The Bahá’í Faith at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The activity of the Bahá'ís in Chapel Hill, and of the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in particular, have come in waves of activity of increasing breadth starting with mere mentions in local newspapers, to visits, to time after time of temporary presence and international trips to a more sustained community with changing membership of the campus club and the arrival of a sustained local spiritual assembly. Many students have gone on pilgrimage and international pioneering and some have gone on to receive PhDs at other institutions while others have been faculty that served on campus many years.

The first known visitor to the campus was Stanwood Cobb in 1934, and the first students were Mildred Danforth and Alice Dudley in 1949. After they moved on the next presently known Bahá'í students were Edgar Olson, Walter R. Wootten and James F. Ginnent in 1954. According to her daughter's recollection Carolyn Prévost Wootten was a staff member of UNC in 1954 and had she responsabilities for youth meetings in the region. The first Spiritual Assembly of Chapel Hill was founded in 1971 with several UNC alumns. Bahá'í alumns have gone on to receive PhD's from other institutions and Greg Samsa is the first known Bahá'í to receive one while at UNC in 1988. The first Bahá'í faculty known is Jane Faily McCants who came in 1973. The current faculty as of 2018-19 include Mark Perry in the Drama Department and Tim Marr in American Studies and Richard Beane Jr. in Dentistry. Significant campus activity of the Club was in the 1990s first responding to the comments of Sarah Pereira and the series of presentations made, then in the campus controversy about a summer reading about the Qur'an. There is presently a break in available material in the later 1990s before coverage is available again in the 2000s. Mark Perry's play A Dress for Mona has been staged on and off campus.

Where North Carolina might have had few lasting populations of Bahá’ís before 1942, there were about 20 Bahá’ís in 1944 and around 70 in 1963. It may have been approaching over 100 people in 1968. Population statistics shows Orange County, including the cities of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and the unincorporated areas, and the campus, had about 300 Bahá'ís in 2010 which represented a 40% increase over 2000's reported population.

Beginnings

To examine the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, means starting with the beginnings in the state of North Carolina. The earliest historic recordings of the Faith in North Carolina (NC) stretches from newspaper coverage of Bábí events in the 1850s to the first Bahá’í to visit the state by Sarah Farmer in the winter of 1902-3. Following this is the documentation of the first local-born Bahá’ís in Wilmington circa 1917-1925. The Faith spread into NC again, though elsewhere in the State, in the 1930s-1940s with evidence of Bahá’ís living in and being visited in Raleigh in the person of Sarah Pereira and her sister, as well as at least one other in the state.

The first mention of the Faith in the Chapel Hill area came in 1934 with Stanwood Cobb giving a talk in Gerrard Hall at the university covered in several editions of the Daily Tar Heel of April. Gerrard Hall predated the university and was brought into use by the campus in 1837.

Gerrard Hall (2018)

A member of the religion since 1906, it quoted him saying “Nothing can save the world but a heightened spiritual consciousness of world brotherhood”, blamed self-centeredness of nations and feelings of individuals for problems in the world and lauded the role of universal education as key to cooperation along with an international language. Cobb’s talk was also summarized in the Raleigh News and Observer with a brief review of many teachings of the religion and a little history starting with “The Cause of Baha’u’llah is the same as the Cause of Christ.”

Cobb was invited by Professor Ernest R Groves, a sociologist interested in “mental hygiene” and preparation for marriage as an academic subject and had a connection with Cobb via Dartmouth University, where they had both been students. Groves later gave a talk at the Green Acre Bahá’í School, and Cobb’s family provided a reception while there. Cobb, a former resident of Asheville, from 1915-1916, was a field member of the Bahá í national teaching committee in 1933-4, was chief editor of Star of the West as well as World Order magazine from 1935-39. Cobb had appeared earlier in an article in The Salemite in October 1923 for his article in the Good Housekeeping edition on “Mounting the ladder of life” and his explanations of the importance of education. The article doesn’t mention the Faith but is centered on the Bahá'í teaching of the importance of education.

Other Known Baha’is mentioned in Chapel Hill during the 1920’s

Other known Bahá'ís also appeared in Chapel Hill area news though not identified as Bahá’ís. Alain Locke’s poetry was discussed in a review of a magazine in the Tar Heel in 1928. Locke had joined the religion in 1918. In 1925 Leslie Pinckney Hill, principal/president of Cheyney Teacher College/Cheyney University, asked the US Bahá'í National Assembly to send a speaker to a conference of black teachers in Durham - they sent Keith Ransom-Keller. Hill had encountered the religion at least in 1912, wrote with knowledge of the Faith in 1915, took part in national meetings of the religion in 1924 and 1925, and was named as a Bahá’í in 1926. In 1945 Hill, at his work in Pennsylvania, was a judge for a race-relations award given to UNC @ Chapel Hill professor Dr. Howard Washington Odum.

Eldridge Roger Boyle Jr., who's parents were DC Bahá'ís Louise Dixon Boyle and Eldridge Roger Sr., attended several schools including UNC sometime between 1925 and 1932, went on to the University of Virginia, and made return trips to UNC. He married Sarah Patton in November 1932.

First wave of community in Chapel Hill: 1949-50

The first Spiritual Assembly of Greensboro was elected in 1943 after a wave of activity there. Immediately following, there was a brief mention of the Faith by “poet and individualist” UNC @ Chapel Hill (UNC) student Athelstan Boniface in 1947 who was not identified as a Bahá’í. Various national directories of Bahá’ís were published successively over the next decade or so. The 1949-50 Bahá'í directory does mention Bahá’ís in Chapel Hill seemingly due to Bahá’ís on UNC’s campus. The first published meeting on campus was in January 1949, as part of a series that lasted for about a month. Two women were mentioned: Mildred Emiline Danforth and Alice Dudley.

Mildred Danforth was a playwright at Playmakers, was elected as state delegate to the national Bahá'í convention that February, and lived in Durham in 1951. She was born about 1900 in Maine, returned there about or before 1961 and died in Maine in 1985.

Alice Dudley was a co-pilgrim with later Continental Counselor Florence Mayberry in 1957, was born in Norway and passed in 2007 aged 105 years in Lakeport, California. However these early phases of the Faith - of visitors and people who lived here briefly and held meetings, seems to have been unknown by Bahá’ís generally around 1972.

Second wave: 1953-54

A continuous Bahá’í presence and the rise of community would wait some years until in 1953-1954. Durham and Raleigh were among the goal cities on the Ten Year Crusade, and various pioneers arrived across the Triangle. Circa 1953-4, an anonymous letter written by a Bahá’í pioneering to the Triangle noted visiting Shaw University, planning a meeting in Chapel Hill, and going to the Institute of World Affairs. Three Bahá’ís are reported at UNC in 1954: Edgar Olson, Walter R. Wootten and James F. Ginnent. Edgar Olson seems to have held the first of these meetings starting February. Note all these "first" meetings were in the same building as several of the previous ones - Gerrard Hall. Edgar Olson was from Delaware and was in Guam by May 1954. Walter R. Wootten, a political science major, was at the February 1954 meetings on campus and started at Lenoir-Rhyne College in 1953, but stayed in rm 326 Cobb dorm during what was his sophomore year. James F. Ginnent’s name appears in April though nothing else of him has yet been found.

From the visit of Stanwood Cobb through these early Bahá’ís of Chapel Hill, we do not know the stories of why they joined the religion or more about their choices and actions and what it meant to them.

In an oral interview, Carolyn (soon Wootten) Prévost recalled arriving in Durham in 1954 and worked as a secretary at UNC. Prévost had grown up in Catonsville, Maryland, and was associated with the Faith by 1953, according to her daughter Donna Samsa. Also arriving in the area in 1954 was Ludmila Van Sombeek and her second husband, George Van Sombeek. The family's first appearance in the local news was the next year when George Van Sombeek wrote a letter to the editor of The Carolina Times, a prominent African-American newspaper with a state-wide reputation, noting the revived persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran. The Sombeeks were known for having college students from area universities over for meetings and dinners. They, and some 75 Bahá’ís from the region, attended the first Blue Ridge Bahá’í Conference that was reformulated as a Summer School the next year.

In 1955 Carolyn Wootten was the convener of the Central Atlantic Youth Committee; it had members Ray Lippitt, Quida Cooper, Richard Parmelee, John R. Nichols and Perry Gawen. Walter Wootten had jumped to being a senior, was president of the Bahá'í Club, was finishing a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, living in Durham, and there was a two part profile of the religion through an interview with him printed in the Daily Tar Heel in February. Walter and or others kept up a steady stream of meetings at UNC. Amidst these, in March, UNC students were with students from North Carolina State University at Raleigh (NC State), and Shaw University, for a Bahá’í sponsored panel for Youth Day. National Assembly member Allen B. McDaniels came in May, closing the mention of the Faith on campus for the Spring semester. Walter continued being noted with meetings of the Faith in the Fall and through the Spring of 1956. After Walter’s graduation meetings moved off campus, followed by a gap in mention of the Faith in Chapel Hill. Around then the Woottens moved to California until 1960-1 In 1958 Wootten attended Geyserville Bahá'í School, the predecessor of Bosch Baha’i School, contributing a compilation. Carolyn’s father, Joseph P. Prévost, died in March 1959. There is a brief mention of “Baha’i Peace Day” in 1960 - the nearby observance was held at Ludmila Van Sombeek’s home.

Then in September-October 1962 there is a series of advertisements for talks by Winston Evans and contact information at Duke - sometimes listed as Rusty Ingersoll. Evens undertook several teaching trips, died in 1973, and was remembered by Gary Matthews in his book The Challenge of Bahá’u’lláh.

Third wave - late 1960s

There was developments with the establishment of the Assemblies of Raleigh in 1957 and Durham in 1962. Across the US the Faith grew by about 30% in the 1960s - and more was soon to come. But there is a longer lapse in mention of the Faith in Chapel Hill and the UNC campus until 1967 when Bahá´í faculty and students from Harvard and MIT held a two day seminar off campus. Among those attending were Jeffrey Gruber, Roy Mottahedeh, Chris Filstrup, and Gregory Dahl with contact listed as William Maxwell.

Though there is a gap from 1962 through 1969 in mention of the Faith in in town and on campus, it is known that Evelyn Aabel, having just finished a Masters in Public Health 1967 at UNC, began working as a Research Associate at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center when she encountered Carolyn Prevost (Wootten) who was then hosting Elizabeth Clark, an elder Bahá’í from Colorado who had met `Abdu’l-Bahá. As Evelyn tells the story, on first setting eyes on Aabel, Clark told her she would soon go to Denver and become a Bahá’i - within days her academic supervisor asked her to go to Denver for a new degree program in nursing and there she in fact joined the Faith at Naw Rúz, 1969. Aabel finished her training as a Colorado Child Care Associate with a Certificate as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner - one of the earliest in the country. On return to North Carolina she was soon part of a wave of people going to South Carolina. Ezzell also remembers traveling often down to the Lumberton area with Kathy (Reimer) Lee and others. On return from South Carolina Aabel was the lone Bahá’í pioneer in Alamance County west of Chapel Hill and was one of the first eight Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) accredited in North Carolina to go through a program at UNC in 1971. Later she would be active member of the region from the 1980s after returning from living in New York areas.

In January 1969 Bahá´í quotes are printed frequently into the spring albeit with no meeting place or names of Bahá'ís mentioned, until April when there is an interview with Mack Ezzell along with a small picture of the Shine of the Báb. Ezzell had joined the Faith in Tanana Valley, Fairbanks Alaska, in 1967, and connected with the Woottens, and lived on UNC campus.

North Carolinians were among those attending the Southern Teaching Conference in Chattanooga, TN, in September. At the conference a summary of the North Carolina community specified there were 30 localities with Bahá´ís, 6 assemblies, and High Point was a goal with 5 Bahá'ís in the city. Chapel Hill was not a goal city at first but Walter Wootten in Chapel Hill was listed as a representative of the national international goals committee who would make presentations about international pioneering.

A couple scattered mentions of the Faith follow into the summer with a contact address in Chapel Hill, and then another series runs from November 1969 through 1970 holding meetings usually at the Student Union.

Addressing a societal concern, the national assembly released a statement appealing to Bahá’ís about protests over the Vietnam war - to overcome short lived passions that could forget spiritual priorities in favor of pointing out to society the Bahá’í truths as an alternative to war. In March 1970 Mrs. Harry Ford and Rev. Charles Jones of Chapel Hill gave a talk at the City Hall Annex in Greensboro about youth and religion - an event that included Bahá’í speakers from Greensboro.

By April 1970 Chapel Hill was listed as a goal city with 6 Bahá’ís. In April there is a showing of a film A New Wind over at North Carolina Central University in Durham mentioned in the Tar Heel. Then it is back to a few more regular meetings at UNC campus which brings us through mid-May.

Some 70 youth from many NC communities gathered in Dunn, NC, south of Raleigh, May 9 - indeed the landlord arrived to try to evict the group from meeting which lead to a wave of interest. People had come from Henderson and Morganton but also Kinston, Asheville, and Raleigh with 2/3rds of the attendees believed to have joined the religion in less than a few months. In early June Bahá'ís from many of the same places joined Durhamites for a Race Unity Day at Satterwhite Point overlooking Buggs Island Lake in the Kerr Reservoir for a picnic and entertainment - Henderson youth did a skit, and there was a talk by Charles Abercrombie. In September mayors of Durham and Chapel Hill supported Bahá’í observances of World Peace Day. In October the Bahá’í International Community gained consultative status in the UN. This was one of the events included a viewing of the CBS documentary series Lamp Unto My Feet on the religion. In December 1970 Ellen McAllister offered a talk on campus with support from Mack Ezell for the article in the Tar Heel.

The increased and sustained presence was noticed and judged ineffectual by campus commentators by February 1971:

…The impact of these groups on campus is mixed. Only a few students have responded to the Baha'i Club, despite three years of effort by senior Mack Ezzell…

And

…Eastern religions are growing in popularity, observers note, yet not only have eastern religion movements - such as the followers of the Baha'i and Krishna - failed to capture widespread campus interest, Dr. Shutz of the religion department noted an unusual "strain" of revived interest in orthodox Christianity…

Nevertheless in April 1971 the first local assembly of Chapel Hill was elected with members Jerry Cott, Eugene Howard, John Watson, Mack Ezzell, Ellen McAllister, William Zucker, Carolyn Wootten, Emma Allen and Daphne Stewart. It was almost equal female, and had a third of African-Americans as members. Ezzell had finished his Bachelors of Science at UNC in 1971 and stayed in the area to December, 1973.

Early March 1971 was when The Christian Century noted that in a "one-month, 13-county 'teaching conference' based in Dillon, South Carolina, 9,000 converts, most of them black, joined the Baha'i faith, with hundreds more signing declaration cards in similar efforts throughout the south."

It is not known if any Bahá’í from Chapel Hill went on the cruise-boat conference from South Carolina to Jamaica. In April Evelyn Aabel was one of the speakers at a UNC School of Nursing symposium.

Assemblies and Clubs

On and near-campus meetings continued in the fall of 1971. The campus group observed the 50th anniversary of the Ascension of `Abdu’l-Bahá in late November. Then there is the next Bahá'í film It's just the Beginning which gets a double showing on campus in December. And the music group Seals and Crofts gave a concert and a talk on the Faith on campus. Mention of their performance began in October, and their musicality and performance were featured in several articles. The performance was Dec 9.

January 1972 opened with a viewing of the film It's just the Beginning again. And the meetings continue twice a week all through the winter into spring, often with snappier titles. In the summer there are a few events - a showing of a film in June, and a profile in July. The profile had an interview including Mack Ezzell and Jerry Cott and had “blacks and whites, faculty members and a taxi driver, a maid and a retired socialite, undergraduates and grad students… from 15 … to 82, (years old - it was not stated who the faculty member was.)” It also noted the sudden growth in South Carolina. Aabel had worked in various public health positions in the area when she was offered the chance to attend a World Health Organization conference in Thailand on return from which she attended a 3-day pilgrimage in Israel.

Regular meetings on and near campus begin again in September and carried on. World Peace Day events in September included Bahá’ís from across the Triangle meeting in Chapel Hill and featured a talk by Evelyn Aabel. Margaret Warden, a UNC grad student in Music, gave a series of talks for the religion. That was followed by a filmstrip on `Abdu’l-Bahá. That year many Bahá’í went to the dedication of the new Panama Bahá’í House of Worship or the dedication of the Louis G Gregory Institute in South Carolina though it is not know specifically if Bahá’ís from Chapel Hill attended either though local newspaper coverage did exist. Seals and Crofts returned to UNC in mid-November with more articles mentioning their religion and views including that they were taking time to observe the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh. Coverage of their coming began in late September, along with other coverage. Trish Hollow also gave a talk for the religion on campus. From late November through early February 1973 there is a lapse in mention of the club or meetings.

In February 1973 A. K. Kalantar was noted touring North Carolina and while in Durham he also appeared on the At Home with Peggy Mann show on WTVD on Feb 8, and on UNC campus on the 9th. In April there was a presentation on the Holy Land on campus by the Bahá’ís. Ezzell remembered Margaret Warden, Patricia and Jerry Cott, who were themselves recently married, William Zucker, and himself, going. According to Ezzell’s memory, many of the early 1970s Bahá'ís of Chapel Hill soon pioneered. Ezzell himself went to Guam. Ezzell also remembered Austin Bowden living in Carrboro before he and his wife pioneered to the south Pacific and was still living perhaps in Fiji or Tonga of 2018. William Zucker often served as chair or treasurer of the annually elected assembly through 1975.

As of March 2018 it is known that Jerry Cott, Mack Ezzell and Ellen McAllister were still living and that Eugene Howard, William Zucker, and Carolyn Prévost (later divorced, Wootten) had passed. However Mac Ezzell’s medical condition is poor, suffering from advanced polio.

From early 1973 to 1975 mention of the Faith is rare in the Daily Tar Heel. However in mid-September Durham and Chapel Hill Bahá'í communities observed World Peace Day at the Forest Theatre at UNC with a talk by Jane McCants (Faily), recently moved to the area and would remain for several years - her last appearance in the area was in 1978. This was also the year Evelyn Aabel moved with her son to New York for some years.

In January 1974 the next appearance of the Bahá’í Club appears with a talk on the equality of women and men offered off campus. Though regular meetings are not mentioned another mention of the group is in early October. In between the Chapel Hill Assembly was noted functioning and contributing to the national fund.

In January 1975 there is a satirical mention, perhaps, of the Bahá’ís in the Daily Tar Heel. It was a review of the American fascination with therapy but also making sense of life and history. The writer comes across “Guru Maha Raha Baha Haha” on his way to checking out a “Calcutta religious sect” and reportedly actually went to Calcutta. Regardless, the actual Bahá'í campus group opens with notice of the group meeting at the same address . A week later Edward Azar was part of a panel at UNC and again in April - in a few years he was founder of the Maryland University Bahá’í Peace Chair. Arthur Zucker, William's father, gave a talk on race unity in February, which was followed up in March with a series of presentations on the religion and its teachings of unity - perhaps the most ambitious action of the community to date. On various nights there was a showing of It's just the Beginning and others had panels and forums. An interfaith panel had Hindu, Christianity, Islam representatives and Dr. Jane Faily for the Bahá’ís. Another night grad student Mike McCandless gave a talk and then NCSU Associate Dean William Maxwell gave a talk. Faily and Maxwell had been present in the area back to 1967. Maxwell would later serve on the US National Spiritual Assembly and as a Continental Counselor of the religion. Gregg Suhm also wrote a summary introduction about the religion as a letter to the editor in early April.

Coverage of the religion returns in the 1975-6 school year with a mention of the observance of World Peace Day. In February Edward Azar again is noted - this time going to a International Studies Association conference in Canada. The Bahá’í club was again recognized in March.

The 1976-7 school year begins with Bahá’ís being mentioned in a survey of the small religions on campus. It noted the club had 10 members and mentioned Jerry Saucier and Denise Whitman. Whitman was then a Junior. Bill Allison from Atlanta gave a talk for the club on campus in later September for World Peace Day speaking about social and economic justice. In October a letter to the editor noted that though Bahá'ís and others had had some airing there was reaction against coverage of Christianity. Jane Faily gave a talk on campus in late October. The club was again officially recognized in November. Meetings of the club were again regularly mentioned from February. In March a filmstrip was shown on campus for the Club and meetings continued into April, and held Ridvan observances on campus.

The 1977-8 school year started with a mention in late August when Jane Faily was noted as the club advisor, though this was her last appearance in the area. Meetings were advertised at the beginning of the year, and there meetings in February including a talk by Dr. Charles Long of the Religion Department, and a potluck international dinner.

Faily contributed an interview for radio/podcast in 2012. Her father was a religiously skeptical Persian and she intentionally attended the historically black college Clark Atlanta University, graduating in 1963. Faily also wrote of her experience as a Bahá’í in the 2013 text Bright Glass of the Heart though it doesn’t mention Chapel Hill specifically. Her mother had joined the Faith thanks to an encounter hearing Marzieh Gail in 1940 when Faily was six years old, officially joined the Faith in her college years at the University of Michigan, went on pilgrimage with her mother December-January 1959-60, having already gained a degree in Harvard she then felt was useless. Being present in the Holy Land during the period, her pilgrimage included seeing various Hands of the Cause react to the leaving of Mason Remey from the community and the ongoing grief of Bahá’ís. She moved to Greenville, SC, in 1961, was appointed an Auxiliary Board Member in 1967, before coming to North Carolina. She died in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on August 4, 2014.

The 1978-9 school year had similarly few notices of the Club. It observed UN Day in October. In November the Club sponsored an appearance by the music group Do’a who performed in Gerrard Hall. The Club was recognized in January, and an exhibit was staged in the Union. The next mention of the Faith, in April, came by way of a review of an edition of Agora magazine which included an article on the religion.

The club entered a period of low activity, if not a complete absence, for the next several years as reported by the Daily Tar Heel. In April 1980 the club hosted an international potluck in the Union. The Bahá’ís were next mentioned, off campus, in August 1980, and an organizational meeting of the club was announced in October. In August 1981 the Bahá'ís were listed with an off campus contact again. Dorothy Zucker, William's mother and Arthur's wife and a Bahá'í from 1957, died in Chapel Hill in February 1981 of heart failure amidst advanced Parkinson's Disease. She was burried in the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery. By 1981 William Zucker had earned a PhD, the first known UNC alum to do so. Jean Scales came to give a talk in November at UNC.

Rising community

After the ebb in reported community and Club activities from the mid-1970s, the Faith had a rising presence in the Tar Heel in 1982 though it started the same with a notice of the Faith being reachable in August 1982 off campus. A slide program was shown in October about the building of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice - with contact Roberta Krantsik. Before that Carolyn (Wootten) Prevost, one of the members of the first Spiritual Assembly and a member of the community off and on since 1954 had passed living in Orange County in February, (and Carolyn’s mother - Donna Samsa’s grandmother - died a few months later.) In another week the Club was holding a collection for UNICEF. Paul Dunn gave a talk in early November. Regular meetings were again noted in January, an international potluck in February, and an observance of Naw Ruz in March. In April the Club showed a film of the testimony before the US House of Representatives on what the Bahá’ís in America have learned the wave of persecutions in Iran.

After this period there was a period of reduced activity again. In the Fall of 1983 a new location was listed for contact information for the beginning of school in August and Dwight Allen spoke on campus for the club in November. Their club listing was preserved. In the fall of 1984 Gary Kugler was listed as a faculty adviser and the club was listed, and kept its listing in November. In the Fall of 1985 the Club hosted a talk by S. Rahnani about the situation in Iran. A week later Bahá'ís contributed three presentations to a week long Human Rights Week series. One was a talk about women in Iran, and then co-sponsored by the Chaplain’s Association were presentations of “The Mona Video” and “A Cry from the Heart: Persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran”. The Club kept it’s listing in 1985 and 1987. In 1986 a series of advertisements listing Bahá’ís of Orange County and meetings on campus were printed in the Tar Heel.

There was an uptick in activity of the Club advertised in the Tar Heel in March and April 1988; topics included prejudice, metacognition, and God. This was also when Bahá'í Greg Samsa finished a PhD at UNC, the first known Bahá´í to earn a PhD at UNC. Regular meetings were advertised again from September 1988. Officers elected, a general, then one on health care in Africa, religion, things in Bhutan, life on campus, for Human Rights Week held two presentations on the persecution in Iran, world peace, and a round table on “isms” by early December. All the activity was followed by a profile of the religion in early December noting some of the active youth leading the club: Johanna Merritt and Tracey Langhorne. The profile said there were 30 members - Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís. Merritt was president and the club had put a table in the Pit at least once a week. It also said the UNC club had partnered with clubs at NCState, NCCU, and Duke to form a Triangle Bahá’í Club. Another club member mentioned was Lisa Kirkpatrick who was an agnostic member of the club. Langhorne was club secretary, and was also a Daily Tar Heel staff in photography. Meetings of the Club continued starting in February 1990: spiritual revolution, marriage. There followed about a month break probably for fasting, and then picked up again: world peace, a general meeting, and then Merritt wrote a letter to the editor about racism and looking at positive work being done. Meetings kept on going: unity of humanity, and life after death finished out the school year.

For the first time a series of summer advertisements monthly for July, August, and September. Meetings began in October with the question of free will, and the meeting was held at the Black Cultural Center, then life in Kenya, and then a presentation was given by physician, former-preacher-turned-Bahá'í, founder and director of Project Concern International James Turpin in early November. A week later the topic was the situation in Iran, then a presentation on Buddhism, and then a presentation by Lawrence Miller or corporate life cycles and spiritual issues in early December, as well as a presentation by a “former racist” at the Black Cultural Center. Marriage was the topic in late January. In February the Club topic of discussion was “The Baha’i mind” and again at the Black Cultural Center. A week later a profile was written of Bahiyyih Nakhjavani who was giving a talk on campus. A talk of hers was after the organizational meeting at the Black Cultural Center. In late February the topic was “The Path of God” held at the Student Union. Lawrence Miller returned for a repeat talk, then the topic was backbiting, and then a profile of Sarah Pereira was published about her talk at the end of the series of speakers sponsored by the Club. Pereira’s talk, and the profile, triggered a critical response by a student in a letter to the editor. The argument presented was that the Bahá’í teaching of the unity of the Manifestations was incompatible with the presented understanding of Bible verse John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - that, as she saw it - “Jesus Christ states that he is the only way to salvation” and then went on to other quotes in defense of the need for certain approaches of exclusivism. At the time the Club was set to meet to talk about the environment. The next week a response letter to the editor was sent in by Johanna Merritt and Ladan Atai. Their response was centered on a broad acceptance that teachings of religions really are in common and highlighted various Bible quotes that they thought supported their view. Additionally, printed next to their letter was a cartoon that associated conservative Christians with blind faith and proud of it by someone else. The criticism was also responded to in another letter to the editor. The letter picks up the blind-faith argument in response and equates the stance as a kind of racism of religion. Meanwhile the next Club meeting topic was the world economy, closing the school year in later April.

Merritt graduated in 1990 summa cum laude and went on to get a PhD from Old Dominion University. Part of her research at UNC was on internalization of religious beliefs of Irish Bahá’í youth which she presented on while at Old Dominion. Her PhD was in psychology of leading high-technology firms. More recently she co-wrote a book on marriage. Merritt is the second known PhD among Bahá’í alumni of UNC.

Monthly summer advertisements again appeared in 1990, though this year there was support for the quake in Iran too. In the fall meetings resumed in the Black Cultural Center. Tracey Langhorne was the contact person, and the last meeting advertised for 1990 before the winter break being on the situation in Iran was held at the Student Union. Meetings began in February 1991 with the “search for truth” at the Black Cultural Center, followed by a video on race relations held at the Student Union, and about American history and the world in March. The last meeting was in April on the subject of making meaning in life.

Tracey Langhorne graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Ladan Atai was in the 1991 ACC honor roll list for his second year with the sport of Fencing, and went on to be a banking lawyer.

Summer advertisements for the Faith ran twice in August. In the fall the Club advertised a music concert by Gregory Paul, and in March Jamal Reimer was part of a panel on racism at the university. Reimer had been with the University since 1987. During the year Marty Ravellette moved to Chapel Hill - later he made national news when he, as an armless man, rescued an elderly lady from a burning vehicle in 1998 and after living in the area many years died in a car accident in 2007. Also this was when the Estes family - Ray and his wife and children - moved to Chapel Hill in 1991.

Summer advertisements for the Faith ran in June and August. The end of the available collection of digitized Daily Tar Heel’s is in December - the final article appeared in November. Kathy Lee is noted as an off-campus leader of the religion as vice-chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Assembly, and club members Radiance Hartman and Noah Bartolucci, then president of the Club, were mentioned. The article is partly a profile of the history and basic administration of the Faith, and partly about the key teaching of the oneness of humanity. Bartolucci works for the US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Health Affairs in the DC area.

During the gap in available issues of the Daily Tar Heel, Raelee (last name withheld) transferred to UNC after attending Meredith College, finishing her Bachelors of Science in Communications Studies in 1996. Her family arrived in Chapel Hill in 1988 and since 2009 had worked at the Emerson Waldorf School and then becomes certified in Simplicity Parenting. Bahá'í Robert M. James Jr. received a Phd from UNC in 1994. Following this gap in available archival editions of the Daily Tar Heel the current online edition has archives back to 2000.

When the coverage does pick up it is unclear if the Tar Heel is publishing any meeting notices of any club - perhaps the internet took that over. Be that as it may, even without meeting notices of the club the Faith still got mentioned in articles covering issues and topics on campus and broadly speaking at a faster rate than previously. On the other hand the new coverage often misspelled the religion to a degree more often than in the past. But the Bahá'ís are now often a part of the campus conversation, though sometimes a period of time can go by without mention.

The first of these comes in October 2000: "The first black bishop of North Carolina's Episcopal Church brought a message of hope and perseverance to the UNC campus in his keynote speech Wednesday night … freshman Victor Ahdieh of the Baha'i faith, came because Curry was speaking on a topic central to his belief system." Another in October was: "A group of UNC students spent their Monday night church-hopping in Chapel Hill, exploring other religions while enjoying different cuisine. Sponsored by… the 2000 CMA Progressive Dinner featured …, and followers of Baha'[sic]."

In April 2001 an article mentioned "In general, the area's religious leaders agree that Chapel Hill has a plethora of spiritual offerings.…Gary Kugler, a leader of Carrboro's Baha'.[sic]" A story in 2002 focused on how the Bahá'í club, among others, receiving money to support events. The club initially asked for $1720, was initially granted $25, and after concern about funding religious excercises were addressed, received $428 for its 15 member club. Chelsea Lee was mentioned. Another story in 2002 focused on the Bahá'í club because of a series of events it sponsored "spawned from UNC's summer reading assignment, Approaching the Qur'an…" Among the Bahá’ís mentioned are Chelsea Lee, Victor Ahdieh, Renee Cloer, and Tim Marr, professor of American Studies. The issue rose to a court case: Yacovelli v. Moeser. However following the review several clubs including Bahá'ís were put under close review.

After that 2002 coverage there is a break until 2005 when students and the city community cooperated in a Peace Day observance in early January. "…an eclectic group of peace activists gathered Friday night and Saturday for the first Chapel Hill Peace Day.…Roxana V. Hadden, a native of Peru and a member of the Chapel Hill Bahai (sic) community, said the gathering symbolized her religion’s core values. Bahai emphasizes the need to address human unity by eliminating all types of discrimination. ‘We believe that peace is not only possible, but it is inevitable,’ Hadden said. “Every booth is here for the same reason: for peace.’”

In 2006 coverage mentioned a Bahá’í’s stance on alcohol among others: “As students gear up for the first weekend between class, some of their glasses won't just be half empty - they will be completely empty. No, they're not extra-pessimistic. They simply have decided, for one reason or another, not to consume any alcohol. For Vesall Nourani, a junior who said he has never take a sip of alcohol, the reason mostly stems from his faith. His religion, Bahai, (sic) rejects any substance that changes people's rational capacity, he said. ‘The influence it has on the mind and on rational capabilities, it causes the individual to lose himself in his self,’ Nourani said. ‘These are things I feel the station of a human being should strive to go beyond,’ he said. Whether for religious reasons or not, Nourani is not alone in his decision to stay away from the spirits. Twenty percent of college students do not drink…." Another article mentioned the Bahá’ís in 2006: "A warm breeze joined the laughter at 3 Cups coffee shop Thursday night as Julian Bach joined 11 other students for his first meeting as an official Bahai(sic). Bach announced to the group, a mix of longtime Bahais(sic) and students visiting to satisfy their religious curiosity, that he had converted to the Bahai religion four days ago.…" Other Bahá'ís mentioned were Vesall Nourani, Mark Derewicz, Nathan Huening, Nima Nematollahi.

There is a gap in Bahá'í activities between 2006 and 2010. Off campus Chapel Hill area community member Ray Estes contributed several interviews on A Bahá’í Perspective radio and podcast in 2006. Another set of interviews were initially posted to YouTube in 2009. An individual initiative and award winning blog, Bahá’í Thought, was done by Phillipe Copeland, circa 2009-12; Copeland used to live in the Chapel Hill area. (haven’t found if there is an entry about when and how he joined the Faith) Another grad student of UNC finished a PhD in education in 2007 - Glen Cotten.

Then a performance of A New Dress for Mona by Mark Perry with Azadeh Rohanian Perry about the execution of Mona Mahmudnizahad, was noted in an article in the Daily Tar Heel highlighting the unfortunate death of the lead actress freshman Lillian Chason, and the story of Mona and ongoing connections with her death in the 1980s.

In 2012 there was coverage of BIHE related drives for notice were mentioned in the Daily Tar Heel: "A group of UNC students, faculty and staff is trying to raise awareness about a group of people who are systematically denied access to education — the Baha'i in Iran. Education Under Fire, an international campaign started at Harvard University last year, is trying to help the 300,000 Baha’i people in Iran by providing them with educational opportunities.…" Bahá’ís mentioned include David Hoffman (documentary producer), Steven Kolins, Danielle Rogers, and Mark Derewicz. A letter to the editor also mentioned the meeting held at the FedEx Global Education Center.

Since 2012 there hasn’t been another article in the Daily Tar Heel yet specifically mentioning the religion.

Tao Yang graduated from Georgia Southern University to go to UNC for a PhD in electrical engineering in 2012. Kristne Chang from Asheville and UNC alum from 2013 was serving with the Johnson Service Corps. In 2014 Juliet Sheridan moved to the area after serving at the World Center as a program manager for alittle over 2 yrs. In 2015 Bahá’ís were listed supporting the Chapel Hill Interfaith Council for Social Service, and a non-Bahá’í “Diana” started a JYG.

Modern community

Where North Carolina might have had few lasting populations of Bahá’ís before 1942, there were about 20 Bahá’ís in 1944 and around 70 in 1963. It may have been approaching over 100 people in 1968. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) the communities in Orange County - Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and the general county area - had just shy of 300 Bahá’ís in 2010, or a half of 1% of the general community, organized in four “congregations” which in Bahá’í parlance would be assemblies - Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Orange County. This is also a over 40% increase in the number of Bahá’í over the data available for 2000.

A survey of relatively current mentions of the Faith and Chapel Hill finds a variety of connections:

• The local private school Emerson Waldorf has noted Bahá’í event in 2017, and a community commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh was held in the public library.
• In 2017 the funeral of Vernell Jeffrey Snipes took place with a fundraiser to cover expenses.
• Orthodontist Richard Beane Jr. joined UNC staff circa 1976 and has been a Bahá'í many years.
• In spring 2018 the UNC club continued to be listed as part of campus life. Tim Marr was listed as the faculty advisor and Faith Moavenzadeh as secretary. Other members included Zayne Dadressan and Emily Shepherd with Emily listed as the primary contact.
• Negin Shojaeninia was daughter of a Bahá'í mother in Iran, is a UNC alum.
• The religious organization list of the Indy Week included Chapel Hill Bahá'ís.
• The nearby Raleigh community hosts some links to Chapel Hill/Carrboro activities.
• The community has its own web presence.
• The Drama Circle, established by Mark Perry with his wife Azadeh Rohanian Perry, which features some plays centered on Bahá’ís or resonant themes of individual initiative. Mark Perry has also been a member of the Playmakers Repertory Company since about 2005. Perry also wrote a play performed at the 2017 bicentennial observance of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh profiled in the January 2018 The American Bahá’í.
• There is also an implementation of the Ruhi Institute process in the Triangle that was a web presence and mentions Chapel Hill in a general way and has a particular story from Carrboro.
• Individual Bahá’ís associated with Chapel Hill have contributed to some Bahá’í inspired websites run as individual initiatives. There is a website Nineteen Months dedicated to celebrating the Bahá’í calendar featuring the art of photography which has Alisa Mappes among its contributors, from Chapel Hill. And Russel Ballew, now living in Northern California, has contributed to the website Bahaiteachings.org.
• Chet Makowski contributes to the Peer Learning courses available in the area.
• Christine Keller has performed at the Bahá’í House of Worship, is a UNC alum, and lives in Cary.
• Chelsea Lee Smith works with the Wilmette Institute, and is a UNC alum.
• Paymon Rouhanifard is a UNC alum, his family is a refugee one from Iran.
• Angelica Johnson was from Chapel Hill and was noted serving in Dalton Georgia where she was assisting two other homefront pioneers with developing the community there.

See also

• North Carolina in the Baha'i News
• Bahá'í Period of Historical mentions
• Off to College!, by Dale E. Lehman, Appeared: 08/26/2000
• Teaching the Baha’i Faith on College Campuses: Part One, personal blog, 13 December 2009