Kentucky

Kentucky
Location of Kentucky
History: Firsts
-	Local Assembly	1943, Louisville

Kentucky is a state of the United States of America. It is located in the upper south of the country, is the 37th largest geographically and 26th largest state by population, and is colloquially known as the Bluegrass State.

Efforts to establish the Bahá’í Faith in Kentucky began in the late 1910's and were centered mostly around Louisville where the first Local Spiritual Assembly was established in 1943. The community has grown modestly with the Association of Religion Data Archives estimating there were 635 Bahá’ís in the state in 2000 and 715 in 2010.

Currently the states Bahá’í community is under the jurisdiction of the Regional Bahá’í Council of the Appalachian States.

History

Early establishment

Kentucky was mentioned by name by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan revealed for the Bahá’ís of the Southern States of the United States on March 27, 1916:

"In the Southern States of the United States, the friends are few, that is, in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Consequently you must either go yourselves or send a number of blessed souls to those states, so that they may guide the people to the Kingdom of Heaven."

The Tablet was received in America by Joseph Hannen and his address was published in Star of the West in October, 1916, so that he could coordinate teaching efforts in the southern states, and by December 1916 Ellen "Mother" Beecher had visited Kentucky to teach the Faith.

In June 1920 Louis Gregory visited Kentucky and Maryland to teach and spent two weeks in Louisville where he was reportedly particularly successful. At some point Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, advised that an interracial teaching team should visit the southern states and in 1932 Willard McKay, a white man, and Louis Gregory, an African-American, undertook a teaching tour together which included visiting Kentucky prompting praise and encouragement from Shoghi Effendi. In 1934 Stanwood Cobb conducted a teaching tour which included a visit to Louisville.

In 1935 the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. and Canada appointed Georgie Wiles as its Regional Teaching Representative for Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, and by 1937 it had appointed a Regional Teaching Committee responsible for Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky collectively which reported it had made no progress in Kentucky that year, however later that year Olivia Kelsey pioneered to Louisville at the direction of the National Teaching Committee. As of September 1937 the National Assembly reconstituted its Regional Teaching Committees and Kentucky was now under the jurisdiction of a Committee responsible for Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky.

In early 1938 Grace Robarts Ober moved to Louisville planning to stay there for an extended period to invigorate teaching work in the city and began holding a study class which met twice weekly, and the National Library Committee donated Bahá’í literature to at least one college or university library in the state. In November 1938 the Regional Teaching Committee responsible for Kentucky was reconstituted to cover Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1939 Gertrude Christine passed away in Louisville and she was the first Kentucky Bahá’í to have her passing reported in Bahá’í News.

In early 1941 Dorothy Baker visited Louisville twice during a teaching tour of the South Atlantic States which resulted in a study group of six to eight people forming, and she revisited Kentucky in November delivering talks to diverse college groups. That year the National Teaching Committee of the United States noted Kentucky urgently needed pioneers due to it being a 'virgin state' with no Local Spiritual Assembly. In 1942 Kentucky came under the jurisdiction of a reconstituted Regional Teaching Committee for Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

In April 1943 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Louisville was established, the first in Kentucky, however by 1948 teaching work in the state had lapsed so that year the National Teaching Committee sent Ruth Moffett to reinvigorate the community and she stayed in Louisville for six weeks where she gave sixty-three lectures, facilitated fifty-four classes, participated in thirty-six interviews and conferences, and spoke at eighteen luncheons. Her efforts resulted in seven people declaring including Joseph Vital who was seventeen and as such the only Bahá’í youth in Kentucky.

As of 1950 Kentucky had come under the jurisdiction of a Regional Teaching Committee responsible for just Kentucky and Tennessee and that year the Committee held two meetings and decided it needed to bridge the gap between Bahá’í communities and isolated believers across the two states. In 1951 a Bahá’í exhibit was shown in the Kentucky State Fair.

Expansion efforts

In 1953 the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States established twelve Area Teaching Committees to oversee teaching efforts with Kentucky falling under the Committee for the East Central States alongside Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and in April 1954 establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in Covington, Kentucky, by 1963 was one of the goals set for the East Central States by the National Teaching Committee for the Ten Year Crusade. In June Lexington was added as an additional goal city for a Kentucky Assembly to be formed.

In 1955 newly appointed Auxiliary Board member Sarah Pereira visited the Bahá’í community of Kentucky. As of 1955 Kentucky had become the responsibility of the Area Teaching Committee of the Tennessee Valley States and in July that year the Committee held a conference to consult with the Louisville Bahá’í community. As of January 1957 the Ten Year Crusade Goal for Kentucky had been amended by the National Teaching Committee to be establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in Fort Knox by 1963. In 1959 successful Race Amity Day meetings were held in Kentucky.

In 1962 Governor Bert Combs of Kentucky signed a proclamation recognizing World Peace Day which he presented to a Bahá’í delegation. As of 1967 Kentucky was one of just nine states of the United States which had not yet officially recognized Bahá’í Holy Days in its school system. While Kentucky was unsuccessful in establishing any Local Spiritual Assemblies during the Ten Year Crusade it was able to achieve its Nine Year Plan goal of establishing a second Local Spiritual Assembly when the Assembly of Lexington was formed in 1968.

In 1970 mass teaching began to find success in the southern states and that year 123 people declared in Kentucky and a Mass Teaching Conference for Kentucky was planned. The Kentucky Mass Teaching Conference was held over January 16 and 17, 1971, in Berem under the auspices of the Deep South Committee and during the Conference there were fifty-five declarations as a result of teaching efforts prompting the Kentucky State Goals Committee to set a goal of establishing seven new Local Spiritual Assemblies that year. In July 1971 the National Teaching Committee noted one of its goals under the Nine Year Plan was establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in every state capital with Frankfort being one of the capitals still lacking an Assembly.

In 1972 the National Teaching Committee noted Kentucky was a state which was in particular need of a veteran pioneer, and that year a Local Spiritual Assembly was established in the state, and a Bahá’í Club was formed at Morehead State College. In 1973 a copy of The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh was presented to the Mayor of Middlesboro.

As of 1974 there were four Local Spiritual Assemblies in Kentucky and six localities with Bahá’í groups. Areas reported as being in need of pioneers that year were Danville and Lancaster, where mass teaching was taking place, and Harlan which had four Bahá’í residents. It was also reported Frankfort had only two Bahá’ís and that establishing an Assembly in the city was an important goal due to it being the state capital.

In 1976 a Bahá’í youth from Kentucky was elected the vice-president of Future Homemakers of America and the group was able to sponsor Bahá’í speakers to give talks to the group on unity and equality. In March 1976 a teaching conference was held in Berea and there were six declarations in the town as a result resulting in a Local Spiritual Assembly forming and that year the Local Spiritual Assembly of Frankfort was also established bringing the number of Assemblies in Kentucky to five. As of 1976 Kentucky had the goal of establishing five new Assemblies by the end of the Five Year Plan in 1979, and as of December 1979 there were seven Local Spiritual Assemblies in the state.

Learning about consolidation

In August 1980 the first Kentucky Bahá’í Institute, which became an annual event, was held at Morehead University and attended by around thirty Bahá’ís. It covered issues relevant to community development like marriage and single life as a young adult. In July 1981 a second Kentucky Institute was held also at Morehead University and it was attended by 170 Bahá’ís with speakers including National Spiritual Assembly member Dwight Allen and Auxiliary Board member Nathan Rutstein. Youth, children's, and pre-school programs were also held during the Institute, however as of 1981 the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies in the state had dropped to six.

In May 1983 a youth conference was held in Danville, Kentucky, sponsored by the District Teaching Committee of Kentucky and during the conference plans were made for the formation of a District Youth Committee of Kentucky. In 1987 the District Teaching Committee of Kentucky requested pioneers and noted that growth of the Faith in the state had been slow and that while there were some active centers much of the state had no Bahá’í activity.

As of 1991 there were six Local Spiritual Assemblies in Kentucky which were regularly contributing to the National Fund.

See also

• All articles about Kentucky