- 1912-09-22 —
The marriage of Louis G. Gregory and Louisa ("Louise") A. M. Mathew, the first interracial Bahá'í couple, who met while on pilgrimage and whom 'Abdul-Bahá had encouraged to marry. They exchanged Bahá'í vows after the rites performed by Rev. Everard W. Daniel, curate of St. Philip's Protestant Episcopal Church, perhaps the most prestigious African American church in the country, in a private ceremony in his residence. In a "Tablet" (translated March 14, 1914). She was 46 and he was 8 years younger. [SYH73-75, 91]
- `Abdu'l-Bahá lauded the Gregorys' marriage as "an introduction to the accomplishment" of harmony between the races. [`ABDU'L-BAHÁ' S 1912 HOWARD UNIVERSITY
SPEECH: A CIVIL WAR MYTH FOR INTERRACIAL EMANCIPATION p117 by Dr Christopher Buck]
- See The Journey West.
- The prayer, "Verily, they are married in obedience to thy command. Cause them to become the signs of unity and harmony until the end of time..." was revealed for their wedding by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [FMH97]
- "Intermarriage is a good way to efface racial differences. It produces strong, beautiful offspring, clever and resourceful." [sYH7]
- [239D:169] reported this marriage took place on the 27th of September.
- At this time interracial marriage was legal in Washington but not socially acceptable. It was outlawed in 25 states. It wasn't until 1967 that legislation forbidding interracial marriages was henceforth illegal. In the Washington community at this time there were white Bahá'ís who did not yet understand the principle of racial unity. [SYH80, 85-86]
- "I made that marriage." 'Abdu'l-Bahá is reported having said to Mrs Parsons. "I wish the white and coloured races to marry"
- 1956-05-20 —
Louisa Mathew Gregory, (b. 1 February 1866 in Penge, Kent, England) whose wedding to Hand of the Cause of God Louis Gregory in 1912 was the first interracial western Bahá'í marriage, passed away in Eliot, Maine. [BW13:878; SYH19, 239]
- She had been introduced to the Faith by Edith Sanderson in Paris in about December of 1909. Edith had been taught by May Maxwell in 1902. [SYH5, 206]
- For her obituary see BW13:376–8. Error in this article
- There was no Bahá'í Congress in Prague in 1928
- She did not attend Cambridge but rather the examination for her credentials were administered by Cambridge.
- 'Abdu'l-Bahá did not attend her marriage on the 27 September 1912. He was in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. [SYHvii-viii; 28]
- Her biography, A Seed in Your Heart - The Life of Louise Mathew Gregory by Janet Fleming Rose was published by George Ronald in 2018.
- See a brief biography in The Bahá'í Community of the British Isles 1844-1963 p462-464 and for the story of his learning of the Faith, p453-454
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