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…
From their earliest years, generations of Baha’is have prayed: “Make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star.” Shining lamps and brilliant stars are only necessary, and only visible, in times of darkness. The women of Zanjan, a city in north-west Persia, who recognised the truth of the claim of the Bab, shone as…
Story by Sonjel Vreeland “Leonora, what are you waiting for? Go!” Those were the words of May Maxwell to Leonora Holsapple Armstrong. Leonora wanted to go pioneering to South America but her resolve weakened in the face of her friends’ and family’s concerns. Leonora, like Dorothy Baker, learned of the Baha’i Faith from her grandmother and…
Chinese businesswoman Zhang Xin is a billionaire who made much of her money in the real estate sector. She co-founded and served as the former CEO of SOHO China, a Chinese office building developer, along with her spouse Pan Shiyi. On September 7, 2022, she gave up her position as CEO in order to devote…
