF LOUIS GREGORY FIGHTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

A New Sociology of Race for America JANET RUHE-SCHOEN | SEP 28, 2020 – PART 2 IN SERIES THE WISDOM OF LOUIS GREGORY FIGHTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

Who is Robert Hayden? America’s First Black Poet Laureate SHADI TOLOUI-WALLACE | JUL 15, 2020 – PART 8 IN SERIES UPLIFTING THE WORLD OF BEING

5 Inspirational Baha’i Women in American History (Dr. H. Elsie Austin/Lua Getsinger/Mary Brown Martin/Patricia Locke/Zylpha Odysell Johnson-Mapp) RADIANCE TALLEY | MAR 31, 2020

The Joy of Blackness, the Ecstasy of Oneness MASUD OLUFANI | APR 2, 2019

How We Started Our Race Unity Symposium DALE FOWLER | AUG 25, 2018 – PART 1 IN SERIES LOUIS GREGORY: RACE AMITY AND INSPIRATION

Louis Gregory: He Gave Up Everything to Work for Race Amity JANET RUHE-SCHOEN | JAN 15, 2018 – PART 1 IN SERIES THE MANDATE OF JUSTICE

Dizzy Gillespie Encounters the Baha’i Faith BAHA’I WORLD NEWS SERVICE | OCT 25, 2017

Louis Gregory: African-American Attorney and Emancipator JAINE TOTH | MAY 20, 2017

Dizzy Gillespie, Music, and the Baha’i Faith JENNIFER CAMPBELL | NOV 5, 2016

Alain Locke: African American Icon JAINE TOTH | DEC 9, 2015 – PART 1 IN SERIES THE INTELLECTUAL GIANT OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

A Black Baha’i Appeals to the Supreme Court (Heman Sweatt) BAHA’I WORLD NEWS SERVICE | AUG 1, 2014

Interracial Marriage: Stories of Integration and Activism RADIANCE TALLEY | OCT 30, 2019 – PART 2 IN SERIES INTERRACIAL LOVE STORIES

SADIE OGLESBY 1927 CONVENTION ADDRESS  In 1927, Sadie Oglesby was the third person of African descent to make a pilgrimage to the Baha’i holy places in what is now Israel. Shoghi Effendi (the Head of the Baha’i Faith at that time) encouraged her to “be urgent and insistent”—a leader in facing what he would later call “the most vital and challenging issue” (racial prejudice) in America. Sadie served as an elected member of its Spiritual Assembly, or governing council in Boston. 

Shining Lamp: Coralie Franklin Cook: 1861–1942 Coralie and George learned about the Bahá’í Faith, and they soon began hosting Bahá’í meetings on campus. When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the leader of the Faith, spoke at Howard in 1912, the Cooks helped to organize the event…In 1914, Coralie wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and described the crisis of racism in America. She wrote, “Race relationship … is in a deplorable condition.” She called on her fellow Bahá’ís to “stand by the teachings though it requires superhuman courage …” In 1898, she married George William Cook, a dean and professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Coralie joined the Howard faculty and became the Chair of Oratory.

How a Letter to America Raised the Call for Divine Justice (Coralie Franklin Cook) VAHID HOUSTON RANJBAR | OCT 27, 2020 BahaiTeahcings.org

Coralie F. Cook’s letter to ‘Abdu’l-Baha

African American Oral History Project Coralie Franklin Cook College teacher * Public speaker *School board member | She is also the first known descendant among those enslaved at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate to graduate from college. (Contains a powerful quote from one of her speeches.)

Gifted Colored Woman Coralie Franklin Cook to Speak in this City Thursday Night Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Monday, December 8, 1902

David Kellum: A Friend To Every Child The Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, which still takes place annually in Chicago, was started  by Bahá’ís Robert Abbott and David Kellum in conjunction with the Chicago Defender. David Kellum was a long-time member of the Chicago Bahá’í community, an editor at the Chicago Defender, and a civil rights leader dedicated to inspiring young people and improving relations between the races.

Dr. George Washington Carver: Inventor and Baha’i Advocate  “I am so happy to know that the Christ-like Gospel of good will is growing throughout the world. You hold in your organization [the Baha’i Faith] the key that will settle all of our difficulties, real and imaginary. I was with you in spirit. May God bless, keep and prosper you.”