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There have been Muslims in this country for four hundred years. Estimates vary, but it is commonly estimated that 10% to 15% of slaves brought to what is now the United States were Muslim, and I’ve seen estimates as high as 30% [Two links here. PBS History detectives PBS History detectives and Huffpost 2015 What Happened...]. The evidence is scattered and has only recently become widely studied. Several documents written by slaves in Arabic survive.
It’s worth recalling that the Spanish, French, Dutch and British all enslaved Africans in what is now the US and that these affected the creation of regional cultures the slaves made for themselves (it's not clear if there were African slaves in New Sweden; there were in the Danish Virgin Islands, purchased by the US in 1917) . The proportion of slaves from identifiably Muslim areas may have varied. The Spanish did not allow the importation of Muslim slaves because of fears they were apt to rebel.
In addition to the stories noted below, there are a number of others worth investigating. This diary is too long as is. I do not here discuss the well-known story of Lebanese immigrants to Michigan and elsewhere. There’s yet another important story worth investigating, the origin of the American group sometimes called the Black Muslims, the origins, inspired by the history of Muslims in slavery, now more than a century old.
The photo is Omar bin Said (1770-1864), who in 1831 wrote a short autobiography in Arabic, using the Maghribi script. He was the property of the Owen family in North Carolina. He died there, still a slave, in 1864. He was 37 when he was captured in what is now Senegal, and was sold into slavery in the Carolinas. He escaped in 1810 but was recaptured. He converted to Christianity in 1821. Somehow his literacy in Arabic attracted attention, and he became mildly famous. His short written comments mention Islam—and also offers praise for his owners, perhaps a sly bit of pragmatism. Omar's document can be viewed at the National Humanities Center site (which has much about slavery; the document is a PDF file).
Another well-known Muslim slave is Yarrow Mamout who became something of a financier (ca 1741-1827) was brought to America in 1752, from Guinea. He was freed when he was 60, and became a substantial citizen of Georgetown near Washington DC, known for lending money (to whites as well as blacks). His freedom may have been negotiated with his owner, perhaps from savings from his skilled work. His portrait was painted by Charles Wilson Peale in 1819 and is one of few such images. Peale was from the famous American Peale family that produced many artists.
Yet another fascinating story of a Muslim slave is that of Ayyub ibn Sulayman ibn Ibrahim, generally known as Job Ben Soloman (ca 1701-1773). This man, from the Fulbe people, was captured while he was on a commercial trip He was enslaved in Maryland, escaped, recaptured and jailed. It’s a complicated story but he wrote a letter in Arabic, aroused the curiosity of a cleric, and was bought (by the once famous founder of Georgia, Ogelthorpe) traveled to London with the minister, and eventually returned home. An account was published in both English and French.
Slaves taken from some areas of Africa were very likely to have been Muslim, particularly from the area sometimes now called Senegambia. The most cited number of African slaves brought to what is now the United States is about 500,000. So, taking the 15% as a reasonable figure, that would mean about 75,000 Muslims brought here, almost all before 1800. That outnumbers some of the Christian groups coming before 1800—more than the Quakers, more than the Anglicans, more than the Catholics, likely more than the New England Congregationalists. That also means millions of African Americans have Muslim ancestry.
How long slaves who were originally Muslim maintained their faith is not knowable. It is highly likely that some Muslim traditions contributed to African American culture, most likely music and foods, and through some names. One intriguing story is that of Bilali Muhammed (1770-1857), a slave on Sapelo Island, Georgia. He was a plantation manager, sometimes left by his owners for months to manage the plantation and 500 slaves. He seems to have acted as an imam to dozens of Muslim slaves. The islands were quite isolated and African folk cultures survived longer there. He wrote a short document on aspects of islamic law. There’s a certain delicious irony in the fact that Islamic law may have been used in Georgia almost two hundred years ago.
The name “Bilali” slid easily into “Bailey,” and that some of todays’ families named Bailey have this man as an ancestor. There’s another Muslim slave with a similar name, Salih Bilali (1770-1846) who was also a slave and manager on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. [Info for both ].
A fascinating story is the life of Anthony Janszoon van Sale (1607-1676). This man was the son of a Dutch pirate based in Sale, Morocco, which then was a sort of city state based on piracy (like Algiers and Tunis). European pirates turning Muslim and joining these places was fairly common. This man emigrated to New Amsterdam. He was Muslim, as apparently was his mother (his mother was African, details unclear). His descendants include the Vanderbilts, and allegedly Humphry Bogart, president Warren Harding and Jackie Kennedy. Important note: There are a number of versions of this person’s life, so research it and decide for yourself. I find the idea that a President descends from a turncoat European turned Muslim rather appealing.
One little known community originating in Muslim migrants dates to about 1880-1900s. Muslim Bengalis emigrated to the US, apparently all men. Because of racial restrictions on interracial marriage (and restrictions on immigration concerning women), they married into communities of color, African American and Puerto Rican, notably in Harlem . Sailors from South Asia seem to have done the same in Baltimore and Detroit (Detroit, recall, is a major Great Lakes port).
The last Muslim-ruled area in Spain (Grenada) was conquered in 1492. Spain expelled Muslims and later, descendants of Muslims who had converted to Christianity (the Moriscos). Some of these were thought to be secret Muslims, and were persecuted by the Inquisition. I’ve found little about it, but just as secret Jews emigrated to the Spanish colonies, it is certainly possible that secret Muslims did the same.
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis imported camels as an experiment to see if they would improve mobility of the US Cavalry in desert areas, and also to see if they would be of use in transportation. Some camel drivers were also brought over (into Texas in the late 1850s). Some of them seem to have been Greek subjects on the Ottomans, but at least one is known to have been Muslim. He was a Greek convert to Islam. He became known as Hi Jolley (probably from Hajj Ali, because he had made the Haj to Mecca). He was also known by the name Philip Tedrow, and married Gertrudis Sema and had two children. He died in Arizona in 1902.
The Camel Corps dissolved in the Civil War (Confederates captured the animals), but there were other batches imported by private businesses; whether these brought Muslim handlers is unclear.
There are many more stories for people interested. If any novelists looking for material read any of this, there’s potential for many historical novels.
Some sources:
[Note: I’ve read the online material, but relied on reviews and excerpts for the books except for Alryyes. There’s a lot out there, much of it of problematic quality].
Ala Alryyes, ed. A Muslim American Slave. The life of Omar ibn Said. U Wisconsin Press, 2011.
Allen Austin, “Contemporary Contexts for Omar’s Life and Life,” 133-151, in Alryyes.
Vivek Bald, Bengali Harlem Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America. Harvard UP, 2012.
Sylviane Diouf Servants of Allah. African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. NYU Press, 1998.
Henry Louis Gates , Jr. “How Many Slaves Landed in the US?” The Root, 1/6/14.
Michael Gomez, “Muslims in Early America,” 95-132, in Alryyes.
James H. Johnson, From Slave Ship to Harvard. Yarrow Mamout and the history of an African American Family. Fordham UP, 2012.
Peter Manseau , “Whatever Happened to America’s First Muslims?” Huffington Post 5/9/2015
NY Times 2/9/15 “The Muslims of Early