Monday motivation from YA author Autumn Allen. Watch the full talk on our Youtube channel: youtube.com/watch?v=Na0a8wnm…. #BlackAuthors #BlackMuslimWriters #YA

9/ The History of Black Muslims Is the History of America. Black Muslim history intersects with slavery, abolition, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, mass incarceration, immigration, and contemporary struggles for justice.

8/ In 1930, the Nation of Islam built the largest network of independent Black Muslim-owned institutions in Jim Crow America. Under Elijah Muhammad, NOI established dozens of schools, farms, and newspapers, pioneering Black Muslim self-reliance and urban community transformation.

7/ In 1928, Sheikh Dawud Ahmed Faisal laid the groundwork for the Islamic Mission of America. Alongside Mother Khadijah, their "State Street Masjid" in Brooklyn became a powerhouse of early African American Sunni Islam, birthing the massive grassroots Dar-ul-Islam movement.

6/ Noble Drew Ali founded the Moorish Science Temple in 1913 in Newark, NJ, drawing on a tradition that never fully disappeared. 17 years before the Nation of Islam. 50 years before Malcolm X went to Mecca.

5/ Islam arrived in Black America before the 20th-century movements. On Sapelo Island, GA, an enslaved West African scholar named Bilali Muhammad authored a 13-page manuscript on Islamic law from memory in 1829. He prayed daily facing east, and anchored a legacy.

4/ Yarrow Mamout, an enslaved Muslim from Guinea, was freed in Maryland in 1796. He was painted twice by Charles Willson Peale, the same painter who painted George Washington. He lived to be over 100. He never stopped praying.

3/ Omar ibn Said wrote his autobiography in Arabic while enslaved in North Carolina in 1831. It is the only known surviving autobiography of an enslaved person written in Arabic. It is in the Library of Congress. It begins with Surah Al-Mulk.

2/ Job ben Solomon (Ayuba Suleiman Diallo) was an enslaved Muslim scholar from Senegal who was taken to Maryland in 1731. He memorized the entire Qur’an three times from memory while enslaved. He eventually returned to Africa, but his story stayed here.

1/ Before the republic, there was already salah on this soil. An estimated 15–30% of enslaved Africans brought to the Americas were Muslim. They came from Senegambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast—regions with centuries of Islamic scholarly tradition.

Before the Constitution was signed, there were Muslims in America. Enslaved. Praying. Memorizing Qur’an in the dark. This Juneteenth, @SapeloSquare tells their story. #BlackMuslims250 #WeWereHereFirst

In part 2 of our #BlackMaternalHealthWeek series, Majidah Muhammad moves beyond her personal birth experiences to discuss the challenges Black families face giving birth in an unjust medical system & the Islamic imperative of justice & community support. Full article on our site.

For #BlackMaternalHealthWeek, Majidah Muhammad, mom of 5, gives insights on her birth experiences and how Black women can advocate for themselves for better birth outcomes. sapelosquare.com #BlackMaternalHealth #BMHW26 #BlackMamasMatter #JusticeAndJoy

“Elegy for Minab,” a new poem by Oludamini Ogunnaike, reminding us in our righteous anger to also grieve the precious lives, land and history destroyed. sapelosquare.com/2026/03/25/…

In memoriam, we are sharing our podcast episode with Br. Umar Hakim-Dey, founder of INKERIJ, who passed away last September while this episode was in production. bit.ly/4cvmxRo

Ramadan Mubarak! We are kicking off our Ramadan Reflections series with a timely video message from Imam Zaid Shakir. Watch on our website: sapelosquare.com

Part 2 of “Beyond Borders: Black Women’s Anti-Imperialist Discourse in Muhammad Speaks” on our site now: sapelosquare.com.

New on our site, a book review and reflection of Medina by the Bay by Jerel Matthews, an incarcerated scholar. Read it at: sapelosquare.com.