African American Muslim Congregations, 1913–2013

Abstract

For nearly a century, African American Muslims have gathered for religious purposes in local voluntary religious associations that, like other American religious congregations, are a basic building block of U.S. society. Charting their long history, this article surveys the growth of Sunni, Ahmadi, Moorish, and other congregations from World War I until the present. The article argues that black-majority, black-dominant Muslim American congregations are affected by and respond to the same racial divide that shapes American religion as a whole.