CHARLESTON, S.C. Boyhood home of prominent Bah & aacute;' & iacute; becomes a place to learn and pray

Restoration on the home has helped turn it into a museum.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Since early this year, the house at 2 Desportes Court has been home to the Louis G. Gregory Bah & aacute;' & iacute; Museum.
Gregory, who was born in Charleston to freed slaves, became a leading figure in the 158-year history of the Bah & aacute;' & iacute; faith.
The house, once a dilapidated shell, has been preserved and transformed into a museum through the efforts of Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s from around the United States.
In 1988, Charleston resident Henry Wigfall attended a downtown real-estate auction. While reading through a listing of properties for sale, Wigfall, a Bah & aacute;' & iacute;, recognized the address as Louis G. Gregory's former home.
Joined in to help
Wigfall tried to bid on the property that day but didn't have the money. He then turned to members of the Charleston Bah & aacute;' & iacute; community, who opened their pockets and solicited money from other Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s.
"We're proud of it because we did it all ourselves, from within the Bah & aacute;' & iacute; community," said Wigfall, now one of the museum's curators. "Funds came from around Charleston, around the state and the nation. People held bake sales, and kids opened their piggy banks."
Bah & aacute;' & iacute; belief mandates that Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s may not accept donations from outside their faith to build and maintain facilities.
The Charleston Bah & aacute;' & iacute; community bought the home in 1989 and started restoration work.
Today, work still remains, but the museum is a quiet, elegant tribute to a man and his message.
The first floor is home to an exhibit room that features photos and personal mementos from Gregory's life.
Items there
On display are his diploma from Howard University and his license to practice law, as well as programs from conferences on racial unity that Gregory offered in the '20s and '30s.
Enclosed in a glass case is a brochure describing a pilgrimage Gregory made in the 1930s to Bah & aacute;' & iacute; holy places in the Middle East, including a holy shrine in Haifa, Israel. There are also photos of Gregory with his wife and other prominent Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s, as well as many of his personal letters.
The museum's second floor features an elegantly furnished prayer and conference room, used by Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s for meetings and devotional time. The floors of the museum are decked with lush Persian rugs.
Gregory was born in Charleston in 1874 to Mary Elizabeth and Ebenezer George. After Ebenezer died five years later, Mary Elizabeth married Col. George Gregory, a freeborn native of Charleston who had served in the Union Army.
For much of Louis G. Gregory's childhood, he and his brother, Theodore, lived in the house at 2 Desportes Court.
Embraced a new faith
Gregory was reared a Christian but embraced the Bah & aacute;' & iacute; faith after discovering it in 1909. By then, he was a lawyer in Washington, D.C.
The Bah & aacute;' & iacute; message of the unity of all humanity appealed to Gregory, whose work as a lawyer focused largely on issues of racial equality and justice.
He quickly became a prominent figure -- and one of the first prominent blacks --in the Bah & aacute;' & iacute; faith. In 1912, Gregory was elected to the faith's nine-member national administrative board, a position he held until late in his life. Also that year, he married the British-born Louisa Mathew.
Gregory gave up his law practice and a real estate business to travel the country teaching the Bah & aacute;' & iacute; principles of what he called "race unity."
At his death in 1951, officials in the Bah & aacute;' & iacute; faith gave Gregory the "Hand of the Cause," an honor given to only 47 others in the faith's history.
The Louis G. Gregory Institute in Hemingway, S.C., was the first full-time Bah & aacute;' & iacute; institute established in the United States. It offers educational and spiritual opportunities for Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s from around the world.
Many Bah & aacute;' & iacute;s worldwide also have showed respect to his memory by naming their children Louis G. Gregory.