How Islam Influenced Black Americans in 1920s Chicago | American Muslims: A History Revealed

The 1920s saw a revival in Islam among Black Americans fleeing poverty and persecution in the Jim Crow South. In Northern cities including Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, and New York, they found strength and security in a range of Muslim organizations, from the India-based Ahmadiyya movement to the homegrown Moorish Science Temple and Nation of Islam. In this film, host Malika Bilal (Senior Presenter, Al Jazeera English) tells the story of these early Black American Muslim communities through a woman named Florence Watts, who moved to the bustling South Side of Chicago around 1910, where she found work as a cook and a maid.

Drawing on the work of Sylvia Chan-Malik, (author of Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam,) Malika discovers how Florence was drawn to the teachings of the Ahmadiyya missionary, Mufti Mohammad Sadiq. In 1923, she joined one of the first multi-racial Muslim communities in the country. That same year, Florence was featured in the Ahmadiyya magazine Moslem Sunrise, her image captured in one of the earliest known photographs of a group of Muslim women taken in the United States. Through Florence’s story, Malika discovers how these Muslim groups helped working-class Black Americans resist the confines of race in the United States and feel part of a global community of believers. They in turn helped to create a legacy of Islam that has been embraced by African Americans since.

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American Muslims: A History Revealed
A series of six short documentary films that reveal and explore the early history of Muslims in America. The series is hosted by three leading American Muslim journalists: Malika Bilal, Aymann Ismail, and Asma Khalid. Over the course of the series, they travel the country to piece together stories spanning over 200 years. from the first Muslims to arrive as enslaved people from Africa to the establishment of early South Asian, Syrian-Lebanese, and Black American Muslim communities. The series weaves key moments in U.S. history with the unexpected but essential story threads of Muslims whose lived experiences offer us new insight into how race, religion, and nationality are intertwined in the American fabric. Actors reading the part of historical characters include Hiam Abbas, David Rasche, Kamal Khan, and Faarshad Farahat.