American Muslims: A History Revealed

Asma Khalid travels to the American South West to tell the story of Mir Dad, a Muslim man from South Asia who came to the U.S. in 1917 and married a Mexican-American woman on the California-Arizona border in the early years of the 20th century.

Asma Khalid travels to Sacramento and Phoenix to piece together the story of a man named Mir Dad, a South Asian Muslim who arrived in the United States in 1917 and made a home in the American Southwest. Asma discovers the prejudice faced by South Asians and the race-based naturalization and immigration laws that shaped their lives.

Malika Bilal (Senior Presenter., Al Jazeera English) tells the recently discovered story of Muhammad Kahn, an immigrant from Afghanistan who traveled to the United States in 1861, fought in the Union Army, and left behind a 200-page pension file documenting his experiences. While piecing Kahn’s story together, Malika also discovers the stories of other Muslims involved in the conflict.

Even before the United States was founded, tens of thousands of Muslims were already here, captured in West Africa, and brought to colonial America in chains. Host Asma Khalid tells the surprising story of one of these people, a Muslim man named Mamadou Yarrow, who, after 45 years of enslavement and negotiated his way to freedom.