The very first time I heard of Amelia Collins was when I was a child, maybe five or six, visiting the Holy Land with my family. We were walking along the wide path in Bahji, the only sound our footsteps on the white pebbles, and before us towered a beautiful wrought-iron gilded gate, leading to the…
Dr. Magdalene M. Carney was a writer, a Civil Rights advocate, a Bahá’í, and first and foremost, an educator. She was known and loved for her many excellent qualities and especially for her wholehearted commitment to the education of children and youth and to the Bahá’í Faith. Mag, as her friends called her, was the…
Born in 1877 in Raleigh, North Carolina to two formerly enslaved parents, Mary Brown Martin brought hope to young black students and enjoyed tutoring young immigrants who needed help learning English. In the 1920s, she taught in the Cleveland Public Schools system, and during her free time, she was actively involved in the women’s suffrage movement….
A wet purse was discovered at the seaside in January of 1954. The woman who had been carrying the bag was on a flight from Rome to London. Two days earlier, the jet had crashed into the water, killing every person on board. There was a booklet about the Bahá’i Faith inside the purse. A…
Martha Root was different from other girls even as a little child. She enjoyed reading and had little interest in cooking, knitting, or sewing. She briefly worked in education before pursuing her life’s work as a journalist. Martha’s first post was in Union City, Pennsylvania while she was teacher and high school principal. She also…
Mildred Root Mottahedeh was a collector of Chinese export porcelains and a co-founder of a business that created porcelain replicas for various US presidents and organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. An American Bahá’í who served as the first representative of the Bahá’í community at the United Nations, an Auxiliary Board member, and as…
In 1862, at the young age of 19, Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson wed George Hearst, a very successful miner who subsequently rose to the position of U.S. Senator. They had one child, William Randolph Hearst. Phoebe rose to prominence in the 1880s, serving as the first president of the Century Club of California as well as…
“You must serve as my flag and wave it in both the East and the West.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said this to Lua Getsinger, when she visited Him as a member of the very first Baha’i pilgrimage from America to now Israel in 1898. Why use the word flag? Becuase the Persian word “lua” means “flag.” Born…
Corinne Knight True was born in Kentucky during the Civil War, the oldest child of Martha Thomas (Duerson) Knight and Moses Greene Knight. Moses Knight became wealthy by wise real estate investments in Chicago’s downtown area, but to protect his interests, Knight had to sell all of his land in Kentucky and relocate his family…
On January 19, 2000, Madame Ruhiyyih Rabbani, born as Mary Sutherland Maxwell, and affectionately known by the title Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, passed away from this earthly plain. She was the Handmaiden of Glory; the beloved consort of Shoghi Effendi; his “shield”, his “helpmate”, and his “tireless collaborator”; a Hand of the Cause of God; and the…
