Later Years
During the same year, on April 30, 1912, he was the only African-American elected to the first national administrative body of the Bahá'í Faith in America. Later, he was also the first African-American to be elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, a body which he would be elected to in 1922, 1924, 1927, 1932, 1934 and 1946. In his later years, he travelled to Africa and Haiti teaching the Bahá'í Faith.
Gregory died aged seventy-seven on July 30, 1951. He is buried at the Green Acre Bahá'í school in Eliot, Maine. On his death, Shoghi Effendi cabled to the American Bahá'í community:
- "Profoundly deplore grievous loss of dearly beloved, nobleminded, golden hearted Louis Gregory, pride and example to the Negro adherents of the Faith ... Rising Bahá'í generation in African continent will glory in his memory and emulate his example."
He was posthumously appointed a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi.
Read more about this topic: Louis George Gregory
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“In the United States, it is now possible for a person eighteen years of age, female as well as male, to graduate from high school, college, or university without ever having cared for, or even held, a baby; without ever having comforted or assisted another human being who really needed help. . . . No society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned the sensitivities, motivations, and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human beings.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“This is rather different from the receptions I used to get fifty years ago. They threw things at me then—but they were not roses.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)