Baháʼí Faith in Jamaica

[5] Public recognition of the religion came in the form of the Governor General of Jamaica, Sir Howard Cooke, proclaiming a National Baháʼí Day first on July 25 in 2003 and it has been an annual event since.

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.

[8] The Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada appointed the Inter-America Committee to take charge of the preparations.

After a brief visit in 1939 by John and Rosa Shaw from San Francisco,[10] the community of the Baháʼí Faith in Jamaica began in 1942 with the arrival of Dr. Malcolm King - from Portland, Oregon,[2] United States and of Jamaican background.

[11] King taught the religion to Marion Maxwell, the first Jamaican Baháʼí[6] and William Mitchell (previously accountant for the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) founded by Marcus Garvey).

[3] Mitchell was the Jamaican delegate to the Baháʼí All-America Convention called for by Shoghi Effendi, then head of the religion, to be held in the United States May 17–24, 1944 on the centenary of the declaration of the Báb.

[8] Mitchell in turn taught the religion to Julius Edwards, associated with Garvey and later pioneered to the area now called Ghana in 1953 and later in Liberia.

[18] Former assistant to the dean of the school of engineering and applied science at Washington University in St. Louis, Naomi McCord, and her husband served as caretakers of the National Baháʼí Center in Kingston for a number of years.

In 2000 Baháʼís joined in observing the International Day of Peace with prayers called for by the Millennium World Peace Summit of religious leaders which met at the United Nations during August 28–31,[20] and in 2002 Baháʼís participated in a national dialogue on transcending tribalistic boundaries present in politics.

[21] Governor General of Jamaica, Sir Howard Cooke, proclaimed a National Baháʼí Day first on July 25 in 2003 and it has been an annual event since.

[6] Among the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the first Jamaican local spiritual assembly after two weeks of events was a blood drive organized by the Baháʼís of Kingston.

[25] In 2005 the international Baháʼí choir, Voices of Bahá, performed in Jamaica as part of their first tour in the Caribbean and performed at Ward Theatre and the University's Chapel with proceeds earmarked to two Jamaican charities serving families of policemen slain in the line of duty and the Denham Town Golden Age Home.