Author and Bahá’í historian Louis Venters provides, for the first time, an overview of the first century of the Bahá’í Faith in a state with one of its strongest followings. The Bahá’í Faith is increasingly acknowledged as South Carolina’s second-largest religion, part of the social fabric of the state. The earliest mentions of the distinctively interracial, theologically innovative faith community in the state date back to the Civil War. Black, white and indigenous South Carolinians defied racial and religious prejudices to join the religion during the tumultuous civil rights era. From the visit of the first Bahá’í teacher in 1910 to the “Carolinian Pentecost” of the 1970s and beyond, the faith has deep roots in the Palmetto State.
Louis Venters, PhD, teaches African and African diaspora history, southern U.S. history and public history at Francis Marion University and is a consultant in the fields of historic preservation and cultural resource management. He is the author of No Jim Crow Church: The Origins of South Carolina’s Bahá’í Community (2015) and the author or co-author of several site studies, public history reports and exhibits, including the award-winning greenbookofsc.com. He is a member of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission and on the board of directors of Preservation South Carolina. He first encountered the Bahá’í Faith as a young teenager, and since then, he has served in a number of elected and appointed positions in the Bahá’í community and lived and traveled widely in Africa, the Americas and Europe. He blogs on issues related to race, religion, history and culture at louisventers.com.