- 1925-04-21 — The first Local Spiritual Assembly in South Africa was formed in the Carey home in Arcadia, Pretoria.
Agnes Carey was the first person from Pretoria to become a Bahá'í and served as a member of the Local assembly from 1925 to 1929. The Assembly was dissolved in 1931 due to the movement of the Bahá'ís. [PHBFp8; Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911]
Agnes Carey passed away in 1958 and her live story can be found in BW13p943 - 1953-00-00 — With the announcement of the Ten-Year Crusade, the third phase of the development of the Faith in South Africa began. By the end of 1953, no less than 13 Bahá'ís had left their homes in the United States and settled in South Africa. William and Marguerite Sears and son Michael, Harry and Margaret Ford as well as Robert and Helen Miller (with their three young children) all settled in Johannesburg. Ruth and Bishop Brown, who were Margaret Ford's mother and step-father settled in Durban. Lowell and Edith Johnson settled in Cape Town whilst Eleanor and Lyall Hadden settled in Pretoria.
During the course of the Ten-Year Crusade, 65 other pioneers from the United States, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and England came with some settling permanently.
Following the instructions of the Guardian during this phase, the pioneers concentrated their teaching work on the black and colored people of South Africa. "Coloured" in South Africa indicates people of mixed heritage as distinct from native black Africans. During these 10 years a few others declared their faith in Bahá'u'lláh, i.e. descendants of Malays who were imported as slaves over 300 years ago by the Dutch settlers, Indians and a few whites. The first black African to become a Bahá'í was Klaas Mtsweni, a Zulu in Pretoria in 1954.
By April 1956 the Bahá'í Faith had spread thinly over 15 countries of Southern Africa including the islands of the Indian Ocean and St. Helena, and a regional governing body, the Regional Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa was formed with its seat in Johannesburg. The National Convention was held at the farm owned by the Sears family.
Because of the system of apartheid practiced and legislated in South Africa, the Bahá'í Faith, the principles of which include the Oneness of Mankind, was taught for 32 years on a one-to-one basis mainly without publicity. Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed by plurality vote in all localities where there were 9 or more believers aged 21 years and over. These Assemblies were charged with making their own teaching plans and living a life based on the moral principles outlined by Bahá'u'lláh.
During this period of gestation, the Bahá'í Faith was being watched continually by the security police. Both the individual Bahá'ís and the administrative bodies were under police investigation and surveillance. However, although the believers never compromised the principles of the Faith and gradually developed racially integrated Bahá'í communities, the numbers were too small and peaceful to be considered a threat to the apartheid regime. By 1985 the marriage laws were relaxed. In 1990 a series of steps began that led to the repeal of apartheid legislation on the 17th of June 1991 and a democratic government was elected in 1994.
[Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911] - 1954-07-12 — The first South African to become a Bahá'í enrolled in the Faith on this day. [That Promising Continent 20]
- 1956-04-21 — After their pilgrimage Harlan and Elizabeth Ober travelled to South Africa where they helped form the first all-African Local Spiritual Assembly in Pretoria as had previously been request of them by the Guardian. They returned in December as pioneers. [BW13869]
- 1962-07-20 —
The passing of Harlan Foster Ober (b. October 6, 1881 in Beverly, Massachusetts) in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
- He had graduated from Harvard University in 1905 with a B.A. and later obtained a law degree from Northeastern University in Boston.
- Harlan Ober became a Bahá'í at Green Acre in 1905. Another source said it was in the spring of 1906 in a room in the Commonwealth Hotel in Boston that he overcame his doubts while using a prayer and other literature given to him by Lua Getsinger. [LDNW23; 100-101; SBR120-121]
- Hooper Harris and Lua Getsinger's brother, Dr. William Moore, were selected to make a teaching trip to India. When Moore died suddenly Harlan Ober was chosen to replace him. As he had no funds for the trip Lua borrowed the money from Mr Hervey Lunt, the father of Alfred Lunt. [LGHC105]
- In 1906 he made a visit to 'Abdu'l-Bahá while He was still confined to prison.
- On the 17th of July, 1912 he married Grace Roberts (aunt of future Hand of the Cause John Robarts) in a ceremony conducted by the Reverend Howard Colby Ives at 209 West 78th Street in New York. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited America in 1912 He had suggested that Grace Robarts and Harlan marry, and they both agreed with the match, with Harlan travelling to New York from Boston and proposing in Central Park after being informed of the suggestion by Lua Getsinger. 'Abdu'l-Bahá performed the marriage ceremony in the room he was staying in in New York on July 17, 1912, and Howard Colby Ives later performed a legal ceremony. [SoW Vol 3 No 12 p14; Bahaipedia; The Jouney West, July 2012; Mother's Stories: Stories of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Early Believers told by Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall to her son, p. 20]
- They adopted three children of English, German and Russian background.
- It was from their home in Cambridge, MA, from the office of the National Teaching Committee, that the first Teaching Bulletin was issued on November 19, 1919. This bulletin evolved to the US Baha'i News.
- He was closely involved with Race Unity work and made many teaching trips to the southern states with his friend Louis Gregory.
- He served on the Bahá'í Temple Unity Executive Board as president or secretary from 1918 to 1920. The work of this board was taken over by the National Spiritual Assembly when it was elected in 1922.
- In 1938 Harlan was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada and he served on it until 1941.
- Grace passed away in 1938, leaving Harlan widowed.
- He married his second wife, Dr Elizabeth Kidder Ober in Beverly, MA on the 21st of June, 1941. Shoghi Effendi was pleased with the way the marriage was conducted, without having any church ceremony or minister conduct the service. [BW13p869, 871]
- After their pilgrimage in 1956 Harlan and Elizabeth Ober travelled to South Africa where they helped form the first all-African Local Spiritual Assembly in Pretoria as had previously been request of them by the Guardian. They returned in December as pioneers. [BW13869]
- He was appointed to the Auxiliary Board for Protection in Africa in October of 1957 and served on the National Teaching Committee of South and West Africa for two years.
- He was buried in the Zandfontein Cemetery in Pretoria. [BW13p870; Find a grave;
Bahaipedia; BW13p869]
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