First Public Mention of the Bahá’í Faith in America - World Parliament of Religions 1893

The First Public Mention of the Bahá’í Faith in America was made in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions which was held in conjunction with the Chicago World’s Fair. A paper written by the Rev. Henry Jessup was read by a Rev. Ford. At the end of Jessup’s paper he quoted these words of Bahá’u’lláh:
“That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religions should cease and differences of race be annulled. What harm is there in this? Yet so it shall be. These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come. Do not you in Europe need this also? Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
-Bahá’í World, Vol. 2, p. 169