Keith Ransom-Kehler
From Bahaikipedia
Keith Ransom-Kehler (1876 - October 27, 1933) was an American Bahá'í, Hand of the Cause of God and regarded as the first American martyr of the Faith. She carried out extensive travel teaching in the United States and Canada in the late 1920's before leaving her homeland in the 1930's to visit Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. She died of small pox in Isfahan, Iran in 1933 during a mission to promote Bahá'í Administration and alleviate the suffering of Persian Bahá'ís at the hands of the Iranian government.
[edit] Early Life
[edit] Mission to Persia
In June 1932, she was appointed representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States to present an appeal to the Shah of Persia to alleviate the increasing measures being taken to suppress the Bahá'í Faith in Persia, including a ban on Baha'i literature entering the country and being printed and distributed within the country. After initial written appeals received no result, she was sent to Persia by Shoghi Effendi.
Mrs. Ransom-Kehler entered Persia from its western frontier and visited the friends in Kirmanshah, Hamadan and Qazvin before traveling onward to Tihran to recover from sickness. After her recovery she visited Adhirbayjan on a teaching trip and continued onward to Khurasan, Mazindarin and Gilan before returning to Tihran.
During her time in Tihran, she composed seven letters to the Shah urging him to lift the ban on Baha'i literature and ease the restriction on Baha'i activities. She met with several high officials and extracted the assurance that the ban would be lifted from a Court Minister, although the ban and persecution continued unabated.
On September 21, 1933 she departed Tihran for Qum, where she met with the friends and several local government officials. On September 23, she departed for Kashan. En route she was met by 250 Baha'is from Kashan and escorted the remaining 22 miles into the city. The next four days were dedicated to speaking at various engagements and other teaching activities, including a trip to the village of Aran. The following day she accepted the invitation of the Governor to meet with many high officials at his home, including the chief of police, the director of the municipal council, and the directors of public health and commerce.
Following additional speaking opportunities and meetings with the Baha'is and their institutions and agencies, she traveled to Isfahan and arrived on October 7. She visited places sacred to the Faith and spoke with the Spiritual Assembly and its committees at the Haziratu'l-Quds. The following day she addressed meetings of men and women and spoke to counter the recent newspaper articles denouncing the Faith. On October 9, she visited the Governor at his home, as well as the head of the telegraph department and the chief of police.
On October 10, Mrs. Ransom-Kehler fell ill with what was initially diagnosed as measles. She was attended by Najmiyyih Khanum'Ala'i and Rahmatu'llah Khan'Ala'i, both of Tihran, who had been instructed by the Guardian to escort her on her trip through Persia, and Dr. `Abbasiyan of Isfahan. After her condition worsened, the diagnosis was changed to smallpox and dysentery in consultation with other physicians in the city. Although she appeared to be improving over the course of several days, she suddenly succumbed to the disease on October 23, 1933. A funeral procession of nearly 600 Baha'is from Isfahan accompanied her flower-laden hearse down one of the city's main avenues to the cemetery where she was buried near the tombs of the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs.
Upon receiving news of her death, Shoghi Effendi sent the following by cablegram to the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia:
"The intrepid defender and illustrious herald of God's Cause has risen triumphant from depths of darkness to her heavenly home; her magnificent deeds were hidden from the negligent in that land; the Supreme Concourse knew her worth; she possesses the rank of martyrdom and is one of the Hands of the Cause. The entire Tihran Assembly will surely in conjunction with delegates from Shiraz, Kirman, Abadih, Yazd and the southern ports go on pilgrimage in my stead to her venerated grave."
[edit] References
- National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada (1936). Bahá'í World, The: Vol. V - 1932-1934. Bahá'í Publishing Committee.
- Rosemary Skinner Keller, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marie Cantlon (April 2006). Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253346858.
