Islam has been raced in America since the early slave era
Evidence
The view of Islam as a religion of Africans and Asians has been commonplace since the American Revolution. It was never a European religion, and not a religion practiced by white people. From the early history of the United States, with Islam being practiced by slaves, Islam itself has been raced. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 148
Categorization
- XREF: Directly intersects Aziz’s ‘Racial Muslim’ argument that Islam’s American racialization began with enslaved African Muslims; worth tracking how Choudhury’s slave-era origin claim compares. — connects to: Muslim identity in America is socially constructed from legacies of slavery and Orientalism; Islam shaped African American racial identity formation throughout U.S. history; American Muslim identity merges slavery-era and immigrant origins into one racialized type — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 481 (+8 more)
- QUESTION: Does Choudhury cite the same slave-narrative evidence Aziz does (e.g., Omar ibn Said), and does she push the racialization start earlier or argue it differs in mechanism?
Broader Connections
- Islam’s racialization dates to American slavery, not modern immigration debates
#corroborates(0.95) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 148 - American racism against Muslims extends back to enslaved Africans
#corroborates(0.90) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 223 - Muslim identity in America is socially constructed from legacies of slavery and Orientalism
#expands(0.88) - Islam functions as a full race in American and European hierarchies
#corroborates(0.87) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 527 - The first significant US Muslim population arrived via the slave trade
#expands(0.86) - Islam shaped African American racial identity formation throughout U.S. history
#expands(0.85) - Enslaved West Africans were the first significant US Muslim population
#expands(0.85) - American Muslim identity merges slavery-era and immigrant origins into one racialized type
#expands(0.84) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 481 - Islam shaped U.S. racial formation, linking Native, black, and immigrant Americas.
#expands(0.83) - Muslim-American history predates the American republic
#expands(0.80) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 974 - Early American Islam grew by fusing Qur’anic spirituality with black liberation and pan-African politics
#expands(0.78) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 380