Dempsey Morgan

Dempsey Morgan
Born	1920 Detroit, Michigan, USA
Declared	1955 Louhelen Bahá’í School, USA
Died	April 11, 2013 Roanoke, Virginia, USA
NSA member	Southeast Asia 1962 - 1964 Uganda & Central Africa ???? - ???? Central Africa 1970 - 1971 Chad 1971
Media

Dempsey Wesley Morgan, Jr. (1920 - April 11, 2013) was an American Bahá’í who served the Faith in Vietnam, several African nations, and the United States.

Biography

Morgan was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1920. He had African-American and Cherokee ancestry. In his youth he was accepted into West Point military academy however he resigned from the academy due to experiencing racism and instead became a pilot. He served as a pilot in the Second World War flying one hundred and eighty-one missions, but his white superior officer only granted Morgan credit for seventy missions, two less than he had flown. Although he did not receive credit for all of his missions he was awarded a Bronze Star and an Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.

At some point Morgan married and had three daughters but his first marriage ended before the 1950's. After the war he worked as a commercial pilot and studied at the University of Detroit completing a degree in psychology, physics and chemistry. In 1953 he met Adrienne in Washington D.C. and they married that year. During the 1950's he began working as a hospital and prison counselor, served on a prison parole board, and studied law.

In 1955 the Morgans declared as Bahá’ís at the Louhelen Summer School and they volunteered to pioneer to Cambodia to support the Ten Year Crusade at the May 1958 Intercontinental Conference in Wilmette, as Morgan had completed his law degree. They initially arrived in Saigon, Vietnam, and John Fozdar welcomed them on their arrival and they stayed in Vietnam to support teaching efforts rather than travelling to Cambodia at his request. In 1959 the Morgan's visas expired and they moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where they taught in an international school and assisted the Bahá’í community.

In 1961 the Morgan's pioneered to Cambodia, settling in Phnom Penh, where they worked at the Cambodia American English Institute however they returned to Vietnam later in the year. In 1963 Morgan attended the First International Convention and served as a teller in the first election of the Universal House of Justice and later in the year both he and his wife attended the First Bahá’í World Congress in London, England. In 1963 the Morgan's returned to Cambodia, however in 1964 the Cambodian government outlawed the Bahá’í Faith and the Vietnam war had evoked hostility towards Americans in the country and they spent time living in Thailand to avoid escalating violence.

In 1964 the Morgan's pioneered from Cambodia to Uganda in Africa however as the Bahá’í community of Uganda was already well established in December 1967 they pioneered to Chad. They settled in Fort Lamy and in 1968 their teaching efforts became extremely successful with one hundred people declaring between April and July and one thousand people had declared by December. In 1970 Morgan was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Central Africa, and by 1971 ten thousand people had declared in Fort Lamy.

In 1971 Morgan was elected to the newly established National Spiritual Assembly of Chad, however that year the Morgan's returned to Cambodia to attempt to preserve contact among the Cambodian Bahá’ís. The Cambodian government reversed its restrictions on the Bahá’í Faith in 1974 allowing the Morgan's to assist in establishing Local Spiritual Assemblies although they were forced to leave the country in 1975.

Throughout the 1970's and 1980's the Morgan's served at many pioneer posts for brief periods to assist with teaching efforts. Within the United States they lived in South Carolina, Maryland, and Arkansas, and outside of the U.S. they served in Martinique at the suggestion of Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir, and also in Kenya, Uganda, and Madagascar. In 1992 they were invited to represent the United States Bahá’í community at the celebrations of the Centenary of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh held in the Holy Land.

In 1993 the Morgan's pioneered to Belize serving until 1995 when they returned to the United States permanently settling in Bristol, Virginia. In later life Morgan received belated military honors for his service in the Second World War being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 2002. He worked as a science educator in his latter years and was awarded an honorary doctorate in public service by Tuskegee University in 2006 and a Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

In 2013 Morgan passed away in Roanoke, Virginia. The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States conveyed the following in a message to his widow after his passing:

"[He promoted] the oneness of mankind—beyond all religious, racial, ethnic, and cultural differences—as an educator in diverse lands and through his service to humanity as a member of the Bahá’í Faith. He devoted himself, together with you, to teaching, instilling in his students a love for science, and sharing with people from all walks of life in numerous countries about the unifying teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, always with enthusiasm."