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Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1919, descending sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1919 Late
191-
Martha Root visited Cuba for one day, the first Bahá'í to do so, and lectured on the Bahá'í Faith. Martha Root; Cuba the first Bahá'í to visit Cuba
1919 25 Dec
191-
Shoghi Effendi presented a precious gift to his friend Dr Esslemont, "a drop of the coagulate and sacred blood of Bahá'u'lláh". [PG126] Esslemont; * Shoghi Effendi (chronology); Gifts; Haifa, Israel
1919 17 Dec
191-
Due to the difficulty of communication during the war there was a long delay before the invitation was delivered to the Holy Land.`Abdu'l-Bahá immediately responded to the invitation and wrote the Tablet to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace. He asked Ahmad Yazdáni and 'Alí Muhammad 'Ibn-i-Asdaq to come to Haifa to deliver the Tablet on His behalf. In May of 1920, they departed Haifa for Rotterdam. Upon arrival, they took a train to The Hague and delivered the Tablet on the 17th of May. * `Abdu'l-Bahá, Writings and talks of; * `Abdu'l-Bahá (chronology); Lawh-i-Hague (Tablet to The Hague); Ibn-i-Asdaq (Mírzá `Alí-Muhammad); Peace; World peace; - Basic timeline, Expanded; * `Abdu'l-Bahá, Basic timeline; Central Organization for a Durable Peace; Haifa, Israel; The Hague, Netherlands; Netherlands
1919 21 Nov
191-
In the period after the war 'Abdu'l-Bahá was flooded with requests from India and points East for Him to visit. Indian soldiers serving with the British forced stationed in the area were frequent visitors. [PG118-120] India
1919 18 Nov
191-
The periodical entitled "The Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom" was published and distributed by Miss Ella Roberts from 1919 to 1924. [Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America: Native American creation stories, edited by Rosemary Skinner Keller, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marie Cantlon p.782-783]
  • The story of the naming of the magazine...
      Margaret Randall told of the establishment of a Bahá'í Junior Magazine and asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá for a name for it. The Master was told who had charge of it, and His face lighted up with a beautiful smile as He said: "The name is The Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom. Who writes it? This (name) is suitable for it. [WHR128-129]
  • See A Compilation on Bahá'í Education #96 for a tablet by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the children of the Bahá'í school, Urbana, Illinois found here.
  • See A Compilation on Bahá'í Education #102 for a tribute to the magazine by Shoghi Effendi found here. He called it "first and only organ of the Bahá'í youth throughout the world".
  • At the American National Convention in 1925 (July 4 - 9) it was reported that "The Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom", edited by Ella Roberts and "Bahá'í World Fellowship" edited by Mrs. Victoria Bedikian had merged. ["Bahá'í News Letter" #6 Jul-Aug 1925 p.6]
  • Magazine of the Children of the Kingdom; Children; Youth; - Periodicals; * Publications; - First publications; Haifa, Israel; United States (USA) first publication for Bahá'í youth.
    1919 Nov
    191-
    William Harry Randall, an American, asked `Abdu'l-Bahá if he might contribute to the building of the Western Pilgrim House. [DH179]
  • Plans were drawn up and work began but the funds available were insufficient to continue the work until 1923, when money was contributed by Amelia Collins and seven others. [BBD178; DH180; GPB307]
  • William Harry Randall; * `Abdu'l-Bahá (chronology); Pilgrim Houses; Pilgrim House, Western (Haifa); Amelia Collins; Haifa, Israel
    1919 25 Oct
    191-
    Martha Root arrived in Panama, the first Bahá'í to visit the country. She spent one week there. Martha Root; Panama the first Bahá'í to visit Panama,
    1919 Oct
    191-
    Martha Root visited Chile, the first Bahá'í to do so.
  • During her four-hour stay in Valparaiso she met with the Theosophical Society to speak about the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Martha Root; Theosophical Society; Chile
    1919 20 Sep
    191-
    Martha Root arrived in Argentina, the first recorded visit of a Bahá'í to this country. [MR101]
  • She remained in Buenos Aires until 4 October. [MR101]
  • See MR101-2 and MRHK61-5 for her teaching work in Argentina.
  • See MR103-6 and MRHK66-9 for her journey over the Andes on a mule.
  • Martha Root; - First Bahá'ís by country or area; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Argentina; Andes Mountains the first recorded visit of a Bahá'í to Argentina
    1919 19 Sep
    191-
    Martha Root arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, the first Bahá'í to visit the country.
  • She spent 12 hours in the city, gave books to two libraries and placed an article about the Faith in the newspaper El Dia.
  • Martha Root; Montevideo, Uruguay; Uruguay the first Bahá'í to visit Uruguay
    1919 19 Aug
    191-
    The Anglo-Persian agreement was signed whereby Persia would get advisors for every department and give every concession to England. It effectively made Persia a British protectorate and eliminated the Russian influence that had been established by the earlier Anglo-Russian pact. The United States Government was much displeased, for this represented a breach of 'open covenants openly arrived at', one of Wilson's Fourteen Points, and represented a continuation of the secret diplomacy of former times. The price of this agreement, according to one official, was £500,000 paid out to one prominent official, and £300,000 to another.

    When the Persians discovered by what dubious means this Agreement was contrived, they arose in fury, there was a coup d'état with the backing of the Cossack Brigade, Siyyid Zia-ed-Din came to power (1921) and abrogated the Agreement. Then he himself would be overthrown, and replaced by Reza Khan of the Cossack Brigade as Minister of War and Commander in Chief. Thus an illiterate one-time army private, once a sentry at a hospital gate, would eventually (1925) become a powerful Shah. [AY172, 210]

    Anglo-Persian agreement; United Kingdom, History (general); History (general); Iran, General history; Iran; United Kingdom
    1919 13 Aug
    191-
    The passing of Mírzá Muhammad-Hasan Táliqání, Hand of the Cause of God, entitled Adíbu'l-'Ulamá, know as Adíb (Educator) in Tihrán at the Shah's College established by Násirii'd-Dín Sháh. He was born in Talaqán in 1848 and became a Bahá'í around 1889. [BBD98, SUR29]
  • Bahá'u'lláh appointed him a Hand of the Cause of God. [SDH138-140]
  • He was appointed as one of the Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
  • He was one of the founders of the Tarbíyat Schools in Tihrán. [LoF17-18]
  • For a brief history of his life see EB272-3.
  • EB273 says he died on 2 September 1919.
  • Adib (Hájí Mírzá Hasan Talaqani); - Hands of the Cause; Hands of the Cause, Appointments; Hands appointed by Bahá'u'lláh; Hands of the Cause, Births and deaths; - Births and deaths; - In Memoriam; Tarbiyat School, Tihran; - In Memoriam; - Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh; Tehran, Iran; Tálaqán, Iran; Iran
    1919 c. 4 Aug
    191-
    Martha Root set foot in South America for the first time, at Para (now Belém), Brazil. [MR93; MRHK44]
  • See MR93-100 and MRHK44-59 for her teaching work in Brazil.
  • Martha Root; Latin America; Belém, Brazil; Brazil
    1919 22 Jul
    191-
    Martha Root left New York on the first of her teaching journeys for the Bahá'í Faith in spite of a strike that threatened to cancel her trip. [MR90; PG104] Martha Root; New York, USA
    1919 17 Jul
    191-
    From the newspaper Globe and Commercial Advertiser in New York, Àbdu'l-Bahá was quoted as saying :
      "If the Zionists will mingle with the other races and live in unity with them, they will succeed. If not, they will meet certain resistance. For the present I think a neutral government like the British administration would be best. A Jewish government might come later.

      "There is too much talk today of what the Zionists are going to do here. There is no need of it. Let them come and do more and say less.

      "The Zionists should make it clear that their principle is to elevate all the people here and to develop the country for all its inhabitants. This land must be developed, according to the promises of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zachariah. If they come in such a spirit they will not fail. [SoW Vol 10 Issue 10 September 8, 1919 p194-195]

    Palestine
    1919 28 Jun
    191-
    The Treaty of Versailles was concluded. The United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles, never joined the League of Nations which President Wilson's foes derisively referred to as 'Wilson's League'. The USA made separate treaties with Germany and the other Central Powers. Wilson died on the 3rd of February, 1924. [AY160-169; US Office of the Historian]

    Shoghi Effendi's tribute is as follows:

    "To ... President ... Woodrow Wilson, must be ascribed the unique honour, among the statesmen of any nation, whether of the East or of the West, of having voiced sentiments so akin to the principles animating the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, and of having more than any other world leader, contributed to the creation of the League of Nations—achievements which the pen of the Centre of God's Covenant acclaimed as signalizing the dawn of the Most Great Peace, whose sun, according to that same pen, must needs arise as the direct consequence of the enforcement of the laws of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh." [CoF36]

    Treaty of Versailles; Peace treaties; Woodrow Wilson; League of Nations; History (general); World War I; War; World peace; Peace; Most Great Peace; Versailles, France; France
    1919 26 Apr-1 May
    191-
    The 14 Tablets of the Divine Plan were unveiled in a dramatic ceremony at the Hotel McAlpin in New York, during the `Convention of the Covenant'. The Tablets had been brought to America by Ahmad Sohrab at the request of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [ABNYP172Note24, BBD219; PP437; SBBH1:134; SBBH2:135; SBR86; AB434; TDPXI]
  • For details of the convention programme, Tablets and talks given see SW10, 4:54-72; SW10, 5:83-94; SW10, 6:99-103, 111-12 SW10, 7:122-7, 138; SW10, 10:197-203; and SW10, 12:2279.
  • Mary Maxwell (Rúhíyyih Khánum) was among the young people who unveil the Tablets. [PP437]
  • Hyde and Clara Dunn and Martha Root responded immediately to the appeal, the Dunns went to Australia where they open 700 towns to the Faith, and Martha Root embarked on the first of her journeys which are to extend over 20 years. [GPB308; MR88]
  • See also CT138-9.
  • Agnes Parsons arrived from her pilgrimage just before the close of the convention and was able to convey the instructions from `Abdu'l-Bahá to arrange a Convention for `the unity of the coloured and white races'. [BW5:413; SBR87]
  • The book Unveiling of the Divine Plan includes nine talks given by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab to the National Convention.
  • Shoghi Effendi calls the Tablets of the Divine Plan a charter for the propagation and the establishment of the Administrative Order. It has also been called a charter for the teaching of the Faith. [MBW84; LOG1628]
  • For the significance of the Tablets of the Divine Plan see 'Abdu'l-Bahá Champion of Universal Peace by Hoda Mahmoudi and Janet Khan.
  • Tablets of the Divine Plan; * `Abdu'l-Bahá, Writings and talks of; Charters of the Bahá'í Faith; Conventions, National; Amatul-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khanum; Agnes Parsons; Hyde Dunn; Clara Dunn; Martha Root; Race; Race amity; Race unity; Ahmad Sohrab; New York, USA; United States (USA)
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    Ms. Dorothy Champ (b. 23 February, 1893, Loudoun County, Virginia. d. 28 November, 1979, East Providence, RI) became a Bahá'í and went on to become a great teacher of the Faith. She had been a designer, singer, model and dancer. She was so inspired by the Faith that she had given up her career to teach. Ms. Champ was the first black person elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New York City. [Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá'í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p20; LoS61-62] Dorothy Champ; New York, USA first black person elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New York City.
    1919 13 Apr
    191-
    The passing of Phoebe Apperson Hearst (b. 3 December, 1842) in her home in Pleasanton, California during the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. She was buried at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California. [AY49, Find a grave, Bahá'í Chronicles]
  • See AY55-> for a brief history of her life and her contribution to the progress of the Faith. She had learned of the Faith through Lua Getsinger and members of her group in the early days of the Faith in California.
  • 'Abdu'l-Bahá called her 'the servant of Bahá, the "Mother of the Faithful"'. He writes that she had 'sincerely turned unto her Master... completely faced toward the Kingdom of God ... [she] shall surely have a firm and steady footing in the Cause of God, her face shall shine forth from the Horizon of Loftiness, her fame shall be spread in the Kingdom of God, and [she] shall have a ringing voice ... and the light of her glorious deeds shall beam forth during cycles and ages.' [AY54-55; 106-107]
  • See Some Early Bahá'ís of the West pp13-19.
  • See Two Letters of Mrs Phoebe A Hearst in BW7p800-802.
  • Phoebe Hearst; - In Memoriam; - Births and deaths; Cemeteries and graves; Lua Getsinger; Names and titles; Pleasanton, CA; California, USA; Colma, CA; United States (USA)
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    The Egyptian Revolution of 1919: From 1883 to 1914, the successive Khedives of Egypt and Sudan, under the Ottoman Sultan, remained the official ruler of Egypt and Sudan, but ultimate power was exercised by the British Consul-General. During the reign of Muhammad Ali (1805 - 1848), the man considered as the founder of modern Egypt, (and a dynasty of Khedives that lasted until the end of the first World War), the foundations were laid for the modernization of Egypt. Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islam were the leading ideologies of the period as well as the principle of self-determination and independence from foreign rule. A request was made for independence, Egyptian representation was made at the Paris Peace Conference that resulted in the leader of the nationalist forces being exiled to Malta. (It should be noted that during WW I Egypt was under martial law administered by the British.) [Wikipedia; Colonialism, Nationalism and Jewish Immigration to Palestine: Abdu'l-Baha's Viewpoints Regarding the Middle East by Kamran Ekbal p3] Colonialism and imperialism; Egypt; Sudan
    1919 c. Apr
    191-
    Initiated by Eugene and Wandeyne Deuth, Reality magazine provided a forum for accounts of Bahá'í activities (mostly those in New York) and a wide range of articles by Bahá'ís and others.
  • Reality for 1921.
  • After 1922, under the editor Harrison Gray Dyar, the magazine changed in character, serving as a vehicle for a series of attacks on Bahá'í orthodoxy and organization (1923-1926) then practically ceasing to carry any Bahá'í content (1926-1929).
  • It went out of production in the Spring of 1929. [SBBH2p135-155]
  • Reality magazine; Reality; Eugene Deuth; Wandeyne Deuth; Harrison Gray Dyar; New York, USA; United States (USA)
    1919 (Late Winter until Early Autumn and beyond)
    191-
    "Red Summer" is the period from late winter through early autumn of 1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots took place in more than three dozen cities across the United States, as well as in one rural county in Arkansas.

    Some historians claim that the racial terror connected with "Red Summer" began as early as 1917 during the bloody massacre that occurred in East St. Louis, Illinois, a barbaric pogrom that would eventually set the stage for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst episodes of post-Civil War racial violence ever committed against Black Americans. The Tulsa Massacre left as many as 300 Black people dead and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of Greenwood, an all-Black community so wealthy, the philosopher Booker T. Washington called it "Negro Wall Street." [Red Summer: When Racists Mobs Ruled]

  • See Wikipedia for a partial list of locations where such events took place in 1919 alone.

    It was against this backdrop of racial tension and hatred that the Baha'i community promoted racial amity. [SYH125-126]

  • Red Summer; Race amity; Race unity; Racism; United States (USA)
    1919 22 Feb
    191-
    The "Self-Publishing of the Bahá'í Association" was replaced by the establishment of the "Publishing House of the German Bahá'í Federation GmbH". This publishing house was founded by eighteen Bahá'ís with a share capital of 25,000 marks. [German Bahá'í website archive] - Publishing Trusts; Germany
    1919 Feb
    191-
    The publication of Tablets of Abdul-Baha abbas Volume II Second edition. (The first edition was published in May 1915) It was published by the Bahai Publishing Society in Chicago. Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá (book); Chicago, IL; Illinois, USA
    1919 18 Jan
    191-
    The commencement of the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles.
  • Ali Kuli Khan was named as a member of Persia's Peace Delegation to the Versailles. [SUP45]
  • Paris Peace Conference (1919); - International peace conferences; Paris, France; Versailles, France; France
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    Chen Ting Mo accepted the Faith in the United States. He returned to Shanghai with many Bahá'í books that he deposited in the Shanghai library. [PH31; Video Early history of the Bahá'í Faith in China 7 min 04 sec] Chen Ting Mo; Shanghai, China
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    The publication of The New Day; The Bahai Revelation by Charles Mason Remey. The book was a brief statement of the history and the teachings of the Faith. Charles Mason Remey; * Publications; East Lansing, MI; Michigan, USA; United States (USA)
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    After joining the Bahá'í Faith, Dorothy Champ (b. Loudoun County, Virginia, 23 February, 1893, d. East Providence, RI 28 November, 1979), went on to be a lifelong lecturer and teacher of the Faith. She was also the first African American elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New York City. [LoSp61-62; Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá'í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p20] Dorothy Champ; New York, USA; United States (USA) The first African American elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New York City
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    The first Norwegian to accept the Faith, Johanna Christensen-Schubarth, `the mother of the Norwegian Bahá'í Community', became a Bahá'í in the United States. [BW12:694-696]. - First Bahá'ís by country or area; Norway The first Norwegian to accept the Faith, Johanna Christensen-Schubarth
    1919 (In the year)
    191-
    Ibrahim Kheiralla died, having been abandoned by all of his followers. [CB252]
  • See MD16 for 'Abdu'l-Bahá's comment about him.
  • Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Covenant-breaking
    1919 (in the year)
    191-
    Amelia Collins, Hand of the Cause, became a Bahá'í in Pasadena, California. [PSBW74] Amelia Collins; - Hands of the Cause; Pasadena, CA; California, USA; United States (USA)
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