Becoming Muslim BONUS: Some History of Islam in America

Becoming Muslim: A history of Islam in America

How did Islam first arrive on the North American continent? Did enslaved West Africans bring it to America? Or did Muslims sail with Christopher Columbus first? Later, Islam spread in the United States, among various communities. How did that happen? In this BONUS conversation that’s part of the Becoming Muslim series, host Hana Baba dives into the history of Islam in America with Dr. Edward E. Curtis IV, a scholar of Muslim American, African American and Arab American history and life.

“African-Americans in the 1920s, just like African-Americans in the 1800s, never thought of themselves as completely cut off from Africa and its history and its heritage. And so by converting to Islam, they were indeed laying claim to a spiritual, historical, political, social resource that they that they knew had been part of their people’s history for a long, long time.” — Edward E. Curtis IV