Louisiana

Louisiana
Louisiana Bahá’í State Convention in Baton Rouge, 1963.
Location of Louisiana
Local Assemblies 1942, New Orleans

Louisiana is a state of the United States of America.

History[edit]

‘Abdu’l-Bahá referred to Louisiana in one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan revealed in 1916 requesting that Bahá’ís focus on teaching in the State:

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.[1]

Louis Gregory visited the state in 1916 teaching in New Orleans,[2] as did Ali Kuli Khan in 1917.[3] Keith Ransom-Kehler gave a press interview about the Faith in New Orleans in 1928,[4] and Siegfried Schopflocher passed through the State on a business trip in late 1929 and gave public talks on the Faith while visiting New Orleans.[5] In 1931 Orcella Rexford spent time in New Orleans during which she was able to proclaim the Faith to large numbers of people at public talks and facilitate study classes on the Faith.[6]

An early pioneer to Louisiana was Marion Little who moved to Covington in 1933,[7] and as of 1935 she was serving as the regional teaching representative for Lousiana, Missouri, and Arkansas.[8] In 1937 a Regional Teaching Committee for Mississippi and Louisiana was formed although Little was the sole member.[9] She reported most of her efforts had been focused on New Orleans in a 1938 report although she had also given several talks on the Faith in Covington,[10] and that year the Regional Teaching Committe was merged into a body responsible for Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama with six members.[11]

In December 1938 a property was secured in Covington and dubbed the Bahá’í Fellowship House serving as a community center and meeting place for Bahá’í activity although there was not yet a Bahá’í group or Assembly in the state. A dedication of the building was held and attended by sixty people including the mayor of Covington and Marion Little began hosting public meetings.[12]

In 1940 Bahá’í literature was donated to the Louisiana State University with the Universities Director of Libraries writing a letter of appreciation.[13] Teaching efforts began to experience success in 1941 with a Bahá’í community being established in New Orleans which grew to the point it was able to establish a Local Spiritual Assembly the following year.[14][15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, US Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1993 pocket-size edition, pp 11-12
  2. ↑ Star of the West, 7(16), p 158
  3. ↑ Star of the West, 8(5), p 56
  4. ↑ Star of the West, 18(11), p 352
  5. ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 40, Pg(s) 13. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1931). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 51, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 549. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Baha'i News (1935). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 94, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ Baha'i News (1937). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 110, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 115, Pg(s) 18. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 118, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 122, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ Baha'i News (1941). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 141, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1941). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 147, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1942). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 153, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
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