This roundtable on "African American Muslims and the Black Freedom Struggle" convened five scholars from various disciplinary perspectives to discuss the legacy of Black Muslims in the United States and their contribution to the civil rights discussion within the country, and to human rights more generally. The respondents were asked to direct their responses to addressing some of the questions in the following prompt:
African American Muslims have been involved in the black freedom struggle for over a century, however their participation is often overlooked or generalized. How have they engaged with some of the important questions of the movement such as: the extent to which the black freedom struggle was a national or an international one; whether the struggle is ultimately about civil or human rights; and the means by which freedom was to be achieved? Is religion in fact a relevant cleavage within the black freedom struggle? Have African American Muslims represented a unified block? Finally, what African American Muslim experiences contribute to the ongoing debate about civil rights and human rights in the US and abroad?
After circulating the responses amongst the participants, they were then asked to follow up with a rejoinder as an opportunity to synthesize points and pose questions for the study of African American Muslims moving forward.
Contributing to the roundtable are:
- Zareena Grewal: "After Malcolm: Reconfiguring Our Maps and Histories"
- Abbas Barzegar: "Beyond Nostalgia"
- Mansa Bilal Mark King: "Relevant Contributions"
- Aminah McCloud: "Some Thoughts"
- Sohail Daulatzai: "Fires in the Masters’ House"