Bahá’í World/Volume 18/Kenneth Allan Morais
KENNETH ALLAN MORAIS
1942—1981
Kenneth Morais, born on 29 July 1942 in the City of the Covenant (New York), lived an active life dedicated to the service of humanity until he departed this world on 29 May 1981. Kenneth, or ‘Ka’ as he was also called, was the son of Steibel and Kathryn Morais. Steibel emigrated from Jamaica, West Indies, to the United States, and married Kathryn who bore him two daughters and two sons who enjoyed a Christian upbringing.
After graduating from Public School 46 and the High School of Music and Art in New York, Ka attended Brooklyn Community College, New York University, Cabrillo College and the New York Institute of Photography.
Kenneth Allan Morais
As an artist he made collages, painted with oils and acrylics, did scrimshaw and made animated and regular films, but he was best known as a photographer. His most important photographic works were his ‘Terrainiums’, or ‘interior landscapes’, striking and provocative three-dimensional photographic constructions which won him acclaim. He exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem whose director, Mary S. Campbell, described him as ‘a fine photographer, one whose photographs it was an honour to exhibit at the Studio Museum’. Shortly after Ka’s passing, the Black Photographers’ Association of New York, at a meeting held in his honour to which some members of the Bahá’í community were invited, aWarded him their certificate of merit.
Ka became a Bahá’í in the 1960s, despite the disapproval of his mother, and actively engaged in its service. He was bent on serving not only his country but mankind. As soon as he was discharged from the United States army in which he served in the war in Vietnam he busied himself rendering assistance to refugees in Thailand and Korea where he taught the Bahá’í Faith, distributed its literature, and worked towards translating its books into the Khmer language. In 1978—1979 he taught English at Ube Academy in Ube, Japan. His service in Thailand was interrupted in 1981 when he had to return to the United States to take care of his mother. Ka took his leave from this world on a warm sunny day in late spring. It happened in Washington Square Park, New York, where he was taking photographs. He came upon a group of musicians and began to dance to their music, delighting the many children among the large crowd of spectators, when he suddenly fell to the ground as a result of a heart attack. Medical assistance proved futile. He was buried at the Veteran’s Cemetery, Long Island.
Jack Walker, whose fireside meetings Ka had attended, offers this description: ‘Kenneth was selfless. Material wealth was not important to him. He was more interested in his spiritual growth.’ Another friend states that he ‘was soft-spoken, reserved and had a keen gift of observation. His conspicuous figure and his personality will be remembered wherever he visited.’ Vaughan Smith, a fellow believer in Thailand, has written, ‘Kenneth had been pioneering in Korea for a year and had been
travel teaching in Thailand twice. During the Kampuchean crisis of December 1979 he was so moved that he quit his job in Korea and came to Thailand to help the Khmer refugees at the border. We thought that if he wanted to help refugees he should go into the Lao camps where there were Bahá’ís. He, however, went to help the Khmer masses. He had a really dynamic personality and was loved and respected by us all . . . he was a true servant of mankind . . . he returned to the U.S.A. to help his ailing mother and never had the chance to continue his wonderful pioneering work.’
In a letter written on its behalf on 13 December 1981 the Universal House of Justice expressed sorrow at the passing of this ‘stalwart Bahá’í pioneer and travelling teacher in several Asian countries . . . who strove to help the friends in these areas. His assistance to the refugees of these strife-torn lands, especially to the Cambodians, and his efforts [to facilitate translations of the Bahá’í Writings into Khmer] will be remembered by future generations. Ardent prayers will be offered in the Holy Shrines for the progress of this servant’s soul.‘
His passing was commemorated by his sister, Lisa Morais, in her poem, ‘In Memoriam’:
- My brother
- Died in celebration
- While dancing
- In a park.
- A circle formed;
- He was its centre.
- My brother laughed
- As he leaped into the air
- Karate kicks, joyous movement.
- The crowd whistled its approval
- Until, in the middle of the dance,
- His body jerked, losing its rhythms.
- And crashed to the ground.
- Later
- We heard news of the news of the performance.
- Two women told us of the joy they
- Felt while watching him.
- A true celebration of life, they said,
- A fitting death for a wanderer.
- Your family is not left
- With the emptiness of a tragedy
- We know you died
- A pied piper
- Leading the way with your dance.
(Based on a memoir by IVAN S. GRAHAM and ARTIS WILLIAMS)