African Muslims in AnteBellum America: Transatlantic Stories and Spiritual Struggles » (REVISED & UPDATED)

Possessors of strong identities and a powerful faith, African Muslims made an impressive but understudied impact on America. From their proud insistence on covering their bodies, praying to one God, reading and writing in Arabic, and adhering to positive attitudes about Africa and Islam throughout the Antebellum period, these Africans aroused much apprehension in and commanded many accommodations from their American purchasers. As many were experienced leaders in political, religious, commercial, military or agricultural matters in Africa -- some were returned to Africa while others became leaders within the slave system in America.

A condensation and updating of his African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook (1984), noted scholar of antebellum black writing and history Dr. Allan D. Austin explores, via portraits, documents, maps, and texts, the lives of 50 sub-Saharan non-peasant Muslim Africans caught in the slave trade between 1730 and 1860. Also includes five maps.

Library Journal

In this updated condensation of his African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook (1984), Austin sketches the experiences of some 75 Muslims seized in sub-Saharan Africa and enslaved in North America between 1730 and 1860. Expanding his commentary and condensing his excerpts from autobiographical or biographical narratives, Austin develops the character of individual Muslims more than in his sourcebook. He illuminates their lives and thoughts in ways that reveal the embarrassing limits imposed by race and religion on general historical understanding of first-generation Africans in America. A complement to Richard Brent Turner's Islam in the African-American Experience (LJ 6/1/97), this work is essential for collections on early America, African Americans, and U.S. history or religion or Islam in the United States.Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe