American Muslims: A History Revealed

Fighting for Freedom: The Little-Known Story of Muslims and the Civil War

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.

Fighting for Freedom: The Little-Known Story of Muslims and the Civil War

22m 24s

  • How Islam Influenced Black Americans in 1920s Chicago: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How Islam Influenced Black Americans in 1920s Chicago

    S1 E6 - 23m 46s

    In this film, host Malika Bilal (Senior Presenter, Al Jazeera English) tells the story of these early Black American Muslim communities through a woman named Florence Watts, who moved to the bustling South Side of Chicago around 1910, where she found work as a cook and a maid.

  • How Muslims Influenced Thomas Jefferson and America’s Founders: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How Muslims Influenced Thomas Jefferson and America’s Founders

    S1 E5 - 24m 43s

    Did you know that Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the Qur’an? That George Washington owned enslaved people who were Muslim? And that a Muslim diplomat broke his Ramadan fast in the White House in 1805? These are some of the facts that Aymann Ismail (staff writer, Slate Magazine) discovers as he explores the role that Muslims played in the imagination of America’s founding generation.

  • How South Asian Muslims and Mexican Americans United in the 1920s: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    How South Asian Muslims and Mexican Americans United in the 1920s

    S1 E4 - 23m 39s

    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.

WETA Passport

Stream tens of thousands of hours of your PBS and local favorites with WETA Passport whenever and wherever you want. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV.