“The interviews make visible a population too often rendered invisible and offer an educational resource for classrooms and a mirror for society,” said Dr. Mahmoudi.
“Progress has been real,” she continued, “yet the work of fostering race unity remains unfinished. Listening carefully to these memories can strengthen the resolve and empathy needed for constructive change.”
The strength of the project lies in how it reframes the story of an era. Interviewees describe communities in which every role mattered and social standing did not determine worth. The project’s findings illuminate how families supported one another and how a spirit of service created environments where everyone—from the youngest to the oldest—felt valued and included.
In these communities, mutual support was not merely a survival strategy; it was an expression of a worldview that saw each person as having valuable contributions to make to the collective good. The accounts captured in the project reveal the capacities that grew under pressure: steadfastness, solidarity, imagination.
For the Bahá’í Chair, documenting these legacies is not only about the past. Rather, it is an invitation to consider what it will take to foster communities where nobility is recognized in every person and where diversity is a source of strength.
“The more we turn outward and work with others,” Dr. Mahmoudi reflected, “the better we grasp the meaning of our common humanity.”
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