April 24. On this date in 1912, a newspaper article in the "Evening Star" of Washington, D.C. quoted 'Abdu’l-Bahá's speech at Howard University, "Let us recall the fact that the first proclamation of liberty, of freedom from slavery, was accomplished in this continent...The colored people of Africa were in a most terrible state of bondage, and the European powers, emulating the American altruism, accomplished a proclamation of universal liberty. So you were the means here of liberating your fellow-beings elsewhere. This effort on the part of the white people in America should never be lost sight of, and therefore you must be grateful to the whites, for they were liberators of your people not only in this country, in the continent of America, but elsewhere, in Africa."

April 24. On this date in 1912, a newspaper article in the Evening Star of Washington, D.C. quoted 'Abdu’l-Bahá's speech at Howard University, "Let us recall the fact that the first proclamation of liberty, of freedom from slavery, was accomplished in this continent...The colored people of Africa were in a most terrible state of bondage, and the European powers, emulating the American altruism, accomplished a proclamation of universal liberty. So you were the means here of liberating your fellow-beings elsewhere. This effort on the part of the white people in America should never be lost sight of, and therefore you must be grateful to the whites, for they were liberators of your people not only in this country, in the continent of America, but elsewhere, in Africa."

'Abdu’l-Bahá's statement that "the first proclamation of liberty, of freedom from slavery, was accomplished in this continent" is factually incorrect.

Leader of Bahá’í Movement to Leave for Chicago to Attend Conference. 

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Abbas Effendi, oriental seer and world leader of the Bahá’í movement, will make his last public appearance in the National Capital, incident to his present tour of America, at a meeting to be held Friday evening at 8 o’clock in the D.A.R. Memorial Continental Hall. This meeting will be under the auspices of the newly organized Orient-Occident Unity, and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, treasurer, and Joseph H. Hannen, secretary, of the society, have issued an invitation to the public to attend. Immediately after the meeting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and his party will leave for Chicago, where the Bahá’í leader is to be present at the fourth annual conference of the Bahá’í movement. 

‘Abdu’l-Bahá made two addresses yesterday, the first at the Howard University, and the second at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church. At Howard University an audience of 1,000 persons crowded Rankin Chapel, and the speaker expounded the Bahá’í doctrine of the oneness of the human races.

First “Freedom From Slavery” Here. 

“Let us recall the fact that the first proclamation of liberty, of freedom from slavery, was accomplished in this continent,” he said. “The white man went into war for the sake of the colored. They were forfeiting possessions and sacrificing lives in order that the colored might be freed from bondage, and this had tremendous effects upon the sociology of other parts. 

“The colored people of Africa were in a most terrible state of bondage, and the European powers, emulating the American altruism, accomplished a proclamation of universal liberty. So you were the means here of liberating your fellow-beings elsewhere. This effort on the part of the white people in America should never be lost sight of, and therefore you must be very grateful and must be very kind to the whites here. And the white people in this country should be most happy and grateful to you, so that both may develop in the degrees of altruism and of humanitarianism. 

“May you be further drawn together with the whites, in order that extraordinary development may be accomplished by you and in order that fellowship may become a reality, a true fact, among you. In short, you must be grateful to the whites, for they were liberators of your people not only in this country, in the continent of America, but elsewhere, in Africa. 

“Were it not for your freedom here one can see that freedom elsewhere would not have been accomplished, and up to the present day bondage would have been present. But now, praise be to God, the bondage has passed away and the white and the colored are both free from it, and I pray in your behalf that you may develop and advance in ethics and morality; that you may achieve it in such a superlative degree that there shall be no name other than one humankind. So that one appellation may be invoked, and that is humankind.”