Dr. Bagdadi's Guest
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When in Bahá'í history
Chicago (today: Chicago, Illinois, USA)
On 30 April 1912, during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to Chicago, the Master spoke at Hull House to an audience of both black and white people on the oneness of humanity. In his diary for that day one of His companions, Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, wrote:
There exists among the whites in America a marked animosity for the blacks, who are held in such low esteem that the whites do not allow them to attend their public functions and think it beneath their dignity to mix with them in some of the public buildings and hotels. One day, Dr Zia Bagdadi invited Mr [Louis] Gregory, a black Bahá'í, to his home. When his landlord heard about this, he gave notice to Dr Bagdadi to vacate his residence because he had had a black man in his home. Although such prejudice was intense, the influence of the Cause of God and the power of God's Covenant is so great that in many cities in America hundreds of black and white Bahá'ís mingle together and associate with each other as brothers and sisters.
Source: Mahmúd's Diary (Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání), entry for 30 April 1912; also cited in Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 108.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: race-unity).
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