# The Amazing Nashville Bahá'í Community in the 1960s *Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.* --- > 2 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 29.4 2019 > > Dr. Magdalene M. Carney > > From the Editor's laureate of the United States). There > were Casey and Alice Walton, Georgia > Desk Miller, Winston Evans, and Mary Wat- > kins, editor at the Methodist Publishing > House. All of their amazing stories are > JOHN S. HATCHER much too lengthy and noteworthy to > detail here. > T A N B ' At the time, I was merely a soph- > C 1960 omore at Vanderbilt, having studied > the Faith intensely for two years, a bit > I declared myself a Bahá'í on the 31st nervous, but also keen to respond to > of December 1959 while I was home the queries that—in my mind—would > in Atlanta on spring break from Van- enable the Local Spiritual Assembly to > derbilt University. Weeks later, I found determine if I was sufficiently worthy > myself one night standing before the and informed to become a member of > impressive array of individuals who the community led by this stellar group > constituted the Local Spiritual Assem- of notables—educators, editors, poets, > bly of Nashville, Tennessee. There was musicians, mathematicians. > my brother—William S. Hatcher, five Suffice it to say that I "passed," was > years my senior—who had responded joyfully accepted into their midst, and > to everything I could think to ask about spent the next three years getting to > the Bahá'í Faith and who had declared know and love them, and, most im- > in June 1957. I had come up for his portant of all, establishing in my heart > graduation and met some of the inter- and mind what a Bahá'í community > esting people who would later become should be, how it should feel, and how > an important part of my life. Bill, of it should conduct its affairs. > course, later went on to write books That foundation has stood me in > on the Faith and serve on the National good stead for sixty years, and I hap- > Spiritual Assemblies of Switzerland, pily utilize this opportunity as editor > Canada, and Russia. of the Journal of Bahá'í Studies to > There was Dr. Sarah Pereira (later a present brief life sketches of two in- > member of the National Spiritual As- dividuals from that community in our > sembly of the United States and then continuing attempt to celebrate those > an Auxiliary Board member); Erma African-American Bahá'ís whose > Hayden, a concert pianist later to serve lives, works, and reputations represent > on the National Teaching Commit- some of the fruitful results stemming > tee of the United States; and her hus- from the longtime emphasis on racial > band, Robert Hayden, a professor and equality in the American Bahá'í com- > poet (later to become a member of the munity, a legacy begun most prom- > University of Michigan faculty and inently by Hand of the Cause of God > the first African American to be poet Louis Gregory, and carried on to this > 4 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 29.4 2019 > > day by a multitude of dedicated souls and steadfast devotion to his beliefs > who have rendered such amazing ser- as a Bahá'í. Among his most widely > vice to the Bahá'í Faith and to society acclaimed poems alluding to the his- > at large. torical plight of African Americans are > In this issue, we will briefly re- "Middle Passage"—a poetic rendering > count the life stories of Dr. Robert of the Amistad affair—his paean son- > Hayden—who, as I mentioned, was a net "Frederick Douglass," and "Run- > member of the Local Assembly when I agate Runagate," a tribute to Harriet > declared my faith in Bahá'u'lláh—and Tubman. Likewise, his poems "The > Dr. Magdalene Carney, who joined that Prophet," "Bahá'u'lláh in the Garden > same community in 1962, having been of Ridván," and "The Dawnbreaker" > taught the Faith by Sarah Pereira, then are possibly the best poems about the > Professor of Romance Languages at Faith that have yet been penned. > Tennessee State University. Raised in the Detroit ghetto (iron- > ically known as "Paradise Valley"), > D .R E. H (1913–1980) Hayden was from his youth entranced > by language, poetry, and the concepts > It is with no small amount of irony that of justice, freedom, and identity. After > we might characterize Hayden as ei- working with other major writers as > ther "Bahá'í poet" or "African-Amer- part of the Federal Writers' Project in > ican poet"—indeed, as the first Af- 1938, he married concert pianist and > rican-American poet laureate of the composer Erma Inez Morris in 1940, > United States—before we first classify and the next year he enrolled at the > him simply as a poet, since he disliked University of Michigan, where he stud- > the idea of being a "hyphenated" poet. ied under heralded English poet W. H. > He received no small amount of crit- Auden. > icism for not allowing himself to be It was during this time that both Rob- > classified by some narrower identity. ert and Erma became acquainted with > "I object to strict definitions of what a the Bahá'í Faith, becoming members > poet is or should be," he maintained. prior to moving in 1946 to Nashville, > "We're living in a time when individ- where Hayden taught English literature > uality is threatened by a kind of mech- at Fisk University. As part of the grow- > anizing anonymity, and by regimen- ing Nashville Bahá'í community, both > tation" (quoted in Hatcher, From the Robert and Erma were active in Bahá'í > Auroral Darkness 74). activities. Hayden concentrated on his > The fact is, however, that by the end heavy teaching load and on writing > of his all-too-brief life, he had become poetry whenever he could, and Erma > celebrated by both the African Ameri- assumed the position of supervisor of > can community and by the Bahá'í com- music for Nashville public schools. > munity for his outstanding capacity as Rejecting the tension imposed on > an artist, unrelenting courage as a man, him by the rising pressure among > From the Editor's Desk 5 > > African-American writers and artists cancer. In February of 1980 he died, > to focus his poetic gifts on becoming but not before the department of Af- > politically active, Hayden was widely rican-American Studies at the Uni- > criticized for rejecting what he consid- versity of Michigan paid tribute to the > ered the constricting label of "Black contribution he had made to the field, > poet." But around this same time, in an honor he treasured above all others > 1966, he achieved global acclaim by because it helped vindicate the difficult > winning the Grand Prize for Poetry at stand he had taken in the 1960s and af- > the first World Festival of Negro Arts terward by refusing to make his poems > held in Dakar, Senegal, for his collec- polemical or to cater to the demands > tion of verse Ballad of Remembrance. of what he called "the minotaurs of > From this point forward, his career edict,"1 the "monsters of abstraction" > ascended. He published a succession that "police and threaten us."2 > of well-received volumes of verse, and There is much more one could say > in 1967 he recorded his poems for the about his life and his art, something > Library of Congress and was appointed that a number of fine scholars are > poetry editor of the Bahá'í magazine currently undertaking. My own work > World Order. That summer, he was From the Auroral Darkness (George > appointed poet-in-residence at Indiana Ronald 1984) has recently been suc- > State University, and in 1968, visiting ceeded by Derik Smith, Associate Pro- > professor of English at the University fessor of English at Claremont McK- > of Michigan. In 1969, he served as the enna College, who in 2018 published > Bigham Professor at the University of Robert Hayden in Verse with the pres- > Louisville, and that summer as visiting tigious University of Michigan Press, a > poet at the University of Washington. highly praised book that won the 2019 > In 1975, Hayden received the Academy College Language Association Book > of American Poets Fellowship, and he Award. > topped off the decade by being offered Hayden's poetry continues to be > a professorship at the University of studied and anthologized, especially > Michigan, shortly after which he was in college texts. For example, "Those > first offered the position of poet laure- Winter Sundays," his touching and > ate, a position he accepted in 1977 and memorable tribute to the love his foster > for which he was reappointed in 1978. father bestowed on him, is one of the > In the meantime, he was also awarded most anthologized poems of the twen- > honorary doctorates at Brown Univer- tieth century. > sity in 1976 and at Fisk in 1978. > It was during the last year of his > 1 From Hayden's "Ballad of Re- > tenure as poet laureate in Washington, > membrance" in A Ballad of Remembrance. > D.C., that Hayden began to feel ill. 2 From Hayden's "In the Mourning > Upon his return to Ann Arbor, Michi- Time" in Words in the Mourning Time. > gan, he discovered he had contracted > 6 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 29.4 2019 > > Finally, as I note in my own study of her, one would always be on the right > his life and art, his wife Erma was seen track, whatever the task at hand. In > by the Bahá'í community as intimately short, she was her own person, sure of > involved in the Faith on the local and herself, but never prideful or remote or > national level, while Hayden seemed disdainful of anyone who came to her > isolated, laboring at home in his austere for assistance. > profession as poet. And yet, as I also The eldest of eight children, "Mag" > point out, he has doubtless attracted (as she liked to be called) grew up on a > more people to study the Bahá'í Faith farm where she labored and where she > than he would have had he dedicated was expected by her parents to set an > his days to the usual activities meant example for her brothers and sisters. > to teach the Faith, rather than laboring And early on she knew that the most > away at searching out precisely the important manner in which she could > best, the most exact words to fashion excel at this task, help her parents > the verses he left behind. emerge from dire poverty, and possibly > pursue other objectives they had in- > D .M M. C stilled in her, was to pursue education > (1929–1991) as far as it would take her. > Because she was descended from > Like Robert Hayden, Magdalene Car- slaves who had no such opportuni- > ney rose from a most unlikely beginning ty, she viewed education not only as > to bloom like a sunflower emerging tall a means by which she could make a > and bright in an untended field. I met difference, but as a mandate whereby > her when she first became a Bahá'í, in she could serve her family and—as her > the Nashville community in 1962, after life proceeded apace—humankind as a > having been introduced to the Faith by whole, focusing particularly on disen- > Dr. Sarah Pereira. Upon being given a franchised African American women. > pamphlet about the Bahá'í teachings, So it was that she excelled in her > she knew immediately she had discov- studies, graduating magna cum laude > ered the path by which she could chan- from Tennessee State University in > nel her plentiful talents and achieve her Nashville, then receiving her MA de- > lifelong objectives as an educator and a gree from the highly regarded George > dedicated servant to humankind. Peabody College in Nashville, major- > My immediate impression of her— ing in English and Education. > shared by so many who met her—was She remained in Nashville for the > that this was one of the most authentic next fifteen years (1967–1982), teach- > human beings I would ever encounter. ing in the public schools and supervis- > She was a loving person, a light in the ing student teachers. And it was during > darkness, neither shy nor restrained. this era of the Civil Rights Movement > One sensed that she knew exactly what that Mag was awarded a Ford Foun- > she was doing and that by emulating dation Fellowship in Educational > From the Editor's Desk 7 > > Leadership for her work leading and desire to excel in every aspect of their > organizing a nonviolent desegregation lives, encouraging the spiritual, moral, > of the public school system in Canton, social, and intellectual development of > Mississippi. Using the funds she re- growing Bahá'í communities. She par- > ceived from this award, she went to the ticipated in the United Nations World > University of Massachusetts, where Conference on Women in Kenya in > she earned her doctorate in education. 1985 and gave a keynote speech for the > Firm in a conviction she already had, European Bahá'í Women's Conference > but that was confirmed and enhanced in the Netherlands in 1989, two years > by her study of the Bahá'í Writings, before her passing. > Carney believed that racial prejudice, As one of the many tributes to her > indeed prejudice of any kind, was an spirit and legacy, the National Spiritual > emotional commitment to a false un- Assembly of the United States estab- > derstanding of reality. Consequently, lished the Magdalene Carney Bahá'í > she taught that preventing or treating Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida, > prejudice could only be accomplished which today is utilized as a teaching > by first gaining access to both the center for courses on the Bahá'í Faith > minds and hearts of others and then and as a training center. > re-educating both. My most lasting personal memory > Because the motive force and bul- of Mag will always be a conversation > wark in all these accomplishments was I had with her at a Bahá'í summer > her in-depth understanding of and un- school in Florida. I had for a long while > stinting devotion to the Bahá'í Faith, stewed over a dilemma resulting from > she was a stalwart and effective Bahá'í a major decision I had to make regard- > teacher. Her charisma and the mag- ing my life and career. I presented her > netism of her remarkable smile and as honestly as I knew how the pros and > even more remarkable character were cons of the two options I had, as well > irresistible. as the consternation and turmoil that > In 1970, she was elected to the having to make a decision was causing > National Spiritual Assembly of the me. Her response was as helpful as it > Bahá'ís of the United States, and she was timely and terse: "Just choose one > was re-elected successively for the and do it!" she said firmly. It was ex- > following thirteen years, until she was actly what I needed to hear. > appointed to serve at the Bahá'í World > Centre in Haifa, Israel, as a Counsellor > with the International Teaching Centre. > From this time on, until her death in > Haifa in 1991, she traveled to Africa, > Europe, and various island nations > where she imbued the members of ev- > ery community she touched with the > 10 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 29.4 2019 > > Dr. Robert E. Hayden > > — *The Amazing Nashville Bahá'í Community in the 1960s (Used by permission of the curator)*