The Sixteenth National Baha’i Convention in Worcester
By Nasim Mansuri. 2018.
In April 1924, the city of Worcester had the bounty of hosting the sixteenth National Baha’i Convention, which gathered a large number of Baha’is from around the United States. Present at this convention were many prominent figures of Baha’i history, such as Louis Gregory, Amelia Collins, William Henry Randall, Roy Wilhelm and Jinab-i-Fadil, among others.
In his report in Star of the West, Louis Gregory stated that Worcester was chosen for the convention given that it was “one of the largest and most important of New England cities” and that it gave “a new point of contact with western life”(1). At the time, the Worcester Sunday Telegram reported there were over 50 Baha’is living in the Worcester area, although it is possible that not all were registered Baha’is, or perhaps they identified as friends of the Faith – in 1922, only six Baha’is were listed in the membership list(2). At any rate, the community must have been strong enough to host such a large number of people.
Among the Worcester Baha’is present, and at the forefront of the organization of the event, were Mr. and Mrs. Struven, Mr. and Mrs. Green, and Florence Morton. William Henry Randall, at the time the president of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada, and named by Shoghi Effendi a “Herald of the Covenant”(3), expressed in his opening address that the “cordial welcome” of the Worcester friends had “cheered every heart.”
The convention was held on April 26 to 29th, at the Hotel Bancroft, and featured a series of talks by Baha’is that were open to the public, and therefore were reported by the newspapers of the time. These talks touched on topics current in American news at the time, re-examining them through the Writings of Baha’u’llah. Many anecdotes about Abdu’l-Baha were also shared, as many of those present had had the bounty of meeting with Him, and the Master’s visit to Clark University in Worcester presumably was still fresh in their minds.
Perhaps the topic relevant in 1924 was the issue of immigration, as the Immigration Act of 1924 sharply reduced the number of immigrants allowed into the country, and specifically targeted people of certain races. Roy Wilhelm (who would posthumously be named a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi) touched on the issue, noting the injustice of the decision and the disagreement of the “thoughtful people” of the United States, and in connection to this, John Herman Randall – a reverend from New York city who was a profound admirer of the Faith – discussed the new era humanity has reached, and the changes in ways of thinking that must take place to make way for the new society prophesized by all the Messengers of God of the past.
Among those outdated ways of thinking, he mentioned the then-prevalent theory of the superiority of the Nordic race, saying “Scientists have examined the blood and even the body tissues of the various races and have been unable to find any difference that would indicate superiority or inferiority,” and denounced “petty religious and national prejudices” (4). He closed his address quoting Baha’u’llah: “These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come”(5). This must have felt particularly relevant, given that Americans were only a few years in between both World Wars.
Louis Gregory, one of the first African-American Baha’is and posthumously-appointed Hand of the Cause, was also present and gave a speech on the topic of Independent Investigation of Reality, addressing the public on the purpose of man’s life: to acquire knowledge, and to transcend the material things that degrade one’s spiritual nature. Albert Vail also touched on the importance of harmony between science and religion, and the need for religion to be free of dogma and superstition.
Visiting from Persia was Jinab-i-Fadil, a prominent Baha’i scholar that Abdu’l-Baha referred to as his “gift to America”(6). He eloquently – and at times humorously – explained the concept of progressive revelation, and the ignorance and dangers posed to humanity every time it failed to adopt God’s new Truth, and admit the unity of all humankind.
A segment of the convention that drew much attention from the public at the time was the establishment of a “world peace program” document, which marked the final session of the convention. This document was a series of resolutions based on Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha’s teachings about world peace and universal understanding, which would be sent to the President of the United States, both Houses of Congress, and as many peace societies as could be reached. In it, the resolutions detailed a “universal world conference” that could be called by America, which would – among other things – unite all the navies of the world, and solve many latent labor issues. But above all else, the peace program noted the importance that the real enforcer of peace should not be any government, but rather “a new public conscience among all nations through worldwide education”.
This peace program, along with the racial diversity of the convention, which gathered white, Black, Native American and Persian friends, attracted many members of the press to write about the event. Newspapers like the Worcester Evening Gazette and the Worcester Daily Telegram readily reported on the events of the convention and began investigating the principles and history of the Baha’i Faith; even featuring a picture of Abdu’l-Baha and a long explanation of the origins of the Babi and Baha’i faiths.
The convention recognized the Telegram for its “courtesy, fair-mindedness, and cordial cooperation in presenting the Baha’i movement and its principles to the Worcester public”(7). A decade after Abdu’l-Baha left America, the Baha’i efforts to reach out to their countrymen and offer them the inspiration of the Writings continued to be successful.
In the last session of the convention, the election of the members of the new National Assembly – then pertaining to both the United States and Canada – was held. The resulting Assembly was comprised of: S. Schophlocker, Mountfort Mills, Mrs. Florence Morton, Horace Holley, Mrs. A. S. Parsons, Roy C. Wilhelm, Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf, Mrs. May Maxwell and Alfred E. Lunt. Florence Morton was a Baha’i from Worcester.
After further consultation, the convention decided to elect nine other friends as a “reservoir from which helpers might be drawn to fill vacancies” in the meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly – a practice permissible in 1924. Those nine were: Mrs. Amelia Collins, William Henry Randall, Mrs. Edith Ingliss, Charles Mason Remey, Mrs. Mariam Haney, Mrs. Louise Boyle, Albert Vail and Luis Gregory.
The convention drew to an end. Many of the delegates remained longer in the city of Worcester, to attend the meeting of the Worcester Baha’is in Sawyer Building.
In his report of the convention published in Star of the West, Louis Gregory mused on the monumental importance of the sixteenth National Baha’i Convention, and the powerful spiritual power it held, asking of his impressions of the event: “May they not convey the hope that this convention was the beginning of a great awakening throughout the western world?”
Notes:
1. Louis Gregory. Star of the West, vol. 15 no. 2, May 1924.
2. Roger Dahl, Membership Office, National Spiritual Assembly, personal communication. 1/4/2012
3. A Basic Baha’i Dictionary, edited by Wendi Momen. Oxford: George Ronald, p. 71, 1996.
4. Worcester Evening Gazette, April 28, 1924.
5. Baha’u’llah. Proclamation of Baha’u’llah, US Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1978.
6. The Baha'i Centenary (1844-1944), compiled by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada, 1944.
7. Worcester Daily Telegram, May 1 1924.