Youth for the World (YOW) Conferences

Youth for the World (YOW) Conferences were a regional set of conferences especially in the United States coordinated mostly in the summer of 1969 to promote the youth of the religion participating in proclamation of the religion. Some conferences occurred in earlier 1969 and early 1970 and at least one took place in New Zealand as well. There were plans for seven conferences and ultimately ten took place. Members of the US national assembly spoke at most of the conferences: Firuz Kazemzadeh, Glenford E. Mitchell, Dorothy Nelson, Franklin Khan, and Daniel Jordan. Other participants included Joseph Mydell, William ‘Smitty' Smith, Richard Walter Thomas and Magdalene Carney.

Preparation

In 1969 the National Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States initiated a "proclamation program" run through various committees to run from 1969 through 1973 with theme "Justice for all peoples". The National Teaching Committee committed to a 1969-1970 "Youth Proclamation!” initiative and the Proclamation Committee selected the term of "YOW" for “Youth for the World” for their project for the year. Among the realities in the United States were 1969 Greensboro uprising in May, Apollo 11 landing on the moon and the York Pennsylvania race riot in July.

The first example program of a YOW conference was held by the Fisk University Bahá'í Club co-sponsored with the Spiritual Assembly of Nashville in May 10-11. Firuz Kazemzadeh, William ‘Smitty' Smith and George Daniels were the speakers. Joseph Mydell and Susan Leitch, who had performed at the national convention, did their play called “Who is America” at this YOW conference. The idea for the conference was initiated and then accomplished in 4 weeks time with over 100 youth attending. Mydell was from Savanah Georgia, and was among the Bahá'ís who participated in the (probably third) March on Montgomery in 1965.

In July there was a call for regional conferences at the end of summer during the launch of a proclamation program for 1969-1970. The goals of the regional conferences were:

• Deepen Bahá'í youth and propose specific and systematic methods of proclamation
• Provide the youth with opportunities to consult on proclamation and on the relevance of YOW to their non-Bahá'í friends
• Acquaint non-Bahá'í youth in each area with Bahá'í teachings relevant to their interests

There were seven conferences planned planned through local assemblies in Sacramento, California, Tucson, Arizona, Fort Collins, Colorado, Wichita, Kansas, Dayton, Ohio, Hartford, Connecticut and Birmingham, Alabama. The regions covered were then roughly: Pacific West, Desert South West, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, the South, and the Mid-Atlantic -to- New England. (map does a nice job outlining.)

Initial wave of conferences

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley

A youth "seminar" conference was held June 20-July 6 for the "YOW" initiative underscoring a continued sense of urgency. Then National Assembly member Glenford Mitchell was among those that addressed the seminar. This was in the context of the Universal House of Jusetice calling for proclamation projects in 1967 in the Ridvan Message. Some who went were only recently joined to the religion. The seminar addressed such asked the questions to its audience as "Is the Faith of God in the United States still only a middle-class phenomenon? Is the Faith of God in this country a constant reminder to every American that this is a day of justice? Or are we merely tea-sipping, cookie-crunching Bahá'ís, all but oblivious to the agony written on the faces of our fellow human beings? Have we been the loiterers that Shoghi Effendi instructed us never to be - praying for (minorities)… but never really reaching out to them with the Faith of Baha'u'llah?" There was then a review of the interest in the religion of reaching minorities and the need for an informed approach - by love, by recognizing their world as they see it, their richness and problems using "issue redefinition" rising from the particulars of problems to the root causes of problems. At the seminar Richard Walter Thomas, Reynaldo Cruz, and Magdalene Carney gave input from their perspectives and experiences. The participants also went to the St. Athanasius Church showing the film Justice and the Poor with a panel composed of lawyers and reporters which became an unexpected opportunity to consider as an audience for the Faith as well. Bob Phillips, of the National Youth and College Activities Committee, was added to the panel and the Bahá'í focus on redefinition engaged both the journalist and the lawyers. One lawyer was moved to observe and recall the Bible verse "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be given” about the Bahá'í approach. This was a film and panel discussion of lawyers and journalists of Donald S. Frey, Ralph C. Hartsough, and Robert Enstad. Phillips was visible in the newspapers before and after at other events; he was a Stanford Professor and could perform rap music, and pictured in 1971. Thomas had most recently spoken in Boston.

A second YOW conference for the region gathered about 150 Bahá'í youth in Dayton, Ohio, in a YWCA on August 18. Susan Leitch and Joseph Mydell performed their play a third time for Bahá'ís, with newspaper coverage that they were both from the Manhattan Project Repertoire Company of East Village, New York. The play was described including a blindfolded exploring of the space of people of different races that changed suddenly when the blindfolds were off and fighting began. The plot ran in cycles of trying to get along and failing to come together until they shared their faith. They performed the play a fourth time later in November at the "Baha'i Week" events at the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University.

Other conferences

Great Plains: The only mention of a meeting in the Great Plains yet found was of August 10 in eastern Baytown, Texas, at the southern edge of the region.

Desert Southwest: The next to appear in newspaper coverage was in Tucson, Arizona, for a conference held at a YWCA, featured a talk by national assembly member Dorothy Nelson to which about 150 youth came coming from around 3 states and there was a public meeting as well.

Rocky Mountains: The next mentioned YOW conference was at Colorado State University Student Center in Greely through its Bahá'í Club and the assistance of the Spiritual Assembly of Fort Collins. Topics mentioned for the conference included race, poverty, war, peace, true education, values, religion, and service to humanity and God. Nearly 100 Bahá'í youth came to the meeting chaired by PhD student Greg Dahl and national assembly member Franklin Khan and continental Counselor Peggy Ross were among the speakers. The college club had been holding meetings, and the community had been meeting at a residence at Springfield Drive, including the local observance of the Martyrdom of the Báb with a talk by Rhoderoi Meyers.

Mid-Atlantic to New England: The regional Bahá'í youth meeting at for the Mid-Atlantic and New England was at the University of Hartford and aided by the Spiritual Assembly of Hartford, with Lorna Tasker and Jean Daley locally attending. There Charles Coldborb and former Black Muslim member Muhammad Al Mahoi did a stage presentation, and national assembly member Daniel Jordan gave a talk. Dianne LeBlanc and Pamela Houghton attended from Fitchburg, Massachusetts, John Savage gave a talk at the meeting coming from Meriden, Connecticut, and Jane Caulfield came from Montclair, New Jersey, and James Bellows from Lafayette, Indiana.

1970 conferences

Programs continued to unfold after the summer. A YOW conference for the Pacific West was held in late January 1970 in Santa Maria, California, organized by Toni Hanson, Duske Jensen, and Milo Parsons, and there was music from "Wednesday's Children", Seals and Crofts, Geraldine Jones, and Jim Reed. And a second Rocky Mountain region meeting came in February at Weber State College, as it was called then, in Ogden, Utah, at which Richard Betts gave a talk at meeting with a high school choir and viewing of the film A New Wind was held.

Afterwards

There was mention of a community optimism that followed the conferences looking at realms of spreading activities. A similar conference was held in New Zealand. There was also support for an appreciation of UNICEF promoted through the YOW program through the year. The growth of the religion, especially in South Carolina had begun the summer of 1969 becoming more visible into 1970.