On one occasion in America, when 'Abdu'l-Baha arrived at a house where He was to be a guest at luncheon, a coloured man called on Him just before the meal hour. Being known to the hostess the caller was admitted, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observed that, according to the prevailing social custom, there was no intention of admitting him to sit at the table with the regular guests. Now race prejudice is what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá could not tolerate: at His own table members of all races and religions met on an equality as brothers. He was not going to countenance it among His friends in America if He could help it. What was the surprise of the hostess and of everyone else present when He was observed clearing a place beside Him and calling for knives and forks for the new arrival! Before any seemly way of countering His initiative was found, before anyone had quite realised how it had happened, the lady found herself doing what neither she nor any other hostess in her position would have dreamed of doing, and entertaining at her table with her white friends a negro. ‘Abdu’l-Baha had become the spiritual host. He spread before those who sat with Him the sense of the common Fatherhood of God. Such was His radiant power that the unconventional challenging meal passed off without unpleasantness or embarrassment to any who partook of it.
- Hand of the Cause George Townshend (‘World Order magazine, October 1936’)
