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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
Washington, D.C., USA
28 stories took place here — most often featuring 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Agnes Parsons and Louis Gregory.
Washington, D.C. (today: Washington, D.C., USA)
In Washington in April 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, though weary, was so moved by the love between Black and white friends at the Dyers’ home that He spoke, likening their union to a string of pearls and rubies.
Throughout His travels ‘Abdu’l-Bahá paid His own costs and declined offers of money; in Washington He asked Mrs Parsons to give her gift to the poor instead.
During 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to segregated Washington, D.C., He shocked white socialites by insisting that Louis Gregory, an African-American Bahá'í and lawyer, be seated next to Him at a society luncheon, and He asked the Bahá'ís to hold integrated meetings.
Born in Charleston to formerly enslaved parents, Louis G. Gregory became a Bahá'í in 1909, was seated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá at His right in Washington, gave decades to teaching and race unity, and was posthumously named a Hand of the Cause.
Ali-Kuli Khan, Persia’s representative in Washington, longed for a prayer to say in moments of sudden need. On the drive from the station, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told him how, as a boy, He had cried “Yá Allah el Mustaghas!” all night before Bahá’u’lláh returned to Baghdad.
Agnes Parsons, in whose Washington home ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stayed in April 1912, recorded His gifts to her family: an ink well for her son, an illuminated manuscript for her husband, and a pair of glasses for her.
On the evening of April 21, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá toured the Library of Congress with the Parsons and insisted on seeing each part thoroughly, until the superintendent ordered that the lights be left on.
During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s stay at the Parsons home in Washington in April 1912, the household was called together for His short talk and blessing, and He gave each servant a silk handkerchief.
On 23 April 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed the more than 1,000 students of Howard University, with the faculty and many guests. Joseph Hannen recorded the audience’s breathless attention and the ovation that followed.
At a Washington reception in April 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá congratulated Admiral Peary on reaching the North Pole and gently observed that, having found nothing there, he had relieved the public mind. Juliet Thompson recorded the scene.
On April 23, 1912, at a Washington luncheon given in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's honor by Ali-Kuli Khan, the Master asked for Louis Gregory, who had not been invited, and gave him the seat of honor at His right.
The Haneys' baby, the future Hand of the Cause Paul Haney, had screamed on seeing 'Abdu'l-Bahá. When Agnes Parsons told the Master she thought the child had been conscious of more than the adults were, He replied, "You have much insight."
At a luncheon in segregated Washington, D.C., 'Abdu'l-Bahá sent for Louis Gregory, who had not been invited, gave him the seat of honor at His right, and spoke on the oneness of mankind.
When Agnes Parsons asked whether the spirit could heal even broken bones, 'Abdu'l-Bahá laughed that all the spirits in the air could not create a salad, yet the spirit of man can do far greater things.
When Agnes Parsons made her pilgrimage in 1920, 'Abdu'l-Bahá asked her to arrange a convention in Washington for amity between the white and colored races. It met in May 1921, and Mountfort Mills read a message from the Master to it.
At 'Abdu'l-Bahá's instruction, Agnes Parsons organized a convention for amity between the white and colored races, held in Washington in May 1921. There Mountfort Mills read the Master's message to the gathering.
Agnes Parsons told ‘Abdu’l-Bahá she had tried not to dwell on her late mother, and He said she had done right, for the spirit of the departed rejoices in the joy of the loved one.
On a twelve-hour train journey from Pittsburgh to Washington in May 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's companions begged Him to take a special compartment or a berth, but He refused.
Pauline Hannen once feared Black people, but studying Bahá'u'lláh's writings changed her; she taught the Faith to her washerwoman, and she and Joseph began inviting Black people to meetings in their home.
At a Washington synagogue on 8 November 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá argued that Christ had spread the Torah and the name of Moses throughout the world, and that Christians and Jews should therefore love one another.
On April 23, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá addressed Howard University in Washington, D.C., one of the foremost Black universities in the country. Rejoicing to see white and black seated together, He told them that before God there are no whites and blacks, and that humanity is a garden whose many-colored flowers are its adornment.
At the Orient-Occident-Unity Conference in Washington on April 20, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of a bond between Persia and America, recalled that Bahá'u'lláh called all people leaves of one tree, and hoped America would be first to establish international agreement.
About a week after the Titanic sank, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the disaster at the Parsons home in Washington, likening the soul's passage through death to an infant's birth into the wider world.
At a dinner at the Parsons home in Washington on April 22, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told how a Zoroastrian high priest lost his prejudice against Muḥammad, and compared it with the power that had brought East and West to one table.
In March 1911 the Star of the West reported that the Persian-American Educational Society had sent seven hundred dollars to Tehran and enrolled sixty-three scholarships, and printed 'Abdu'l-Bahá's request for two American teachers for the Tarbíyat School.
At his last meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the United States, Stanwood Cobb was embraced and told three times, “Be on fire with the love of the Kingdom!” He later reflected that these nine words summed up the Master’s teaching.
At a Washington luncheon held in His honour in 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá asked for Louis Gregory, who had not been on the guest list, and seated him at His right hand before the meal began.