“The Pupil of the Eye:” African Americans and the Making of the American Community, 1898–2003

Abstract

Bahá’u’lláh, the prophet-founder of the Bahá’i religion, proclaimed his faith in 1863, the same year as the emancipation of the African-American slaves.1 Few among these early Bahá’i believers realized that as they were planting the seeds of their new world faith, calling for the unity of all people, that those seeds would grow and spread into a diverse community of believers, which would include the descendants of African slaves in the United States. Former African-American slaves, bent over hoe and cotton, moaning and singing their signature songs of hope, could only pray that one day there would be a world faith that would not only embrace them, but celebrate their unique spiritual qualities as special gifts and contributions “… much needed in the world today.”2