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The Bahá'í Faith in North Carolina is just over a century in the making. North Carolinians encountered the religion in the very early 1900s and the first Bahá'í living in the state was in 1923. The first organized assembly formed in 1942 and was succeeded by diverse activities of Bahá'ís in many parts of the state visible through newspaper coverage. In the 1990s Bahá'í communities began to acquire centers for meetings in Asheville, Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh. Almost half the 2010 population of Bahá'ís in NC is centered in the Research Triangle, Charlotte, or the Peidmont Triad.

Getting to North Carolina
The Bahá'í Faith was founded in the 19th century in what was then called Persia. Newpaper coverage of it began to come to the West by the 1850s working it's way from Europe all the way to America. The first fuller expression of the beliefs of the religion arrived during the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and in a separate development the following year the first United States citizens joined the religion – Thornton Chase being a Civil War Veteran who was second in command of Company K of the Twenty-sixth United States Colored Troops among others. In 1907 the Chicago Bahá'í Assembly incorporated, becoming the first administrative body of the religion in the world to acquire legal status. The American Bahá'í community, then numbering about 1,000 members, began building the first Bahá'í House of Worship in the West on the shores of Lake Michigan.

The first Bahá'ís related to North Carolina were all women and had direct contact with `Abdu'l-Bahá who was then head of the religion during this early period. The very first may have been Pauline Hannen, a white woman born in Washington and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, became a Bahá’í in Washington in 1902, convinced that the new religion fulfilled the prophecies of the Bible, and was quickly followed by her husband, Joseph Hannen. She was also centrally connected with other early Bahá'ís. Perhaps next was Pocohontas Pope. An Indian/African American, Pope was born in Halifax county with a Cherokee background and possibly of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe while her husband's family were African Americans from Raleigh. She is related to Dr. Manassas T. Pope by this marriage. (see Pope House Museum), He was a Shaw University medical graduate and North Carolina's first licensed physician of African descent. He attended her husband's funeral in 1918. She and her husband left NC in 1900 and she was counted as a Bahá'í before 1910 having learned of the religion from Hannen who had also taught the religion to Robert Turner and Louis Gregory.

Another very early Bahá'í would have been Mary Brown Martin who was born in Raleigh in 1877 into freedom her parents had received only late in life. In 1883 her family moved to Cleveland Ohio. She visited `Abdu'l-Bahá when he was traveling in the United States in 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio. She joined the religion in 1913 and served long in education. In 1965 an elementary school was named for her in Cleveland. Her grandparents were from the Boylan Plantation in Raleigh. Her husband self taught until he could enroll in college, became a lawyer and was one of five blacks in the nation to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1895. Martin's daughter, Pereira, would go on to be a member of the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly from 1961 to 1973, and one of five counsellors to serve on its Continental Board of Counsellors of the Americas from 1973 to 1985 serving the Bahá'ís in North and South America before retiring to Charlotte where she continued to serve on the local assembly from 1985 to 1994. Pereira died in 1995.

Pocohontas Pope is the one who received the following from `Abdu'l-Bahá: Render thanks to the Lord that among that race thou art the first believer, that thou hast engaged in spreading sweet-scented breezes, and hast arisen to guide others. … Although the pupil of the eye is black, it is the source of light. Thou shalt likewise be. The disposition should be bright, not the appearance. Therefore, with supreme confidence and certitude, say:

“O God! Make me a radiant light, a shining lamp, and a brilliant star, so that I may illumine the hearts with an effulgent ray from Thy Kingdom of ‘Abhá.

Two of the earliest Bahá'ís to visit North Carolina are Stanwood Cobb and Louis Gregory, again both having had direct contact with `Abdu'l-Bahá. Cobb joined the religion in 1906, first visited `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1909, and was one of a number of people who gave talks on the occasion of Gregory's invitation to go on pilgrimage. Louise Gregory joined the religion in 1909 and in 1910 undertook trips to promote the religion across the South. North Carolina - Durham - was one of his stops. In 1911 he was invited to go on Bahá'í pilgrimage and made the trip in 1912.

Cobb took several teaching positions and taught at Asheville School in Asheville in 1915-16. During his time there he published Ayesha of the Bosphorus: a romance of Constantinople and wrote The Essential Mysticism on Sundays after a day resting from the rigors to teaching. The director of the school - Cobb recalled - noted his absence from church services and "took me to task"… "it is also important that you set an example to the students by attending church" he was told.

`Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan. The second of the series of tablets was the first to mention North Carolina. The tablet for the South had been sent to Joseph Hannen. Written on March 27, 1916, it and the second mention were delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I and the Spanish flu. The tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919.

''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. 12 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. One of the holy Manifestations, addressing a believing soul, has said that, if a person become the cause of the illumination of one soul, it is better than a boundless treasury.

He wrote a second letter, written February 3, 1917 which included a prayer and referred to the temperate climate.

First Bahá'ís to/in NC
From Gregory's biography, some of his trips are specified in the historical record:


 * 1910 - including Durham (so 2010 was the centenary of the religion in North Carolina)
 * 1919 - a stay in Wilmington
 * 1928 - including Durham, he spoke to at least one high school class of over 500 students.
 * 1931 - Bricks, NC where he spoke to a white college twice (just north of the town of Whitakers.)

From the 1919 visit in Wilmington Gregory attended the national convention of Bahá'ís. At the convention `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan were announced. The convention decided to setup a committee for reaching the South. Joseph Hannen and Louis Gregory were members of the committee. Hannen stayed in Washington to coordinate the “Central Bureau” for the South, charged with distributing literature to inquirers and libraries; publishing articles in the region’s newspapers; identifying organizations, clubs and churches that might be interested; coordinating traveling Bahá'ís; promoting the establishment of regular study groups; and keeping an index of all who joined the religion in the region. The number and range of itinerant teachers increased, and Hannen supported them by forwarding mail and financial contributions from other Bahá'ís.

In 1923 Gregory makes mention of the first known Bahá'í in North Carolina then living in Durham. This may have been African-American Frederick Cutlar Sadgwar, born in 1843. Frederick built the Sadgwar House of Wilmington in 1889. In 1923 it was known separately that Frederick had joined the religion. According to state government records Frederick was born into slavery from a white-sknned slave father and a blue-eyed black slave mother. Frederick married a Cherokee woman, Caroline Huggins, and they had 12 children. His eldest son was born in 1873. Daughter Caroline attended Fisk University and married Alexander Manly, the editor-publisher of the newspaper which was at the center of the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898. Felice, the youngest daughter, born in 1892 - is known to have continued work in the Wilmington schools, during segregation, as a Bahá'í.

From the 1930s to 40s various Bahá'ís are known to have visited or moved to North Carolina. In 1931 musician and Bahá'í Philip Marangella toured the South from Washington DC and also stopped in Enfield, North Carolina (north east of Rocky Mount very near Bricks.) Adrienne Ellis (later Reeves), grandchild of former slaves and first Bahá'í of her family, and Eva Lee Flack (later Bishop) moved to Greensboro to help grow the religion in 1942. They helped elect the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Bahá'ís in Greensboro in 1943. Assemblies are the specified local administrative structure of the religion since there are no clergy, and are elected by secret ballot from the members of the community.

Louise Gregory passed away in 1951. Then head of the religion, Shoghi Effendi, named him as a Hand of the Cause, which, unlike the members of the elected institutions and other appointed institutions in the religion, signifies someone considered to have achieved a highly distinguished rank in service to the religion.

Activities of Bahá'ís
From the 1950s newspapers in North Carolina mentioned the Bahá'ís in various circumstances. According to the The Robesonian of Lumberton some traveling Bahá'ís met with local Bahá'ís in 1950. As early as 1954 Dr. William Tucker was holding public meetings on the religion in Rocky Mount and some were heard on the radio too. In 1955 he was a delegate to the National Convention of Bahá'ís for NC Bahá'ís. John M. Davis of Greensboro was the 1956 delegate.

Also in the 1950s several Cherokee peoples joined the religion. There is mention of a Minnie Feather who was born on December 3, 1917 and joined the religion around 1956; she died on November 6, 2002 in Cherokee, North Carolina. In the 1950s there is mention of an unnamed white woman who held parties in Durham with a combination of university people from Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina Central University (then called North Carolina College for Negroes) and or international groups whom she saw as an environment for folks interested in the religion.

The Raleigh and Charlotte assemblies were formed in the late '50s. Fayetteville's initial assembly formed in 1971, and then re-formed again in 1981. An assembly was elected in Durham in 1962.

In 1960, Chairman of the Greensboro Bahá'í local assembly, David Journey, an North Carolina State University graduate, became a partner in an architectural firm. Later in 1966, now living and working in Rocky Mount, he entered a design for the Bahá'í House of Worship in Panama though it was not the winning design. Journey died April 7, 1992 in High Point. Interest in Rocky Mount reached a couple of the occasional book club meetings.

In 1968 a Bahá'í attending Meredith college wrote a letter to the editor of The Twig about the religion too.

In 1974 Charles Tutterro of Statesville is noted as chair of the Bahá'í Club at Appalachian State University.

In 1976 Bahá'ís held an open conference in St Pauls. Among the speakers were associate professor of psychiatry, Dr. Jane Failey of UNC at Chapel Hill and Mrs. Jean Scales, associate professor at NCCU.

In 1991 Bahá'ís in Cumberland county held a Race Unity Day.

Modern community
In the Durham Parkwood neighborhood, Baha'i Mike Brooks, chairman of the Parkwood Association, and two members of the Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center, a mosque on Chapel Hill Street, participated in a study class on Islam by Rev. Kretzu of the Parkwood United Methodist ​Church - the Bahá'í Center is next door to the church. The Durham Bahá'í Center was bought in 1996 - the first one owned by Bahá'ís in the Triangle and the fourth one in the state. The first one was in Wilmington but it was later sold. The Asheville Bahá'ís opened a center in 1990, and Greensboro in 1992 and Raleigh in 1996.

In 2010 Bahá'ís were invited to participate in a community World Day of Prayer for Peace.

In 2011 Lumberton resident and blogger Andrew Bowen, 28-year-old religious studies major examined the religion as part of his "Project Conversion". He had "a mentor" for each religion he covered and for the Bahá'í Faith worked with Dr. Carolyn McCormick (née Brumm) who has been practicing the Bahá'í Faith since 1971. McCormick was first profiled by the announcement of her marriage in Christian and Bahá'í ceremonies in St Pauls - the Bahá'í ceremony was held through the support of the Cumberland County assembly. Later she and the religion were profiled in The Robesonian in 1975 in a series of articles. She had moved to Lumberton to help spread her religion in October 1975 after traveling among Indian populations in the West and was drawn to the Lumberton area. At the time she noted that Pembroke had the most active group of Bahá'ís with whom she worshipped. The coverage in a series of articles caused a bit of concern the editor of the newspaper responded to. For more see

Ruhi Institute Bahá'í study circles are a means for public engagement in learning about the religion and serving humanity. In the Raleigh area these are being held in most places Bahá'ís reside and specifically on a weekly basis.

Demographics of Bahá'í communities in NC
The Bahá'ís between Lumberton and Hamlin numbered about 70 families in 2002 according to a Bahá'í in the area.

In the eyes of Rev. James Leach the Charlotte region has "a well-established Baha'i community". Indeed the Charlotte community worked on peace conferences back in 1986 and a Bahá'í club on campus at UNC-Charlotte as early as 1988, The community in Charlotte was estimated at a hundred in 1989 by Bahá'ís.

Association of Religion Data Archives data from 2010 indicates there are 3 organized communities of Bahá'ís inside Wake County covering some 554 Baha'ís while Durham with 280 people in 2 communities and Orange County at about 300 in 4 rounding out a total approaching 1100 Bahá'ís in the Research Triangle. According to the same source all the surrounding counties combined - Alamance Caswell, Chatham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, and Person - have just over 190.

Charlotte (Mecklenberg) is noted with 819 Bahá'ís in 3 organized communities, while surrounding counties of Gaston Lincoln, Iredell, Cabarrus and Union total about 180 Bahá'ís.

And for the Piedmont Triad starting with Guilford has 303 Bahá'ís in 3 organized communities, Forsyth with 195 and with one organized community, and Davidson with 41 and no organized community, totaling over 530 Bahá'ís. And surrounding counties of Alamance, Rockingham, Stokes, Yadkin, Davie, Rowan, Montgomery, and Randolph totaling 118 Bahá'ís.

According to ARDA, the entire state has 24 organized communities and just over 5,800 adherents of the religion (4,500 according to Bahá'í sources in 1996) with close to half located in either the Research Triangle, Charlotte, or Peidmont Triad along with 16 of the 24 organized communities.

Coverage of the treatment of Bahá'ís in Iran
As early as 1955 the issues of the Persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran were published in NC. Coverage continued as recently as 2006. Most recently there has been coverage of forbidding Baha'is from even organizing their own educational system after being cut out from higher education in public universities in Iran - (see Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education) The coverage included noting Amnesty International's support for the documentary "Education Under Fire": UNC-G at UNC, and in Cary at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center.