Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Baha'is in North America, 1898-2000

Historical Portraits of Black Bahá’ís in North America: 1898–2000 edited by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis and Richard Thomas

WILMETTE, ILLINOIS

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Bahá’í Publishing 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091-2844 Copyright © 2006 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America All rights reserved. Published 2006 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ∞ 09 08 07 06

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Chapter 2 contains “The Pupil of the Eye: African-Americans and the Making of the American Bahá’í Community,” to be published in Gayle Tate and Lewis Randolph, The Black Urban Community: from Dusk Till Dawn (New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2006), reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lights of the spirit : historical portraits of Black Bahá’ís in North America, 1898– 2000 / edited by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis and Richard Thomas.—New ed. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-931847-26-1 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-931847-26-6 (alk. paper) 1. African American Bahais—History. I. Etter-Lewis, Gwendolyn. II. Thomas, Richard Walter, 1939– BP350.L54 2006 297.9’308996073—dc22 2005057117 Cover photo key, clockwise, starting from left: Sadie Oglesby, Alain Locke, Dorothy Champ, Coralie Franklin Cook and George William Cook, Dizzy Gillespie, participants at the second Bahá’í race amity convention in America, December 1921, Elsie Austin, Louis Gregory; center: Robert Turner Cover design by Robert A. Reddy Book design by Patrick Falso

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Bahá’u’lláh once compared the colored people to the Black pupil of the eye surrounded by the white.

In this black pupil you see the re·ection of that which is before it, and through it the light of the spirit shineth forth.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

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Contents Preface ............................................................................................. ix Acknowledgments .......................................................................... xiii PART I — THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE NORTH AMERICAN BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY

Introduction .....................................................................................3 1

Introduction to the Bahá’í Faith ................................................5

by Richard Thomas

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The “Pupil of the Eye”: African-Americans and the Making of the American Bahá’í Community .......................... 19

by Richard Thomas

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Radiant Lights: African-American Women and the Advancement of the Bahá’í Faith in the U.S. ......................... 49

by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis

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Race, Gender and Di²erence: African-American Women and the Struggle for Equality ................................................. 69

by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis

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Spreading the Divine Fragrances: African-American Bahá’ís in the Global Expansion of the Bahá’í Faith, 1937–63 .................................................. 95

by Richard Thomas

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Unrestrained as the Wind: African-American Women Answer the Call .......................... 121

by Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis

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Black Roses in Canada’s Mosaic: Four Decades of Black History ............................................. 143

by Will C. van den Hoonaard and Lynn Echevarria vii

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CONTENTS PART II — CREATIVE AND SOCIAL COMMENTARIES

Introduction ................................................................................. 167 8

The Bahá’í Faith and Problems of Color, Class, and Creed .. 169

by Elsie Austin

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Racial Amity in America: An Historical Review .................... 175

by Louis Gregory

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Social Basis of World Unity ................................................. 203

by Elsie Austin

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Racial Amity ........................................................................ 209

by Louis Gregory

12 A Slave for Life: A Story of the Long Ago ............................. 217

by Coralie Franklin Cook 13 The Negro as a World Citizen .............................................. 229

by John B. Shaw 14 Votes for Mothers ................................................................. 235

by Coralie Franklin Cook LETTERS

15 Letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás ............................................... 237

by Coralie Franklin Cook 16 The Spiritual Heritage of African-Americans ....................... 245

by Bonnie Fitzpatrick Moore FAMILY HISTORIES

17 Heroines of the Faith ............................................................ 251

by Zylpha Mapp Robinson 18 Sadie Rebecca Johnson Ellis ................................................. 265

by Adrienne Reeves 19 Arrival in Haifa, March 11, 1927 ......................................... 277

by Sadie Oglesby 20 Mary Brown Martin: 1877–1939 .......................................... 283

by Lydia Jane Martin Notes ........................................................................................... 289 Bibliography ................................................................................. 315 Index ............................................................................................ 323

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I The Black Experience in the North American Bahá’í Community

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The “Pupil of the Eye”: African-Americans and the Making of the American Bahá’í Community Richard Thomas

The Black “Pupil of the Eye”: The Foundational Bahá’í Teaching of the Spiritual Qualities of Blacks When Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed his prophethood and declared his mission in Baghdad during the spring of 1863, President Lincoln had already set free over three-fourths of the slaves in the United States.1 Before Bahá’u’lláh’s death in 1892, however, these newly freed slaves were well on their way to losing much of their freedom due to what historians John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., call “the Triumph of White Supremacy” in the South.2 The partitioning of Africa among the European powers during the Berlin Conference of 1884–5 contributed to the further 19

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globalization of White supremacy over Africans and people of African descent.3 Notwithstanding the growing in·uence of the ideology of White supremacy in the United States, Europe, and colonial Africa, with its emphasis upon the inferiority of Blacks,4 the prophet founder of the Bahá’í Faith “compared the colored people to the black pupil of the eye surrounded by the White. In this black pupil, he declared, is seen the re·ection of that which is before it, and through it the light of the spirit shineth forth.”5 This spiritual description of “colored people,” later to be applied mainly to people of African descent, soon became the cornerstone of Bahá’í teachings on the spiritual qualities of Black people and their historical role in the growth and expansion of the Bahá’í Faith.

The association of people of African descent with the “pupil of the eye” has had far-reaching positive implications for Black Bahá’ís throughout the diaspora. Along with other Bahá’í teachings, this image of them as the pupil of the eye greatly enhanced their sense of racial pride and connection to a worldwide religious movement dedicated to the uni³cation of all races, nations, and religions. It also challenged racist images and stereotypes of Black people and encouraged a radical reevaluation and transformation of traditional White racial thinking within the Bahá’í community. For example, in the second edition of her book, The Pupil of the Eye: African Americans in the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, Bonnie J. Taylor, a White Bahá’í, thanked Drs. May Khadem Czerniejewski and Rick Czerniejewski, Persian-American and PolishAmerican Bahá’ís, respectively, “who lovingly prepared the beautiful description of the pupil of the eye that is included in this book.” The following description is a testimony to the in·uence that this speci³c teaching has had on the “racial” thinking of non-Black Bahá’ís.

The pupil of the eye is a portal which admits and regulates the ·ow of light to the retina. Without this passage, no images are perceived. At the retina, our consciousness is intimately in contact

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THE “PUPIL OF THE EYE”

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with physical reality, for the brain’s cells themselves ·ow out to the retina to receive information through the illumination modulated by the pupil.

The pupil has the dual function of light gathering and modulation. Light, which unites all colors and is composed of all colors, illumines physical reality, but at the same time its intensity can destroy the delicate structures of the eye. When light levels are high, it constricts to protect the retina from intense and even damaging exposure. Since sight is often described as our most precious sensory ability, we can say that the pupil helps to protect this most precious gift. On the other hand, when there is very little light the pupil admits more light through dilating, thus permitting sight even in very dark places.

The black appearance of the pupil is deceptive. The pupil appears black only until the inside of the eye is illumined. Than it becomes radiant, ³lled with a warm, reddish-orange glow. With this re·ection from the inside of the eye, the pupil itself become a source of illumination.

The most remarkable quality of the pupil is that despite its vital service, it is the embodiment of “the hollow reed from which the pith of self hath been blown,” for it is the absence of physical structure that permits it to facilitate the harmonious functioning of all the other components of the eye that make sight possible.6 This description of “the pupil of the eye” by two non-Black Bahá’ís, one an opthalmologist, is their way of exploring the physical or material meaning of the term, and in so doing, enhancing its spiritual signi³cance.

By exploring the physical characteristics of the eye, they opened up new ways of seeing and appreciating “blackness” in a society where it has always had a negative connotation.

The spiritual leaders of the Bahá’í Faith often referred to the “pupil of the eye” when discussing or addressing Blacks. For example, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s son and leader of the Bahá’í community from 1892 until

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1921, wrote in a letter to the prominent African-American Bahá’í Louis G. Gregory: “O thou who hast an illuminated heart! Thou art even as the pupil of the eye, the very wellspring of the light, for God’s love hath cast its rays upon thine innermost being and thou hast turned thy face toward the Kingdom of the Lord.”7 After receiving a photograph of Robert Turner, the ³rst AfricanAmerican Bahá’í, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá responded with loving praise for both his racial traits and spiritual qualities.

O thou who are pure in heart, sancti³ed in spirit, peerless in character, beauteous in face! Thy photograph hath been received revealing thy physical frame in the utmost grace and best appearance.

Thou are dark in countenance and bright in character. Thou are like unto the pupil of the eye which is dark in color, yet it is the fount of light and the revealer of the contingent world.8 Imagine, if you will, being an African-American during the ³rst decade of the twentieth century, when White supremacist ideas and White images of Black inferiority permeated American culture, and receiving such praise for your race and your character from the spiritual leader of your religion. “I have not forgotten nor will I forget thee,” ‘Abdul-Bahá wrote to Gregory, “I beseech God that He may graciously make thee the sign of His bounty amidst mankind, illumine thy face with the light of such blessings as are vouchsafed by the merciful Lord, single thee out for His love in this age which is distinguished among all the past ages and centuries.”9 Rú¥íyyih Khánum, the widow of the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, Shoghi E²endi, wrote in 1961: When Bahá’u’lláh likens the Negro race to the faculty of sight in the human body—the act of perception with all it implies—it is a pretty terri³c statement. He never said this of anyone else. . . .

I thought the American Negro’s humility, his kindness, friendliness, courtesy and hospitableness were something to do with his oppression and the background of slavery. But after spending weeks,

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Radiant Lights: African-American Women and the Advancement of the Bahá’í Faith in the U.S. Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis Social conditions in the U.S. during the 1890s contrasted sharply with the Bahá’í Faith’s emphasis on unity.1 Unchecked practices of blatant discrimination e²ectively marginalized women and people of color, and targeted them for maltreatment. While most African-American women turned to the church for solace, some, like Olive Jackson, pursued other avenues of religious engagement. Olive became a Bahá’í in or around 1899, the ³rst African-American woman to become a Bahá’í. This is not insigni³cant, since Black churches o²ered “a theology of liberation, selfdetermination, and black autonomy.”2 Ms. Jackson’s enrollment marked the beginning of the ³rst generation of African-American women Bahá’ís.

In pursuit of sanctuary from a hostile social climate as well as equal participation in religious worship, African-American women began to enter the ranks of the Bahá’í community.

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