But I wish to say one thing in order that the blacks may
become grateful to the whites and the whites become loving toward the blacks.
If you go to Africa and see the blacks of Africa, you will realize how much
progress you have made. Praise be to God! You are like the whites; there are no
great distinctions left. But the blacks of Africa are treated as servants. The
first proclamation of emancipation for the blacks was made by the whites of
America. How they fought and sacrificed until they freed the blacks! Then it
spread to other places. The blacks of Africa were in complete bondage, but your
emancipation led to their freedom also—that is, the European states emulated
the Americans, and the emancipation proclamation became universal. It was for
your sake that the whites of America made such an effort. Were it not for this
effort, universal emancipation would not have been proclaimed.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk, 23 April 1912, Washington D.C.; ‘The Promulgation of Universal
Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States
and Canada in 1912’)
