Islam and America

From colonial America to 20th century, Islam has a long history in the United States. We start with the transatlantic slave trade and tracing some of the demographics that made up the colonial US. We examine material evidence, paintings, and written sources to uncover the lives of African Muslims living the United States. We talk about Muhammad Bilali who left behind religious treatise and became the forefather of the Sapelo Islands. We discuss Yarrow Mamout who as a freeman became a black Muslim entrepreneur in DC. We spend some time with Omar ibn Said, the great religious scholar who left behind a body of work including his biography and texts of Islam. We look at these lives as evidence of how Muslims in America forged a new life for themselves. We also examine the relationship between the United States and Muslim countries, the debate on religious liberty and religious freedom, and trace the history of Muslim migration. From Muslims in the Civil War to the famous Hot Tamale Louis. This is a story of Islam in America.