Baha'is from five continents, including two from the United States, are making presentations at the Parliament of the World's Religions – an event now held every five years in the modern continuation of an initiative begun more than a century ago.

Kevin Locke, world-renowned Native American performer and educator, and member of the Baha'i community, has won a Native American Music Award (Nammy) in the Record of the Year category for his latest recording, Earth Gift.

Asked to open a United Nations meeting on poverty, Kevin Locke recited an "eagle" prayer in his native Lakota Sioux dialect.

Navajo artist Chester Kahn, 72, is a humble man, says his niece Seowah Kahn, someone who is "not in the habit of elevating himself” -- except perhaps to climb a scaffold to paint one of his renowned murals.

Kevin Locke doesn’t just talk about unity. The internationally acclaimed performer literally jumps through hoops to make audiences aware of the critical need for harmony in the world.

Jacqueline Left Hand Bull-Delahunt, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota), recently was elected chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. She is the first American Indian and the third woman to hold that position.

Patricia Locke, who died in 2001 at age 73, was a ground-breaking worker for the education of American Indians and one of 10 women inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2005.

Locke was a Baha'i, and the first American Indian woman to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly, the administrative governing body for Baha'is of the United States. She was of Lakota and Chippewa heritage and played a leading role in the founding of 17 tribally run colleges in the United States. She also was an influential advocate for the passage of federal laws increasing Indian tribes' autonomy over their children's education.