Detroit, 1953

NYT Article on Early Mosque in NYC

"Mosque Shows That Muslims Have Long Been a Part of New York" By DAVID W. DUNLAP DEC. 9, 2015

See also "Islam has long history downtown: Why the 'Ground Zero mosque' belongs in lower Manhattan"

Another Early 'White' Muslim Converted by the NOI

As I've delved deeper into the research for my forthcoming book A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States Volume 2: The African American Islamic Renaissance, I've discovered a few pieces of information that I wish I had found for my book on early white American Muslims.

The first is the story of a woman whose family all identified publicly as white, but she insisted she was Native American. She embraced Islam through the Nation of Islam in the 1940s and remained a member of the group for the next several decades.

Today I spotted another story. It is interesting that this person's conversion narrative, as you can see below, is similar in that the convert is claiming to possibly have a secret non-white family history. Interestingly, although the crossing of racial boundaries was not a widespread phenomenon among pre-1975 non-black converts to Islam, it does seem to have also existed somewhat, if only at a social level, for several whites and Latinos in non-NOI Muslim groups. And, based on my preliminary research, it appears to me that it was an increasing trend for converts after 1975. As I finish up HCTIUS Volume 2 and begin work on Volume 3, I believe the issue of racial border crossing through Islam will be an important topic on which I hope to shed much more light.

Washington, 1942

See also "Chicago, 1942"

One of Fard's sources?

A lost book about the Nation of Islam

This morning, while scrolling through the NOI's old newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, I came across the following article in the February 1962 issue:

What made this piece especially interesting to me is the fact that I knew of the author being discussed. Hans Stefan Santesson had been working with the immigrant South Asian Muslim community in New York since the 1930s, and was even friends with prominent white convert to Islam Louis Glick--all of which I mention in my recent book about early white converts.

Unfortunately, Santesson's book about the NOI is not listed under his name in Worldcat or at the NYPL (the library most likely to have a copy). Since we aren't given the book's title, I Googled the phrases from its press release, as quoted in the above article, but, again, to no results. It's looking like the book, if it was even completed, may never have been officially released.

If a copy does exist, however, given Santesson's knowledge of New York and Muslims, and his interest in science fiction and fantasy, I suspect the book may have some valuable insights.  

Hopefully, someone someday will stumble across this gem.

Coming February 2016

Click here for more information

UPDATE 3/11/16: The book is now available for purchase from Amazon

For excerpts from the book, click here