Roughly one in five enslaved Africans in America was Muslim

Evidence

Historian Allan Austin has reckoned between 1711 and 1808, about 5–10 percent, perhaps as many as 30,000–40,000 of slaves brought to the 13 colonies and the United States, were Muslims. Austin traces their roots mainly to Senegambia, “the source for the most sought-after slaves, especially by American slavers working fast between the end of the Revolutionary War [in 1783] and January 1, 1808,” when the United States officially outlawed the international (but not the domestic) slave trade. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 354

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on enslaved Muslims in the Americas (akin to Sylviane Diouf’s ‘Servants of Allah’) and challenges the narrative that Islam arrived in America only through modern immigration. — connects to: Islamic slavery offered slaves mobility and rights unmatched in Christian law; Muslims constituted 15 to 20 percent of enslaved Africans in America. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 169; Tens of thousands of colonial slaves were Muslims (+1 more)
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 354

Broader Connections

• Muslims constituted 15 to 20 percent of enslaved Africans in America. #corroborates (0.95) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 169
• Tens of thousands of colonial slaves were Muslims #corroborates (0.85)