Baháʼí Faith in Haiti

The Baháʼí Faith in Haiti began in 1916 when ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the head of the religion, cited Haiti as one of the island countries of the Caribbean where Baháʼís should establish a religious community. The first Baháʼí to visit the island was Mrs. Harriet Gibbs Marshall, from 1922–1928. Another early Baháʼí to visit Haiti was Leonora Armstrong in 1927. After that, others visited Haiti, and by January 1937 Louis George Gregory visited the island and cited the presence of a small community of Baháʼís. The first long term pioneers, Ruth and Ellsworth Blackwell, arrived in 1940. Following their arrival the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly of Haiti was formed in 1942 in Port-au-Prince. From 1951 the Haitian Baháʼís participated in regional organizations of the religion until 1961 when Haitian Baháʼís elected their own National Spiritual Assembly and soon took on goals reaching out into neighboring islands. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying mostly on the World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 23,000 Baháʼís in Haiti in 2005, and about the same in 2010.