National Committee on Inter-racial Amity

The National Committee on Inter-racial Amity was an agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States appointed in January 1927 at the recommendation of its predecessor, the Special Committee on Racial Amity. Shortly after the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Committee was appointed to address the issue of the unity of the races, which he had been highlighted as a challenge for the United States and the world and an obstacle to world peace. By 1932, the Committee was known as the National Bahá’í Committee on Racial Amity.

Original Membership

• Agnes S. Parsons, Chairperson
• Louis G. Gregory, Executive Secretary
• Louise Boyle
• Mariam Haney
• Coralie Cook
• Zia M. Bagdadi
• Alain Locke

Committee Work

Annual Race Amity meetings were sponsored by the Committee in larger metropolitan areas within the United States. During 1927-1930, meetings were held in Washington, D.C.; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Green Acre and Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Portland, Oregon; Oakland, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Akron, Ohio; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Binghamton, New York and Wilmette, Illinois. In 1932, the Committee and the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New York City co-hosted a dinner in honor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the New York Urban League, which included speeches by Louis G. Gregory, Horace Holley and Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, among others.

A compilation of Bahá’í teachings on the subject of race amity, edited by Louis G. Gregory and Mariam Haney, was published by the Committee in 1928.

References

• Buck, Christopher (2005). Alain Locke: Faith and Philosophy. Kalimat Press. ISBN 978-1890688387. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada (1930). Bahá’í World, The: Vol. III - 1928-1930. Bahá’í Publishing Committee. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)