Ruth and Ellsworth Blackwell were the first Bahá'í pioneers to move to Haiti, where they spent more than half of the next thirty-five years. The book, White and Negro Alike. Stories of Baha'i Pioneers Ellsworth and Ruth Blackwell tells the story of the victories and the challenges they experienced in Haiti and in periods when they returned to Chicago between 1940 and 1975. It was written by Audrey Mike and published by Our Life Words.
• See the story of Ellsworth Blackwell, NSA member, ABM, pioneer to Madagascar and to Zaire (DRC) where he passed away in 1978. [Bahaipedia]

Mrs Meherangiz Munsiff, the wife of an Indian diplomat in London, arrived in Madagascar and was acknowledged as the first Bahá'í in the country. [BWNS288]
• There was one other Bahá'í in Madagascar before Mrs Munsiff but he was not a Bahá'í in good standing.
• Suffering ill health, Mrs. Munsiff left in January 1954 a day after Danile Randrianarivo, 29, accepted the Faith, becoming the first Malagasy Bahá'í.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Indian Ocean was formed with its seat in Port Louis had jurisdiction over the following countries: Mauritius, Chagos Archipelago, Rodriguez Island, Malagasy Republic, (formerly Madagascar; name changed in 1958) Seychelles Islands, Comoro Islands, and Reunion Island. [BW14p96; BW15:195]

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) was formed with its seat in Tananarive. [BW15:199, BWNS288]
• For pictures see BW15:153, 198.
• The "Mother Assembly", the National Spiritual Assembly of the Indian Ocean, was left with the Chagos Archipelago, Comoros with the formation of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Réunion, Madagascar and Mauritius. [BN no608 November 1981 p11]