One of the men, William Hoar, had been present at the reading of the paper by Henry Jessop at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1892. Shortly after he began study of the Faith with Ibrahim Khayru'llah. Later Hoar moved to New York where he continued study with Anton Haddad. Haddad had learned of the Faith in Egypt from Haji 'Abu'l-Karim-i-Tihrani. [WMSH59]

Only days after the election of the Chicago House of Justice, a Ladies' Auxilliary Board was organized at the suggestion of Mrs. Ella Nash and Mrs. Corinne True. This Board was later to be known as the Women's Assembly of Teaching. It appears that the Ladies' Auxilliary was able to maintain control of the funds of the Chicago Bahá'í community despite the election of the House of Justice.[The Service of Women on the Institutions of the Baha'i Faith]

The Day of the Covenant is a Bahá'í holy day honouring the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, in particular, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the “Centre of the Covenant" and as such, the successor, the interpreter and the exemplar of the Bahá'í Faith. Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant also provided for the extension of this covenant to the Guardian and to the Universal House of Justice.
The first celebration of the Day of the Covenant in North America was marked on this day in Chicago. It was sponsored by "The Chicago House of Justice" and the "Women's Assembly of Teaching". It was attended by both Mírzá Assad'ullah and Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl. It can be presumed that they had educated the community in the commemoration of this Holy Day. [BFA2p56-57]

'Abdul'-Bahá and His party embarked from Alexandria on the White Star Line Liner RMS Cedric for New York via Naples. They departed Naples on the 30th of March and made a call at Gibraltar. Three of His party were forced to leave the ship for supposed "medical' reasons. Among them was His grandson, Shoghi Effendi. [AB171; GPB281; ABF274; ABTM50-52; SYH50-51]

As the ship that finally brought "‘Abdu'l-Bahá to the shores of the American continent passed by the Statue of Liberty, He threw His arms wide open in greeting, saying ”There is the new world’s symbol of liberty and freedom. After being 40 years a prisoner I can tell you that freedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition. Unless one accept dire vicissitudes he will not attain. When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed a release.” [‘Abdu'l-Bahá in Their Midst p.56; SYH54]

• To recapitulate His talk, `Abdu’l-Bahá emphasized the personal sacrifice of Northern whites for southern blacks in the course of the Civil War, and that African Americans (as the descendants of emancipated slaves) should therefore be grateful to whites in kind. In so saying, `Abdu’l-Bahá invoked history (or a certain view of it) in order to make history—by completing the unfinished work of the Emancipation Proclamation. ['Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 Howard University Speech: A Civil War Myth for Interracial Emancipation by Dr Christopher Buck p134]
• See as well TMTW51.

Talk at Reception at Metropolitan Temple, Seventh Avenue and Fourteenth Street, New York. [PUP150]

Mahmud has dated this visit to the Krug home at 14 July. [MD169-170]

Having heard that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was in Los Angeles, Mabel Rice-Wray took children Edris and Colston to the hotel where the Master was staying. They spent over an hour with 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His room. Both Edris and Colston sat on 'Abdu'l-Bahá's knee and were given cookies. Some years later, in response to a letter from their mother, 'Abdu'l-Bahá bestowed the name Rawshan ("brilliance") on Edris, and Ruqi on Colston, and revealed in their honour the well-known prayer for children that begins: "O my Lord! O my Lord! I am a child of tender years. Nourish me from the breast of Thy mercy ... " [Find a grave Edris Rawshan Wray]

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]

It was Joseph Hannen who served as a note-taker for many of the talks of 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His tour in the United States. A number of the entries in Promulgation of Universal Peace have been accredited to him. [The Washington Times 28 January, 1928]

‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent the first Tablet of the Divine Plan to the southern states in care of Joseph. He and his wife Pauline taught the Faith to African Americans; among those they taught were Louis Gregory and Mrs. Pocahontas Pope. [Bahá'í Chronicles, Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy pp 38-39 by Christopher Buck, Kalimat Press]

He was buried with his wife, Pauline Amalie Knobloch Hannen (b. 29 August, 1874 d. 4 October, 1939) in Prospect Hill Cemetery, in Washington, DC. iiiii

He visited the following cities: Oberlin, OH; Cleveland, OH; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MH; St Paul, MN; Duluth, MN; Lincoln, NE; Omaha, NE; Denver, CO; Pueblo, CO; Salt Lake City, UT; Butte, MT; Helena, MT; Spokane, WA; Seattle, WA; Vancouver, BC; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Berkley, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Oklahoma City, OK; Tulsa, OK; Topeka, KS; Kansas City, MO; St Louis, MO; Springfield, IL; Urbana, IL

The first session was attended by some 600 people, and, thanks to the excellent press coverage, 900 were present the second day.

The following day, on the 24th of October, the Bahá'í supported a Conference on Inter-racial Justice organized by the Quakers. Followup meetings were held on the 25th and the 26th of October. [SYD147-149]

A Bahá'í named Inez Greeven went on a prilgrimage. When she returned home she asked permission for two of her friends to go to Haifa and have the bounty of meeting the Master. The friends went and returned, apparently unaffected by the experience. In 1920, during her second pilgrimage, she asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá why her friends had not become Bahá'ís. This was His answer:

“At the gate of the garden, some stand and look within, but do not care to enter. Others step inside, behold its beauty, but do not penetrate far. Still others encircle this garden, inhaling the fragrance of the flowers; and having enjoyed its full beauty, pass out again by the same gate. But there are always some who enter, and becoming intoxicated with the splendour of what they behold, remain for life to tend the garden." [Bahá'í Stories; The Garden of the Heart p14]

"Both the local and National Assembly on several occasions attempted, through oral and written communications, to bring about full and frank consultation with the leaders of the New History Society, but without success.

"Under these conditions it becomes the obvious responsibility of the National Spiritual Assembly to inform the friends that activities conducted by Ahmad Sohrab through the New History Society are to be considered as entirely independent of the Cause, as outside the jurisdiction of the local and National Assembly, and hence in no wise entitled to the cooperation of Bahá'ís."

This statement also quoted from a letter written on behalf of the Guardian by his Secretary to the National Spiritual Assembly on May 30, 1930: "To accept the Cause without the administration is like accepting the teachings without acknowledging the divine station of Bahá’u’lláh. To be a Bahá'í is to accept the Cause in its entirety...." "The administration is the social order of Bahá'u'lláh. Without it all the principles of the Cause will remain abortive. To take exception to this, therefore, is to take exception to the fabric that Bahá'u'lláh has prescribed, it is to disobey His law." [Ahmad Sohrab and the New History Society]

He, like Sutherland Maxwell and Mason Remey, had studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. These three and four others submitted designs for the Wilmette Temple for consideration. Other buildings designed by Louis Bourgeois include the Chicago Tribune Building, Evergreen Cabin in Englewood NJ where 'Abdu'l-Bahá hosted a Unity Feast, the Savoy Hotel in Chicago.

He became a Bahá'í in New York sometime during the winter of 1906. In April of 1909 the National Spiritual Assembly called for design proposals for the first Bahá'í Hours of Worship in the West and he submitted is design proposal in October. It was finally accepted at the National Convention in 1920. [DP76-100]

Further, in a letter from Haifa to the Yonkers Assembly, “The Guardian pointed out the difference between the freedom defined by Bahá'u'lláh ("To have liberty is to observe My commandments") and that advocated by Sohrab ("The other kind of freedom which is in defiance of law He (Bahá'u'lláh) considers to be animal, and far from being of any good to man"). [Ahmad Sohrab and the New History Society]

"As token my gratitude to such community entrusted beloved co-worker Mrs. Collins locks Bahá’u’lláh’s most precious hair arranged preserved by loving hands Greatest Holy Leaf to rest beneath dome of Temple nobly raised by dearly beloved believers in American continent." [BN Issue 116 June 1938 p1]

"This is the Tablet read by Mrs. Thomas (Amelia) Collins in presenting at the Convention the Guardian's gift of locks of Bahá'u'lláh's Hair. The Tablet is shared with the believers with the Guardian's permission." [BN Issue 121 December 1938 p11] Though the translation had been approved by Shoghi Effendi, it was more recently (2001) sent to the Bahá'í World Center to verify its authenticity. The translation given here is an authorized translation from the BWC, approved for distribution. Translator not identified.

The inability, under restrictions imposed by the war, to hold Convention sessions this year challenged the National Spiritual Assembly to maintain the important functions of the annual meeting through other means. Steps were therefore taken to provide for Voting by mail, with a committee of tellers to serve in the customary way, to conduct a public meeting or Bahá’í Congress in Foundation Hall during the Riḍván Period, and to provide the delegates with subjects for written suggestions and views. [BN No 174 April-May 145 p2]

...the Bahá'ís should continue to apply, under all circumstances, for exemption from any military duty that necessitates the taking of life. There is no justification for any change of attitude on our part at the present time.

The Universal House of Justice amplified this later statement:

There is no objection in a Bahá'í enlisting voluntarily in the armed forces of a country in order to obtain a training in some trade or profession, provided that he can do so without making himself liable to undertake combatant service. [BW17:384–5]

The five-fold purpose of the International Conferences was:

1. offering humble thanksgiving to the Divine Author of our Faith, Who has graciously enabled His followers, during a period of deepening anxiety and amidst the confusion and uncertainties of a critical phase in the fortunes of mankind,
2. to prosecute uninterruptedly the Ten-Year Plan formulated for the execution of the Grand Design conceived by 'Abdu'l-Bahá,
3. of reviewing and celebrating the series of signal victories won so rapidly in the course of each of the campaigns of this world-encircling Crusade,
4. of deliberating on ways and means that will insure its triumphant consummation,
5. and of lending simultaneously a powerful impetus, the world over, to the vital process of individual conversion -the preeminent purpose underlying the Plan in all its ramifications - and to the construction and completion of the three Mother Temples to be built in the European, the African, and Australian continents. [CBN No 94 Nov 1957 p1]

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]

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.

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]

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]

It was first published in 1924 in Farsi when the Persian transcripts that had been corrected by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá were compiled into a single volume.