Bahá'í Faith in Alaska

The Bahá'í Faith was introduced to Alaska before 1915 and the first member of the religion moved there that year. Over time the community of Bahá'ís grew and established local governing councils called spiritual assemblies in several cities. Currently has approximately 1500 adherents in the state of Alaska.

History

Agnes Alexander was the first Bahá'í to ever visit Alaska. She was on her way back to Hawaii when she made several stops in Southeast Alaska and gave several talks, as recorded by Aseyeh Allen.[1]

The first Bahá'í to move to Alaska and live here was Margaret Green. She lived in Juneau from June 16, 1915 to June 6, 1918 and worked as a librarian. The first Bahá'í to pioneer here, in answer to The Tablets of the Divine Plan, was Orcella Rexford. The first person to become a Bahá'í in Alaska was Dr. Gayne V. Gregory, who later married Rexford. The other first new Bahá'í was Victoria Robarts.[2]

Several Bahá'ís traveled to Alaska in the 1920s, but there was very little activity. In 1939, Honor Kempton arose in answer to a letter from Shoghi Effendi written to the Bahá'ís of North America where he asked them to move to the nine states, provinces and territories of the United States and Canada that still had no Bahá'ís in them.[3] Since the word "anchorage" was mentioned in the letter[4] Honor decided to move to Anchorage, Alaska. She first settled in Juneau, but quickly relocated to Anchorage where she lived from May 1939 to 1947. She operated a bookshop called The Book Cache, which was called ''The cultural center of Alaska" by the Governor.[5] The other Bahá'í who answered Shoghi Effendi's request was Betty Becker who moved to Juneau. In 1941, Janet Whiteneck became the first Alaskan Bahá'í in this period that that was to mark the permanent establishment of the Bahá'í Faith in Alaska. Whiteneck married Verne Stout in 1945, and they had the first marriage of Bahá'ís in Alaska.[6]

The first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Alaska in Anchorage in 1943, and Local Spiritual Assemblies in Fairbanks (1955), Tanana Valley (1956), Ketchikan (1956) and Juneau (1957) followed. In 1957 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Alaska was formed.[7] Shoghi Effendi, head of the religion from 1921 to his death in 1957, wrote many letters to the Bahá'ís of Alaska - these were compiled and published in High Endeavours: Messages to Alaska in 1976.[8]

By the 1980s, the Bahá’í Faith was established in over 200 localities in Alaska with more than 60 Local Spiritual Assemblies, 26 of which were legally incorporated. There are currently approximately 1500 Bahá'ís in Alaska.[9] And there have been conferences. In 1986 North American Indian Bahá'í Lee Brown gave a talk at the 1986 Bahá'í Continental Indigenous Council held at Tanana Valley which was recorded[10] — it includes his interpretation of Native American, especially Hopi, prophecies.

Notes

  1. ↑ Kolstoe, p.II-1
  2. ↑ Kolstoe, p.II-1
  3. ↑ Marcus, p.1
  4. ↑ Shoghi Effendi Bahá'í Reference Library
  5. ↑ Marcus, p.2
  6. ↑ Kolstoe, p.II-1
  7. ↑ National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Alaska Alaska Bahá'í Community - History
  8. ↑ Effendi, Shoghi (1976). High Endeavours: Messages to Alaska. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Alaska. p. 79.
  9. ↑ National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Alaska Alaska Bahá'í Community - History
  10. ↑ Brown, Lee (1986). "Native American Indian prophecies – Lee Brown". Retrieved 2012-11-10.

See also

References

External links

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