Found a reference that says that the first mosque was in Brooklyn in 1920. Muslim immigration didn't really start until c1878 with a group of Syrians and Lebanese -- the people who eventually started the mosque in North Dakota. Before that, with few exceptions, the only Muslims in America were captured slaves. It is estimated that about 10-15% of African slaves were Muslims, but once enslaved they were forced to stop practicing and most converted.
I've read Marable before and may have one of his book somewhere, but he's a bit too Marxist for my tastes.
thanks
In Obama's statement, his writer crafted the line about North Dakota to be the chaser.The same way that you might chase a shot with fruit juice. Saying North Dakota, doesn't evoke the same perceptions as saying New York so saying that the first mosque was in ND in 1929..ND...middle america.is supposed to bolster the lie about Islam being sewn into the fabric of America.
I was aware of the % of enslaved Africans who were said to be Moslems. The European slave trade lasted so long that they had it down to a science and slavers specifically requested Africans from specific regions for specific types of labor.Historians are able to guess the percentage based on region.Marable's book puts the number at 8 to 9%
I dismissed that as what Obama could have been talking about because that would make no sense. Christian slavers forced Africans to convert and/or give up their religious practices.
