African-American Islamization Reconsidered: Black History Narratives and Muslim Identity

Abstract

Utilizing recent anthropological and historical approaches to Islamization (here meaning the various historical processes by which humans become Muslims), this article offers a new model for understanding African-American conversion to Islam. The article proposes that the creation, dissemination, and disputation of ‘black history narratives’ have been central elements in black conversion from the 1920s until the present. Showing how African Americans have appropriated various Islamic figures, place names, texts, events, and themes in crafting black Islamic historical narratives, the article asserts that African-American Muslim identities have often reflected, if not revolved around, the idea that the historical destiny of black people as a whole is linked to the religion of Islam.