The relationship between Baháʼí Faith and Native Americans has a history reaching back to the lifetime of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and has multiplied its relationships across the Americas. Individuals have joined the religion and institutions have been founded to serve Native Americans and conversely have Native Americans serve on Baháʼí institutions.
By 1963, Baháʼí sources claimed that members of some 83 tribes of Native Americans had joined the religion. In North America diversification is an ever-present theme in Baháʼí history. Native Americans have been attracted to the Baháʼí Faith in increasing numbers since the 1940s; currently there are several thousand American Indian and Alaska Native Baháʼís, especially in rural Alaska and among the Navajo and Lakota peoples. There are also substantial populations of native Baháʼís among Central and South American Indians. There is an estimate of some 8,000 Guaymi Baháʼís in the area of Panama, about 10% of the population of Guaymi in Panama. An informal summary of the Wayuu (a tribe living in La Guajira Desert) community in 1971 showed about 1,000 Baháʼís. The largest population of Baháʼís in South America is in Bolivia, a country whose population is estimated to be 55%–70% indigenous and 30%–42% Mestizo, with a Baháʼí population estimated at 206,000 in 2005 according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.
Native American religions
Acceptance of spiritual founders Shoghi Effendi, head of the religion from 1921 to 1957, stated: "The fundamental principle enunciated by Baháʼu'lláh, the followers of his Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society."
In principle, a Baháʼí can certainly affirm that Messengers of God have indeed been sent to all peoples, according to Baháʼí belief, but that there is simply no conclusive way to attest legendary culture heroes individually. Under no circumstances does this prevent a real appreciation of such legends, and of the spiritual and cultural values enshrined in them. Thus, Baháʼí authorities may consider adding the category of (rather than names of) Messengers of God to First Nations, or Messengers of God to Indigenous Peoples. The problem now is no longer the principle, but rather the question of names.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of Canada took a position of advocacy on behalf of First Nations Canadians in its formal submission to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in the fall of 1993 on behalf of indigenous people (not in relation to their religion, per se.) Baháʼí pioneers to regions with aboriginal peoples have extended Baháʼí universalism in religion to a recognition of the richness and authenticity of native cultural values. Explicit recognition of individual native messengers of God has yet to be formalised in Baháʼí doctrine. The quote from an authenticated source most directly reflecting on the issue is:
In this particular context, the expression "Call of God" () is a transparent, according to Christopher Buck, reference to Prophets of God and who give revelation. Scholars like Susan Maneck and William Collins have taken note of the strength of this quote. However the language is not specific. The Universal House of Justice notes that "The Baháʼí Teachings do not explicitly confirm, nor do they rule out, the possibility that Messengers of God have appeared in the Americas. In the absence of a clear Text the Universal House of Justice has no basis for issuing the kind of statement you propose which would confirm, "in principle, that God sent Manifestations to the indigenous peoples of the Americas."" Nevertheless, the figure of Deganawida, The Great Peacemaker, is mentioned as a leading example in scholarly research; others mentioned by individuals include Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha. David Ruhe, a former member of the Universal House of Justice, has written mentioning his own view of Deganawida as a Prophet. Since no individual or institution can add to Baháʼí scripture it is impossible to add a specific name to a list of accepted Manifestations of God that would be binding on all Baháʼís and Baháʼí institutions. However individuals and institutions may accept for their own purposes that various cultural heroes may have been in fact a Manifestation of God and Baháʼís and institutions of the religion can accept the fact that sacred Native American tradition has mentioned specific names for individuals acting in the role of a Prophet.
Interpretation of prophecy In 1986 North American Baháʼí Lee Brown gave a talk at the 1986 Baháʼí Continental Indigenous Council held at Tanana Valley Fairgrounds, Fairbanks, Alaska, which was recorded and transcribed—it includes his interpretation of Native American, especially Hopi, prophecies. Brown also appeared with Martha Many Grey Horses on a Baháʼí program discussing these prophecies.
Guaymi Baháʼís have stated there are prophecies from their own tribe's religion that they interpret to relate to the Baháʼí Faith. The prophecies of the Chilam Balam have been examined as well.
There has been comment among prominent Baháʼís about the White Buffalo Calf Woman and the appearance of the white buffalo.
Chief Albert Isaac of Aishihik is recorded as having identified a near death experience of his in 1957 with the Baháʼí Faith.
Contacting the indigenous
First contact Honoré Jaxon, who had been involved in the Métis and First Nations-associated Red River Rebellion, joined the Baháʼí Faith in the late 1890s and is among the earliest documented Indigenous-associated figures connected to the religion in North America.
During the 1940s, Jaxon devoted himself to establishing a library for First Nations in Saskatchewan and collected books, newspapers, and pamphlets relating to the Métis people. In 1951, at the age of 90, he was evicted from his New York apartment and the collection was reportedly discarded at a New York City dump shortly before his death. Baháʼí teachings of the period emphasized the education and guidance of Indigenous peoples. In the Tablets of the Divine Plan, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote: “Attach great importance to the indigenous population of America … should these Indians and aborigines be educated and guided, there is no doubt that through the divine teachings, they will become so enlightened as in turn to shed light to all regions.”
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá In 1912 then head of the religion ʻAbdu'l-Bahá took a journey to the West from what was then Palestine. On one leg of his trips as he was leaving Canada, on the way back to the States, and he traveled through several villages. As the train passed through the town of Belleville, Ontario, a four-year-old Mohawk boy, Jimmy Loft, was sitting on a fence as the train passed. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá took that moment to stand up and, facing the window, smile and wave. Loft was so surprised he toppled off the fence. In May 1948 he became one of the first native American Baháʼís of Canada.
Tablet to Amr Khan A tablet written by Abdu'l-Bahá, undated but certainly from before his death in 1921 and probably from after 1892, is called the Tablet to Amr Khan, in which he acknowledges that "the Call of God" must have arisen in the Americas though its spiritual effect had been forgotten.
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan ʻAbdu'l-Bahá also wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916–1917; these letters were compiled together in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan. The sixth of the tablets was the first to mention Latin American regions and was written on April 8, 1916, but was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919—after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. The sixth tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. After mentioning the need for the message of the religion to visit the Latin American countries ʻAbdu'l-Bahá continued:
Attach great importance to the indigenous population of America. For these souls may be likened unto the ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, who, prior to the Mission of Muḥammad, were like unto savages. When the light of Muḥammad shone forth in their midst, however, they became so radiant as to illumine the world. Likewise, these Indians, should they be educated and guided, there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world ...
Following the Tablets and about the time of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's passing in 1921, a few other Baháʼís began moving to, or at least visiting, Latin or South America. First Martha Root followed by Leonora Armstrong were among the first to make this trips before 1928.
1920s The next known contact between Native Americans and Baháʼís is the case of Albert T. Freeman, also known as Gai-Wah-Go-Wah, who was an award-winning orator*
as an Indian of the Lakota people in 1917. He was soon a graduate of Depauw University and visible as a Christian and an actor. Around 1920-1924 he was a student at University of Southern California and took up the Chautauqua educational speaker platforms similar to Nipo T. Strongheart of the Yakama Nation.* Many of his talks were at Churches though some were at museums
but in 1926 on a tour of the West he gave a lecture/performance at the Baháʼí center in Portland Oregon and was then invited from there to present at the Baháʼí national convention. He continued on afterwards in various churches and colleges into the 1930s.*
Record of his service has been noted in educational materials in recent decades.
Systematic efforts Sara E. Whitt was held the leader of a series of banquets in cooperation with the Local Assembly of Los Angeles "widening the circle of racial amity activities so as to include not only the white and coloured, but the red Natives, aborigines of America, also the Chinese and Japanese..." A number of banquets were held - one on Feb 27, 1932 was noted with particular prominence with Nellie S. French representing the national assembly and Luther Standing Bear offered a prayer and spoke on peace. Other speakers included Robert Theiss, Joseph R. Scherer, Emmett R. Smith, J. Kam Machida, W. J. Clarendon, Nipo Strongheart, and Willard P. Hatch and a farewell by Shahnaz Waite.
Shoghi Effendi, who was named ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's successor, wrote a cable on May 1, 1936, to the Baháʼí Annual Convention of the United States and Canada, and asked for the systematic implementation of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's vision to begin and its first large focus was the entire southern American region and its peoples. In his cable he wrote:
Appeal to assembled delegates ponder historic appeal voiced by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in Tablets of the Divine Plan. Urge earnest deliberation with incoming National Assembly to insure its complete fulfillment. First century of Baháʼí Era drawing to a close. Humanity entering outer fringes most perilous stage its existence. Opportunities of present hour unimaginably precious. Would to God every State within American Republic and every Republic in American continent might ere termination of this glorious century embrace the light of the Faith of Baháʼu'lláh and establish structural basis of His World Order.