« العودة إلى العرض المفرد
مقارنة:
الإنجليزية ⇄
الإنجليزية
لم يُعثر على ترجمات أو نصوص موازية لهذه الوثيقة.
Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Jan T. Jasion, Abdu'l-Baha and The Other, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ AND THE “OTHER”1
Jan Teofil Jasion
2021
The topic of discussion are the missing newspaper articles covering of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to
North America from the emigrant and minority newspapers and the wider impact this has.
But first I would like to thank Robert and Boyd for making this happen. Since there are two themes
to this presentation I would first like to acknowledge the very positive influence of the works of
three scholars on sensitizing me to the question of racism when I was a young student at the
University of Windsor: John Porter2, Gunnar Myrdal3 and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá4. My research in the field
of newspapers and the Bahá’í Faith could not have been undertaken without the support, questions
and answers from friends around the globe. Too many to name them all here, but a few stand out:
Amín Egea in Spain, Steven Kolins in America, David Merrick in Scotland, Alan Keene in Ireland,
Frederic Autret and Armindo Pedro in France. The bibliographic notes of many scholars were used
as guides and at times as foils, and I thank them all.
This essay will be in five parts. It will begin with a brief discussion of what is xenophobia, ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá’s response to it, His interaction with certain newspapers, the impact of xenophobia on
digitalized newspaper collections, and will conclude by examining a few comments by Bahá’u’lláh
on newspapers and their contributors.
But first a look at the ravages of the other pandemic which has encircled the globe and is still laying
waste its cities at the current moment. The name of this virulent disease is xenophobia. It is defined
by Webster’s as “fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or anything that is strange or foreign.”5
Collins goes a little further “hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture.”6
shunning, and hating of the “other.” It has many strains which flare up and dominate some regions
1 Based on a webinar presenta0on at the Wilme5e Ins0tute, Dec. 6, 2020.
2 John Porter, The Ver'cal Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1995).
3 Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (New York: Harper, 1965).
4 Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í World Faith: Selected Wri'ngs of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Wilme5e:
Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1956).
5 Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dic'onary. (Springfield: Merriam-Webster), 1990.
6 Collins English Dic'onary. 12th ed. (Glasgow: Collins), 2014.
for some time, are suppressed only to be replaced by a new strain. Currently the strains that are
dominating in America are racism, Hispanophobia, Islamophobia, with anti-Semitism lurking in the
corner. In Europe is the refugees and the newly arrived immigrants who are the current victims.
There are dozens of other strains. This virus is vicious, devious and insidious. It aims to divide and
conquer. It divides the victims and unites the oppressors.
Some Talking Points on Xenophobia
1. It is WRONG i.e., immoral and untruthful)
2. It is STUPID i.e., lacking in normal intelligence)
3. It is disease which is highly contagious, and insidious
A) It is irrational
B) It is bereft of logic
C) It encourages A and B to be argued to show that both are rational and logical
D) It is divisive in that it tends to divide the victims one against the other
E) It victimizes the victims by encouraging the victims to blame themselves for their
plight
F) It encourages the victims to suppress their “objectionable” traits and “pass for
white.”
G) It denies the spiritual reality of the oneness of mankind
H) It’s existence is a denial of the biological unity of mankind.
I) It helps to unite oppressors and tyrants.
J) It disrespects and distorts the culture of the “other”, and then rationalizes the
argument.
K) It distorts and deforms language to facilitate its existence. For one example, the use
of lower case initial letter in a name of a nationality or ethnic group is considered
demeaning and disrespectful. But the use of “black” as another term for African
American is common, rather than the correct term “Black”. Another word “Racism”
could be argued is an oxymoron since there is but only one human race, and therefore
the only inhabitants who could be racists are Martians and Venusians.
Please remember points C and J of the above as they will assist in clarifying thinking on several
subsequent points.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Xenophobia
When ‘ʻAbdu'l-Bahá made His Western tour, in His first published talk given in Paris on October
16, 1911, He said in part:
When a man turns his face to God he finds sunshine everywhere. All men are his
brothers. Let not conventionality cause you to seem cold and unsympathetic when you
meet strange people from other countries. Do not look at them as though you suspected
them of being evil-doers, thieves and boors. You think it necessary to be very careful,
not to expose yourselves to the risk of making acquaintance with such, possibly,
undesirable people.
I ask you not to think only of yourselves. Be kind to the strangers, whether come they
from Turkey, Japan, Persia, Russia, China or any other country in the world.
Help to make them feel at home; find out where they are staying, ask if you may render
them any service; try to make their lives a little happier.
In this way, even if, sometimes, what you at first suspected should be true, still go out of
your way to be kind to them—this kindness will help them to become better.
After all, why should any foreign people be treated as strangers?
Let those who meet you know, without your proclaiming the fact, that you are indeed a
Bahá'í.7
This is one of His themes that He elucidated in many of the cities He visited in America. The list of
peoples that He mentioned as victims of xenophobic acts is long and besides those already
mentioned included the African Americans, the Jews, the Indians or First Nation peoples the
Japanese, and others.
Not only did He talk about inclusivity, but He practised it. He went to the meeting places and the
homes of the Black Americans, the Armenians, the Syrians, the Greeks, the Jews, the East Indians,
the Japanese and other groups. We know the story with Louise Gregory at the Washington banquet.
But there are other lesser known stories, such as the meeting with the Black servants at the Parsons’
boathouse in Dublin, New Hampshire, the visit to the home of Charles Tinsley, a Black servant
from the Hearst estate who had broken his leg, the sudden change of hotels in Paris after a Black
seeker had been refused entry, His sudden enthusiasm of meeting with the Greeks in a park in New
7 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks: Addresses Given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1911 (Wilme5e: Bahá’í Publishing, 2006), pp. 5-6.
York City despite a very uncomfortable ride on the underground metro, His seeking out and
meeting under the Eiffel Tower, for the second time a crippled seller of post-cards confined to a
wheel chair, etc. The scattered notes of His travels indicate some of the strains of xenophobia that
‘Abdu’l-Bahá confronted in His travels and they included: racism. Islamophobia, ant-Semitism,
homophobia, Hibernophobia, the ugly American syndrome, Francophobia, ant-feminism.
Japanophobia, Germanophobia, Turkophobia, Italophobia, ethnic and racial stereotypes, disability
discrimination, to name a few.
Press Coverage During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ministry.
There were four periods during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry when there was intense press coverage:
1896 associated with the assassination of the Shah of Persia;
1903 as a result of the intense and bloody persecutions of the Bahá’ís in Persia;
1911-1913 associated with the travels of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the West;
1921-1922 associated the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
We will be concentrating on the third period only.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s trip to America in 1912 was widely covered in the newspapers. His every
movement, talk and engagement was recorded with in about two thousand articles. My friend Amín
Egea has done a remarkable presentation in his two volume The Apostle of Peace: A Survey of
References to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Western Press, published by George Ronald in 2018.
In the United States ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met a variety of minority communities. Notable are His
engagements with the African Americans at Howard University and at the NAACP convention in
Chicago. These were well covered by the Black press, both local and national. However, the story is
quite different with His meetings with some of the other groups.
The Armenians
On July 21st 1912 the Armenian Federation Society had a memorial service to which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
was invited. But the only newspaper account we have is from the New-York Tribune8. Mahmúd
Zarqání reports that his talk was not recorded by the Persians9. Wonder what the Armenians
themselves wrote about the meeting? The Library of Congress lists twenty-eight Armenian
periodicals published in America in its collection, none of which have been digitalized.
The Syrians and Lebanese
He met with the Syrian community in Boston twice in May and July. Here we are dependent on the
English-language Boston Herald10 for a report but only for the second meeting. Since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
8 “Persians Hold Service,” New-York Tribune (New York) vol. 72 no. 23,990 (July 22, 1912), p. 12, col. 4.
9 Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, Maḥmúd’s Diary (Oxford: George Ronald, 1998), p. 175.
10 “Bahaist Leader Has Recep0on,” The Boston Herald (Boston) vol. 132 no. 24 (July 24, 1912), p. 5.
spoke in Arabic there was no translation and no recording, except in the Arabic press, for which we
have no report. Although Amín does give us the reference as the periodical Al-Saih. It is available at
the Library of Congress, but only on microfilm. Apparently this was a highly literate gathering with
poets, writers and editors of the Syrian-American community. The Lebanese-American writer
Khalil Gibran was a member of this society.
The Japanese
He had several meetings with the Japanese in California. He even gave His permission for articles
to be published in the Japanese press11. By the very fact that He gave His permission, He became an
active partner in this endeavour These are also missing from our collective knowledge.
The Jewish community
‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited three synagogues and there was some reporting in the daily local newspapers.
However, it would be interesting to see what the response was in the Yiddish press. Some of the
American Yiddish newspapers have been digitalized and are available but not in America. No
articles from the English-language Jewish press have been found. However Ahmad Sohrab reports
that the reporting in the Arabic press of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s meeting at the synagogue in San Francisco
was of such a high quality that ‘Abdu'l-Bahá instructed that fifty packets of newspapers be made up
for His journey back to Egypt. Since these newspapers have not been digitalized the information is
not publicly available. Fortunately there was extensive recording of these talks in the Bahá’í journal
Star of the West (Chicago) which has been digitalized and is available though not by the Library of
Congress.
To summarize: we have no or limited public access to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talks to the Armenians, Jews,
Syrians and Japanese, solely on the grounds that the newspapers that published them are not
available. Besides the talks themselves the commentaries by the journalist and editors would also be
of interest especially in the Yiddish press.
Amín Egea states in his preface “much more research is yet to be conducted in American journals
and magazines, especially. . . in the many newspapers published by different ethnic and cultural
communities in the United States.”12 As far as I am aware he is the first to acknowledge this gap in
our collective history. Since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke about universal truths such as the oneness of
mankind and illustrated their application, this is not only a loss to the Bahá’ís, but also to the nation
as a whole.
A survey in the digitalized American newspapers readily accessible in national and state online
11 Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, Maḥmúd’s Diary, p. 304.
12 Amín Egea, The Apostle of Peace: A Survey of References to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Western Press 1871-1921 (Oxford:
George Ronald, 2017), p. x.
archives (including three subscription sites) shows that for the year 1912 the number of articles
referencing the Bahá’í Faith in each of the following ethnic language and minority newspapers was:
Polish (1), German (1), Dutch (1), Czech (3), Irish (2), Japanese (English) (1), Jewish (2) and
African American (24). Of these the total from the Library of Congress Chronicling America is
seven. The number of foreign-language newspapers was estimated to be in excess of 1,300 in 1910.
When working on ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in the West: A Biographical Guide13 it was noticed that there was a
lack of articles concerning ‘Abdu'l-Bahá in the immigrant press. Only two articles were found in
Polish and Dutch newspapers in all of the various sources available at that time. The assumption
was that the immigrant communities and their press were not interested in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. But this
was an error in judgement. Enough fragments of information have surfaced to show that there was a
keen interest not only in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America, but in the Bahá’í Faith in general by the
immigrant and minority press, not only during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit, but during the entirety of His
ministry.
The library of libraries in the United States is the Library of Congress. Though not a national
library, it has taken up that role as well as being a parliamentarian library. The importance of its role
in collecting and disseminating information and establishing standards in the library environment is
not to be underestimated. It is also a role model for many other national institutions outside the
United States. Its mission statement dated 2020 for conserving and digitalizing newspapers from the
various and diverse ethnic communities in the United States stated:
“The Library of Congress presents the cultural output of the United States in all its
diversity. Our collections and the materials we present online speak for their creators,
not for the Library or the United States government.”14
Two lists, dated 1920, visualizing with graphs and maps of the service provided in conserving and
digitalizing for the public the ethnic newspapers are provided.15
The first list is of ethic communities and the second of the various languages served represented in
the digital collections of the Library of Congress in Chronicling America.
The first list has obvious problems. The most glaring are the omissions especially important for the
study of the Bahá’í Faith in America of many groups: Chinese, Armenians, Japanese, Dutch,
Portuguese, Puerto Ricans, etc. A second list of languages exists on the search page. It varies
13 Jan Teofil Jasion, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the West: a Biographical Guide of the People Associated with His Travel (Oxford:
George Ronald, 2012).
14 h5ps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/about/
15 Chronicling America Data Visualiza0ons. h5ps://www.loc.gov/ndnp/data-visualiza0ons/#ethnic_map.
slightly by not having Hebrew and Tagalog. Also when searching for newspapers using this criteria
results in some very odd results. Apparently there is a confusion between Dutch and German
(Deutsch?).16
A third list of languages and ethnic groups exist on the page “Search U.S. Newspaper Directory,
1690-Present”17. This seems to be a list of all the languages represented in the Library of Congress
newspaper collection, and not just the digitalized titles. This lack of attention to what may seem to
the majority of users as unimportant, can be viewed by the people of minority backgrounds as a
deliberate and demining act.
It should be noted that the United States is not the only country that displays these traits in its
national library digitalizing programmes. That is the trait of the suppression of newspapers from
immigrant and minority cultures. The same can be observed in Australia, with their database called
Trove, in Great Britain with the British Newspaper Archive, in France with the two databases
Gallica and Retronews and in Austria with ANNO. These five nations have a rich national collection
of digitalized newspapers in publicly accessible databases (though some charge a fee to access all of
the services) and they also have a sophisticated and historical emigrant community. And they all
practise cultural suppression of minority and emigrant communities.
Another interesting point is that the Library of Congress along with three large commercial
databases have digitalized thousands of newspapers from the United States and a few other
countries. If we just concentrate on the American newspapers we find that the goal of these four
databases is to present the cultural heritage of the nation. They have even spent money on the
digitalization of newspapers from around twenty small towns with populations of less than a
thousand and a few that no longer exist such as Sunbeam, Minnesota and White Pine, Colorado. But
as we have seen these efforts have not been extended to the immigrant community. Furthermore,
several of these immigrant newspapers have been digitalized and made available, but by foreign
agencies. A Welsh newspaper from Utica, New York is at the National Library of Wales, two
English-language Jewish newspapers are uniquely at the National Library of Israel, a Dutch
newspaper from Paterson, New Jersey is at Delpher, the newspaper database of the Netherlands,
and so forth.
The result of this as has been illustrated by using the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as an example is the
loss, not only to the ethnic community, but to the nation as a whole of part of their history. How
many stories, documents, events, speeches fundamental to the understanding of a nation’s history
16 Chronicling America. Advanced Search. h5ps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/#tab=tab_advanced_search
17 Chronicling America. Search U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present.
h5ps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/0tles/
and development have been suppressed or permanently lost due to the misguided applications of
false ethnic ideologies?
Another factor which might impact on the decision making for the preservation and
digitalization of newspapers is the newspapers themselves. That newspapers are not worth the
bother. It might be that there is a view that still prevails that newspapers are not an important source
of research. That they are just ephemera that have little long-term value.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF NEWSPAPERS
The trend seems to be in some circles of the academic world to minimize the value and use of
newspapers in scholarly research, as reflected by an article published by the American History
Association, by Prof. Jerry W. Knudson who wrote in 1998: “Not until John Bach McMaster’s
History of the People of the United States began publication in 1883 did any prominent historian in
this country make copious use of newspaper quotations.” He goes on to say “many historians have
consulted newspapers since then . . . but few have recognized the wider significance of the role of
the press in both reflecting and shaping society.” At about the same time, or at least during the same
decade as McMaster was writing, Bahá’u’lláh wrote in 1885 about the importance of newspapers as
a primary and secondary sources of information. A statement which stands well ahead of
contemporary thinking about the value of newspapers as can be seen by Knudsen’s statement.
“In this day the mysteries of this earth are unfolded and visible before the eyes, and the pages of
swiftly appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world; they display the doings and
actions of the different nations; they both illustrate them and cause them to be heard. Newspapers
are as a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech; they are a wonderful phenomenon and a
great matter.”18
If any man were to arise to defend, in his writings, the Cause of God against its assailants, such a
man, however inconsiderable his share, shall be so honored in the world to come that the Concourse
on high would envy his glory. No pen can depict the loftiness of his station, neither can any tongue
describe its splendor.”19
Blessed, doubly blessed is . . . the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the
testimony of His writings. . .20
These quotations open up a wide scope of activity for future researchers.
18 Bahá’u’lláh, “Ṭarázát” in Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed aWer the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Wilme5e: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
1988), pp. 39-40)
19 Bahá’u’lláh, “Lawḥ-i-Salmán II”, Gleanings from the Wri'ngs of Bahá’u’lláh (Wilme5e: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
1983), p. 374, no. 154.
20 Bahá’u’lláh, “Lawḥ-i-Arḍ-i-Bá”,Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed aWer the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 227-228.
Not only is the importance of the missing reports in the ethnic and minority presses mentioned
above brought into a sharper focus. One could argue that the retrieval of such documents
concerning ‘Abdu’l-Bahá verges on that of a sacred trust for Bahá’í scholars and researchers.
And what is the significance of those who wrote in defence of the Faith? In 1903 there were terrible
persecutions of the Bahá’ís in Persia. Over 130 American newspapers responded by publishing
articles. Most of the articles were obtained from wire-services. But many editors applied their own
headlines to these articles, some with uncanny insight:
“Pagans Kill and Torture.” from the The Bay City Tribune in Michigan; or “Mobs in Persia Slay
Reformers.” from the The San Francisco Call. Four articles were discovered where the editors were
calling for petitions to be organized and delivered to the Secretary of State. These came from Yuma,
Arizona, New Orleans and Springfield, Massachusetts.
Not only were individual articles concerning the Faith on their own important, but also
their sheer number impressed the persecutors greatly. This is illustrated by this account from
Ahmad Sohrab as presented by Amín Egea:
“when He returned to London, ‘ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was invited to a dinner in His honor at the
Persian Legation; and the ambassador presented Him with a collection of clippings from Edinburgh
newspapers with articles about Him which were provided to the embassy by a clippings bureau.”
I am sure that the Ottomans did the same and the information was sent to Istanbul.
Another role that these journalists and publishers did was to proclaim the Faith. It were
these articles that alerted hundreds of thousands of people around the globe to the very existence of
a new divine messenger and a new message. These were deliberate actions by the editors,
publishers, journalists to proclaim the Faith. The only reason they had for including the word ‘Babi’
or ‘Babism’ in an article was but that somebody should read it.
ADDENDUM
FIRST NEWSPAPER ARTICLES TO MENTION THE BÁBÍ AND BAHÁ’Í FAITHS
PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
1845-1921
CURRENT STATES
Alabama (Livingston) 1885 The Livingston Semi-Weekly Journal
Alaska (Juneau) 1918 The Alaska Daily Empire
Arizona (Tucson) 1885 Arizona Daily Star
Arkansas (Washington) 1851 Washington Telegraph
California (San Francisco) 1850 Daily Pacific News
Colorado (Saguache) 1884 Saguache Chronicle
Connecticut (Litchfield) 1850 The Litchfield Republican
Delaware (Wilmington) 1909 The Morning News
District of Columbia (Washington) 1846 Daily National Intelligencer
Florida (Pensacola) 1852 Pensacola Gazette
Georgia (Augusta; Savannah) 1852 Daily Chronicle & Sentinel
Hawaii (Honolulu) 1857 The Polynesian
Idaho (Idaho City) 1871 Idaho World
Illinois (Rockford) 1852 Rock River Democrat
Indiana (New Albany) 1850 New Albany Daily Ledger
Iowa (Burlington) 1846 Iowa Territorial Gazette and Advertiser
Kansas (Leavenworth) 1868 The Leavenworth Times
Kentucky (Louisville) 1846 Christian Observer
Louisiana (New Orleans) 1850 New-Orleans Weekly Delta
Maine (Augusta) 1846 Gospel Banner
Maryland (Baltimore) 1851 The Sun
Massachusetts (Boston) 1845 Boston Courier
Michigan (Ann Arbor) 1846 Michigan Argus
Minnesota (St. Paul) 1850 The Minnesota Pioneer
Mississippi (Vicksburg) 1850 Vicksburg Tri-Weekly Sentinel
Missouri (Fayette) 1846 Boon’s Lick Times
Montana (Deer Lodge) 1890 The New North-West
Nebraska (Columbus) 1884 The Columbus Journal
Nevada (Reno) 1871 Nevada State Journal
New Hampshire (Keene) 1846 Newhampshire Sentinel
New Jersey (Newark) 1852 Newark Daily Advertiser
New Mexico (Albuquerque) 1896 Albuquerque Morning Democrat
New York (New York City) 1845 New-York Observer
North Carolina (Wilmington) 1850 Weekly Commercial
North Dakota (Bismark) 1890 The Bismark Daily Tribune
Ohio (Cleveland) 1850 The Cleveland Herald
Oklahoma (Muskogee) 1885 Indian Journal
Oregon (The Dalles) 1891 The Dalles Daily Chronicle
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) 1846 Philadelphian
Rhode Island (Newport) 1852 Herald of the Times
South Carolina (Charleston) 1846 Southern Patriot
South Dakota (Elk Point) 1891 Union County Courier
Tennessee (Athens) 1853 The Athens Post
Texas (Galveston) 1851 The Civilian and Galveston Gazette
Utah (Salt Lake City) 1853 The Desseret News
Virginia (Alexandria) 1846 Alexandria Gazette
Washington (Spokane) 1891 The Spokane Daily Chronicle
West Virginia (Wheeling) 1852 Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
Wisconsin (Milwaukee) 1846 Milwaukee Sentinel
Wyoming (Sheridan) 1892 The Enterprise
CURRENT TERRITORIES
Puerto Rico (San Juan) 1852 Gaceta del gobierno de Puerto-Rico
Virgin Islands U.S. (St. Thomas) 1903 Lightbourn’s Mail Notes
FORMER TERRITORY
Philippine Islands (Manila) 1913 Bulletin of the Philippine Library
OLDEST DISCOVERED REFERENCES TO THE BÁBÍ AND BAHÁ’Í FAITHS
PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES IN NON-ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS
1845-1921
Arabic 1912 Al-Hoda New York City
Armenian 1916 Gotchnag New York City
Czech 1911 Minnesotské Noviny St. Paul, Minnesota
Dutch 1903 De Grondwet Holland, Michigan
Esperanto 1913 Amerika Esperantiso West Newton, Massachusetts
Finnish 1920 Uusi Kotimaa New York Mills, Minnesota
French 1852 Le Courier de la Louisiane New Orleans
German 1852 Der Lecha Patriot Allentown, Pennsylvania
Hawaiian 1912 Nupepa Kuoka Honolulu
Italian 1903 L’Italia San Francisco, California
Lithuanian 1915 Lietuva Chicago
Norwegian 1921 Minneapolis Tidende Minneapolis, Minnesota
Polish 1896 Gazeta Polska w Chicago Chicago
Slovenian 1921 Glas Svobode Chicago
Spanish 1919 La Prensa San Antonio, Texas
Swedish 1883 Gamla och Nya Hemlandet Chicago
Welsh 1914 Y Drych Utica, New York
© Feb. 26, 2021
Jan Teofil Jasion
Châtenay-Malabry, France
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ AND THE “OTHER”1
Jan Teofil Jasion
2021
The topic of discussion are the missing newspaper articles covering of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to
North America from the emigrant and minority newspapers and the wider impact this has.
But first I would like to thank Robert and Boyd for making this happen. Since there are two themes
to this presentation I would first like to acknowledge the very positive influence of the works of
three scholars on sensitizing me to the question of racism when I was a young student at the
University of Windsor: John Porter2, Gunnar Myrdal3 and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá4. My research in the field
of newspapers and the Bahá’í Faith could not have been undertaken without the support, questions
and answers from friends around the globe. Too many to name them all here, but a few stand out:
Amín Egea in Spain, Steven Kolins in America, David Merrick in Scotland, Alan Keene in Ireland,
Frederic Autret and Armindo Pedro in France. The bibliographic notes of many scholars were used
as guides and at times as foils, and I thank them all.
This essay will be in five parts. It will begin with a brief discussion of what is xenophobia, ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá’s response to it, His interaction with certain newspapers, the impact of xenophobia on
digitalized newspaper collections, and will conclude by examining a few comments by Bahá’u’lláh
on newspapers and their contributors.
But first a look at the ravages of the other pandemic which has encircled the globe and is still laying
waste its cities at the current moment. The name of this virulent disease is xenophobia. It is defined
by Webster’s as “fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or anything that is strange or foreign.”5
Collins goes a little further “hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture.”6
shunning, and hating of the “other.” It has many strains which flare up and dominate some regions
1 Based on a webinar presenta0on at the Wilme5e Ins0tute, Dec. 6, 2020.
2 John Porter, The Ver'cal Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1995).
3 Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (New York: Harper, 1965).
4 Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í World Faith: Selected Wri'ngs of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Wilme5e:
Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1956).
5 Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dic'onary. (Springfield: Merriam-Webster), 1990.
6 Collins English Dic'onary. 12th ed. (Glasgow: Collins), 2014.
for some time, are suppressed only to be replaced by a new strain. Currently the strains that are
dominating in America are racism, Hispanophobia, Islamophobia, with anti-Semitism lurking in the
corner. In Europe is the refugees and the newly arrived immigrants who are the current victims.
There are dozens of other strains. This virus is vicious, devious and insidious. It aims to divide and
conquer. It divides the victims and unites the oppressors.
Some Talking Points on Xenophobia
1. It is WRONG i.e., immoral and untruthful)
2. It is STUPID i.e., lacking in normal intelligence)
3. It is disease which is highly contagious, and insidious
A) It is irrational
B) It is bereft of logic
C) It encourages A and B to be argued to show that both are rational and logical
D) It is divisive in that it tends to divide the victims one against the other
E) It victimizes the victims by encouraging the victims to blame themselves for their
plight
F) It encourages the victims to suppress their “objectionable” traits and “pass for
white.”
G) It denies the spiritual reality of the oneness of mankind
H) It’s existence is a denial of the biological unity of mankind.
I) It helps to unite oppressors and tyrants.
J) It disrespects and distorts the culture of the “other”, and then rationalizes the
argument.
K) It distorts and deforms language to facilitate its existence. For one example, the use
of lower case initial letter in a name of a nationality or ethnic group is considered
demeaning and disrespectful. But the use of “black” as another term for African
American is common, rather than the correct term “Black”. Another word “Racism”
could be argued is an oxymoron since there is but only one human race, and therefore
the only inhabitants who could be racists are Martians and Venusians.
Please remember points C and J of the above as they will assist in clarifying thinking on several
subsequent points.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Xenophobia
When ‘ʻAbdu'l-Bahá made His Western tour, in His first published talk given in Paris on October
16, 1911, He said in part:
When a man turns his face to God he finds sunshine everywhere. All men are his
brothers. Let not conventionality cause you to seem cold and unsympathetic when you
meet strange people from other countries. Do not look at them as though you suspected
them of being evil-doers, thieves and boors. You think it necessary to be very careful,
not to expose yourselves to the risk of making acquaintance with such, possibly,
undesirable people.
I ask you not to think only of yourselves. Be kind to the strangers, whether come they
from Turkey, Japan, Persia, Russia, China or any other country in the world.
Help to make them feel at home; find out where they are staying, ask if you may render
them any service; try to make their lives a little happier.
In this way, even if, sometimes, what you at first suspected should be true, still go out of
your way to be kind to them—this kindness will help them to become better.
After all, why should any foreign people be treated as strangers?
Let those who meet you know, without your proclaiming the fact, that you are indeed a
Bahá'í.7
This is one of His themes that He elucidated in many of the cities He visited in America. The list of
peoples that He mentioned as victims of xenophobic acts is long and besides those already
mentioned included the African Americans, the Jews, the Indians or First Nation peoples the
Japanese, and others.
Not only did He talk about inclusivity, but He practised it. He went to the meeting places and the
homes of the Black Americans, the Armenians, the Syrians, the Greeks, the Jews, the East Indians,
the Japanese and other groups. We know the story with Louise Gregory at the Washington banquet.
But there are other lesser known stories, such as the meeting with the Black servants at the Parsons’
boathouse in Dublin, New Hampshire, the visit to the home of Charles Tinsley, a Black servant
from the Hearst estate who had broken his leg, the sudden change of hotels in Paris after a Black
seeker had been refused entry, His sudden enthusiasm of meeting with the Greeks in a park in New
7 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks: Addresses Given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1911 (Wilme5e: Bahá’í Publishing, 2006), pp. 5-6.
York City despite a very uncomfortable ride on the underground metro, His seeking out and
meeting under the Eiffel Tower, for the second time a crippled seller of post-cards confined to a
wheel chair, etc. The scattered notes of His travels indicate some of the strains of xenophobia that
‘Abdu’l-Bahá confronted in His travels and they included: racism. Islamophobia, ant-Semitism,
homophobia, Hibernophobia, the ugly American syndrome, Francophobia, ant-feminism.
Japanophobia, Germanophobia, Turkophobia, Italophobia, ethnic and racial stereotypes, disability
discrimination, to name a few.
Press Coverage During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ministry.
There were four periods during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry when there was intense press coverage:
1896 associated with the assassination of the Shah of Persia;
1903 as a result of the intense and bloody persecutions of the Bahá’ís in Persia;
1911-1913 associated with the travels of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the West;
1921-1922 associated the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
We will be concentrating on the third period only.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s trip to America in 1912 was widely covered in the newspapers. His every
movement, talk and engagement was recorded with in about two thousand articles. My friend Amín
Egea has done a remarkable presentation in his two volume The Apostle of Peace: A Survey of
References to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Western Press, published by George Ronald in 2018.
In the United States ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met a variety of minority communities. Notable are His
engagements with the African Americans at Howard University and at the NAACP convention in
Chicago. These were well covered by the Black press, both local and national. However, the story is
quite different with His meetings with some of the other groups.
The Armenians
On July 21st 1912 the Armenian Federation Society had a memorial service to which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
was invited. But the only newspaper account we have is from the New-York Tribune8. Mahmúd
Zarqání reports that his talk was not recorded by the Persians9. Wonder what the Armenians
themselves wrote about the meeting? The Library of Congress lists twenty-eight Armenian
periodicals published in America in its collection, none of which have been digitalized.
The Syrians and Lebanese
He met with the Syrian community in Boston twice in May and July. Here we are dependent on the
English-language Boston Herald10 for a report but only for the second meeting. Since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
8 “Persians Hold Service,” New-York Tribune (New York) vol. 72 no. 23,990 (July 22, 1912), p. 12, col. 4.
9 Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, Maḥmúd’s Diary (Oxford: George Ronald, 1998), p. 175.
10 “Bahaist Leader Has Recep0on,” The Boston Herald (Boston) vol. 132 no. 24 (July 24, 1912), p. 5.
spoke in Arabic there was no translation and no recording, except in the Arabic press, for which we
have no report. Although Amín does give us the reference as the periodical Al-Saih. It is available at
the Library of Congress, but only on microfilm. Apparently this was a highly literate gathering with
poets, writers and editors of the Syrian-American community. The Lebanese-American writer
Khalil Gibran was a member of this society.
The Japanese
He had several meetings with the Japanese in California. He even gave His permission for articles
to be published in the Japanese press11. By the very fact that He gave His permission, He became an
active partner in this endeavour These are also missing from our collective knowledge.
The Jewish community
‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited three synagogues and there was some reporting in the daily local newspapers.
However, it would be interesting to see what the response was in the Yiddish press. Some of the
American Yiddish newspapers have been digitalized and are available but not in America. No
articles from the English-language Jewish press have been found. However Ahmad Sohrab reports
that the reporting in the Arabic press of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s meeting at the synagogue in San Francisco
was of such a high quality that ‘Abdu'l-Bahá instructed that fifty packets of newspapers be made up
for His journey back to Egypt. Since these newspapers have not been digitalized the information is
not publicly available. Fortunately there was extensive recording of these talks in the Bahá’í journal
Star of the West (Chicago) which has been digitalized and is available though not by the Library of
Congress.
To summarize: we have no or limited public access to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talks to the Armenians, Jews,
Syrians and Japanese, solely on the grounds that the newspapers that published them are not
available. Besides the talks themselves the commentaries by the journalist and editors would also be
of interest especially in the Yiddish press.
Amín Egea states in his preface “much more research is yet to be conducted in American journals
and magazines, especially. . . in the many newspapers published by different ethnic and cultural
communities in the United States.”12 As far as I am aware he is the first to acknowledge this gap in
our collective history. Since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke about universal truths such as the oneness of
mankind and illustrated their application, this is not only a loss to the Bahá’ís, but also to the nation
as a whole.
A survey in the digitalized American newspapers readily accessible in national and state online
11 Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, Maḥmúd’s Diary, p. 304.
12 Amín Egea, The Apostle of Peace: A Survey of References to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Western Press 1871-1921 (Oxford:
George Ronald, 2017), p. x.
archives (including three subscription sites) shows that for the year 1912 the number of articles
referencing the Bahá’í Faith in each of the following ethnic language and minority newspapers was:
Polish (1), German (1), Dutch (1), Czech (3), Irish (2), Japanese (English) (1), Jewish (2) and
African American (24). Of these the total from the Library of Congress Chronicling America is
seven. The number of foreign-language newspapers was estimated to be in excess of 1,300 in 1910.
When working on ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in the West: A Biographical Guide13 it was noticed that there was a
lack of articles concerning ‘Abdu'l-Bahá in the immigrant press. Only two articles were found in
Polish and Dutch newspapers in all of the various sources available at that time. The assumption
was that the immigrant communities and their press were not interested in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. But this
was an error in judgement. Enough fragments of information have surfaced to show that there was a
keen interest not only in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America, but in the Bahá’í Faith in general by the
immigrant and minority press, not only during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit, but during the entirety of His
ministry.
The library of libraries in the United States is the Library of Congress. Though not a national
library, it has taken up that role as well as being a parliamentarian library. The importance of its role
in collecting and disseminating information and establishing standards in the library environment is
not to be underestimated. It is also a role model for many other national institutions outside the
United States. Its mission statement dated 2020 for conserving and digitalizing newspapers from the
various and diverse ethnic communities in the United States stated:
“The Library of Congress presents the cultural output of the United States in all its
diversity. Our collections and the materials we present online speak for their creators,
not for the Library or the United States government.”14
Two lists, dated 1920, visualizing with graphs and maps of the service provided in conserving and
digitalizing for the public the ethnic newspapers are provided.15
The first list is of ethic communities and the second of the various languages served represented in
the digital collections of the Library of Congress in Chronicling America.
The first list has obvious problems. The most glaring are the omissions especially important for the
study of the Bahá’í Faith in America of many groups: Chinese, Armenians, Japanese, Dutch,
Portuguese, Puerto Ricans, etc. A second list of languages exists on the search page. It varies
13 Jan Teofil Jasion, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the West: a Biographical Guide of the People Associated with His Travel (Oxford:
George Ronald, 2012).
14 h5ps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/about/
15 Chronicling America Data Visualiza0ons. h5ps://www.loc.gov/ndnp/data-visualiza0ons/#ethnic_map.
slightly by not having Hebrew and Tagalog. Also when searching for newspapers using this criteria
results in some very odd results. Apparently there is a confusion between Dutch and German
(Deutsch?).16
A third list of languages and ethnic groups exist on the page “Search U.S. Newspaper Directory,
1690-Present”17. This seems to be a list of all the languages represented in the Library of Congress
newspaper collection, and not just the digitalized titles. This lack of attention to what may seem to
the majority of users as unimportant, can be viewed by the people of minority backgrounds as a
deliberate and demining act.
It should be noted that the United States is not the only country that displays these traits in its
national library digitalizing programmes. That is the trait of the suppression of newspapers from
immigrant and minority cultures. The same can be observed in Australia, with their database called
Trove, in Great Britain with the British Newspaper Archive, in France with the two databases
Gallica and Retronews and in Austria with ANNO. These five nations have a rich national collection
of digitalized newspapers in publicly accessible databases (though some charge a fee to access all of
the services) and they also have a sophisticated and historical emigrant community. And they all
practise cultural suppression of minority and emigrant communities.
Another interesting point is that the Library of Congress along with three large commercial
databases have digitalized thousands of newspapers from the United States and a few other
countries. If we just concentrate on the American newspapers we find that the goal of these four
databases is to present the cultural heritage of the nation. They have even spent money on the
digitalization of newspapers from around twenty small towns with populations of less than a
thousand and a few that no longer exist such as Sunbeam, Minnesota and White Pine, Colorado. But
as we have seen these efforts have not been extended to the immigrant community. Furthermore,
several of these immigrant newspapers have been digitalized and made available, but by foreign
agencies. A Welsh newspaper from Utica, New York is at the National Library of Wales, two
English-language Jewish newspapers are uniquely at the National Library of Israel, a Dutch
newspaper from Paterson, New Jersey is at Delpher, the newspaper database of the Netherlands,
and so forth.
The result of this as has been illustrated by using the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as an example is the
loss, not only to the ethnic community, but to the nation as a whole of part of their history. How
many stories, documents, events, speeches fundamental to the understanding of a nation’s history
16 Chronicling America. Advanced Search. h5ps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/#tab=tab_advanced_search
17 Chronicling America. Search U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present.
h5ps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/0tles/
and development have been suppressed or permanently lost due to the misguided applications of
false ethnic ideologies?
Another factor which might impact on the decision making for the preservation and
digitalization of newspapers is the newspapers themselves. That newspapers are not worth the
bother. It might be that there is a view that still prevails that newspapers are not an important source
of research. That they are just ephemera that have little long-term value.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF NEWSPAPERS
The trend seems to be in some circles of the academic world to minimize the value and use of
newspapers in scholarly research, as reflected by an article published by the American History
Association, by Prof. Jerry W. Knudson who wrote in 1998: “Not until John Bach McMaster’s
History of the People of the United States began publication in 1883 did any prominent historian in
this country make copious use of newspaper quotations.” He goes on to say “many historians have
consulted newspapers since then . . . but few have recognized the wider significance of the role of
the press in both reflecting and shaping society.” At about the same time, or at least during the same
decade as McMaster was writing, Bahá’u’lláh wrote in 1885 about the importance of newspapers as
a primary and secondary sources of information. A statement which stands well ahead of
contemporary thinking about the value of newspapers as can be seen by Knudsen’s statement.
“In this day the mysteries of this earth are unfolded and visible before the eyes, and the pages of
swiftly appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world; they display the doings and
actions of the different nations; they both illustrate them and cause them to be heard. Newspapers
are as a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech; they are a wonderful phenomenon and a
great matter.”18
If any man were to arise to defend, in his writings, the Cause of God against its assailants, such a
man, however inconsiderable his share, shall be so honored in the world to come that the Concourse
on high would envy his glory. No pen can depict the loftiness of his station, neither can any tongue
describe its splendor.”19
Blessed, doubly blessed is . . . the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the
testimony of His writings. . .20
These quotations open up a wide scope of activity for future researchers.
18 Bahá’u’lláh, “Ṭarázát” in Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed aWer the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Wilme5e: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
1988), pp. 39-40)
19 Bahá’u’lláh, “Lawḥ-i-Salmán II”, Gleanings from the Wri'ngs of Bahá’u’lláh (Wilme5e: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
1983), p. 374, no. 154.
20 Bahá’u’lláh, “Lawḥ-i-Arḍ-i-Bá”,Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed aWer the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 227-228.
Not only is the importance of the missing reports in the ethnic and minority presses mentioned
above brought into a sharper focus. One could argue that the retrieval of such documents
concerning ‘Abdu’l-Bahá verges on that of a sacred trust for Bahá’í scholars and researchers.
And what is the significance of those who wrote in defence of the Faith? In 1903 there were terrible
persecutions of the Bahá’ís in Persia. Over 130 American newspapers responded by publishing
articles. Most of the articles were obtained from wire-services. But many editors applied their own
headlines to these articles, some with uncanny insight:
“Pagans Kill and Torture.” from the The Bay City Tribune in Michigan; or “Mobs in Persia Slay
Reformers.” from the The San Francisco Call. Four articles were discovered where the editors were
calling for petitions to be organized and delivered to the Secretary of State. These came from Yuma,
Arizona, New Orleans and Springfield, Massachusetts.
Not only were individual articles concerning the Faith on their own important, but also
their sheer number impressed the persecutors greatly. This is illustrated by this account from
Ahmad Sohrab as presented by Amín Egea:
“when He returned to London, ‘ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was invited to a dinner in His honor at the
Persian Legation; and the ambassador presented Him with a collection of clippings from Edinburgh
newspapers with articles about Him which were provided to the embassy by a clippings bureau.”
I am sure that the Ottomans did the same and the information was sent to Istanbul.
Another role that these journalists and publishers did was to proclaim the Faith. It were
these articles that alerted hundreds of thousands of people around the globe to the very existence of
a new divine messenger and a new message. These were deliberate actions by the editors,
publishers, journalists to proclaim the Faith. The only reason they had for including the word ‘Babi’
or ‘Babism’ in an article was but that somebody should read it.
ADDENDUM
FIRST NEWSPAPER ARTICLES TO MENTION THE BÁBÍ AND BAHÁ’Í FAITHS
PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
1845-1921
CURRENT STATES
Alabama (Livingston) 1885 The Livingston Semi-Weekly Journal
Alaska (Juneau) 1918 The Alaska Daily Empire
Arizona (Tucson) 1885 Arizona Daily Star
Arkansas (Washington) 1851 Washington Telegraph
California (San Francisco) 1850 Daily Pacific News
Colorado (Saguache) 1884 Saguache Chronicle
Connecticut (Litchfield) 1850 The Litchfield Republican
Delaware (Wilmington) 1909 The Morning News
District of Columbia (Washington) 1846 Daily National Intelligencer
Florida (Pensacola) 1852 Pensacola Gazette
Georgia (Augusta; Savannah) 1852 Daily Chronicle & Sentinel
Hawaii (Honolulu) 1857 The Polynesian
Idaho (Idaho City) 1871 Idaho World
Illinois (Rockford) 1852 Rock River Democrat
Indiana (New Albany) 1850 New Albany Daily Ledger
Iowa (Burlington) 1846 Iowa Territorial Gazette and Advertiser
Kansas (Leavenworth) 1868 The Leavenworth Times
Kentucky (Louisville) 1846 Christian Observer
Louisiana (New Orleans) 1850 New-Orleans Weekly Delta
Maine (Augusta) 1846 Gospel Banner
Maryland (Baltimore) 1851 The Sun
Massachusetts (Boston) 1845 Boston Courier
Michigan (Ann Arbor) 1846 Michigan Argus
Minnesota (St. Paul) 1850 The Minnesota Pioneer
Mississippi (Vicksburg) 1850 Vicksburg Tri-Weekly Sentinel
Missouri (Fayette) 1846 Boon’s Lick Times
Montana (Deer Lodge) 1890 The New North-West
Nebraska (Columbus) 1884 The Columbus Journal
Nevada (Reno) 1871 Nevada State Journal
New Hampshire (Keene) 1846 Newhampshire Sentinel
New Jersey (Newark) 1852 Newark Daily Advertiser
New Mexico (Albuquerque) 1896 Albuquerque Morning Democrat
New York (New York City) 1845 New-York Observer
North Carolina (Wilmington) 1850 Weekly Commercial
North Dakota (Bismark) 1890 The Bismark Daily Tribune
Ohio (Cleveland) 1850 The Cleveland Herald
Oklahoma (Muskogee) 1885 Indian Journal
Oregon (The Dalles) 1891 The Dalles Daily Chronicle
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) 1846 Philadelphian
Rhode Island (Newport) 1852 Herald of the Times
South Carolina (Charleston) 1846 Southern Patriot
South Dakota (Elk Point) 1891 Union County Courier
Tennessee (Athens) 1853 The Athens Post
Texas (Galveston) 1851 The Civilian and Galveston Gazette
Utah (Salt Lake City) 1853 The Desseret News
Virginia (Alexandria) 1846 Alexandria Gazette
Washington (Spokane) 1891 The Spokane Daily Chronicle
West Virginia (Wheeling) 1852 Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
Wisconsin (Milwaukee) 1846 Milwaukee Sentinel
Wyoming (Sheridan) 1892 The Enterprise
CURRENT TERRITORIES
Puerto Rico (San Juan) 1852 Gaceta del gobierno de Puerto-Rico
Virgin Islands U.S. (St. Thomas) 1903 Lightbourn’s Mail Notes
FORMER TERRITORY
Philippine Islands (Manila) 1913 Bulletin of the Philippine Library
OLDEST DISCOVERED REFERENCES TO THE BÁBÍ AND BAHÁ’Í FAITHS
PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES IN NON-ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS
1845-1921
Arabic 1912 Al-Hoda New York City
Armenian 1916 Gotchnag New York City
Czech 1911 Minnesotské Noviny St. Paul, Minnesota
Dutch 1903 De Grondwet Holland, Michigan
Esperanto 1913 Amerika Esperantiso West Newton, Massachusetts
Finnish 1920 Uusi Kotimaa New York Mills, Minnesota
French 1852 Le Courier de la Louisiane New Orleans
German 1852 Der Lecha Patriot Allentown, Pennsylvania
Hawaiian 1912 Nupepa Kuoka Honolulu
Italian 1903 L’Italia San Francisco, California
Lithuanian 1915 Lietuva Chicago
Norwegian 1921 Minneapolis Tidende Minneapolis, Minnesota
Polish 1896 Gazeta Polska w Chicago Chicago
Slovenian 1921 Glas Svobode Chicago
Spanish 1919 La Prensa San Antonio, Texas
Swedish 1883 Gamla och Nya Hemlandet Chicago
Welsh 1914 Y Drych Utica, New York
© Feb. 26, 2021
Jan Teofil Jasion
Châtenay-Malabry, France
اختر نصًّا ثانيًا لقراءته بالتوازي — ترجمةً، أو أيّ نصٍّ آخر.
اختر نصًّا آخر