In 1898, Robert Chaittle Turner became the American Bahá’í community’s first Black believer.

The son of an enslaved mother, he lived humbly, so we know little about the details of his life. We remember him today not because of those temporal facts, but because of his radiant heart and his awakened spirit, which led him to his belief in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and the oneness of humanity.

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Through public art, media, research, and educational programming, the Robert Turner Project aims to advance the cause of race unity and human oneness by celebrating the unique spiritual station of the first Black American Bahá’í.