New PBS series explores the often-overlooked history of American Muslims

[0:00] Starting this weekend, a new series on PBS [0:02] dives into the early history of Muslims in the US, [0:05] looking at notable figures, communities, [0:07] and spanning more than 200 years, [0:09] uncovering stories that few people have heard. [0:12] There's never been an America without Muslims. [0:15] Three journalists following the trail. [0:23] Each of us exploring a defining moment in American history. [0:27] Tracing a legacy that's coming back into view. [0:31] That's Jefferson's initial. [0:32] There was one of the founding fathers [0:34] imagining Muslim Americans. [0:36] A completely new nation that included [0:38] more than just Christians. [0:40] It's a six-part documentary called [0:42] American Muslims, A History Revealed. [0:44] It launches this weekend on PBS stations across the country [0:47] and on the PBS app. [0:49] Asma Khalid of the BBC is one of three hosts [0:52] exploring all of this and joins us now. [0:54] Great to see you. [0:55] Great to see you. [0:56] Thanks for having me. [0:57] So what's the story that you're aiming to tell [0:59] with this documentary series, and why does it matter right now? [1:02] So, Jeff, I've been a long-time political reporter. [1:05] I covered a lot of campaigns. [1:07] And I will say that there's long been an active debate in our country [1:10] about who gets to be an American. [1:12] And I think that those conversations and that debate [1:15] has become even more ripe now as we're inching closer to our nation's 250th birthday. [1:20] Debates over who is an American, what it means to be an American, and whose story is told. [1:26] And I think what's really interesting about this series, [1:29] and what attracted me to being a part of it, [1:30] is ultimately that the story is a lot more complex. [1:34] It's a lot more nuanced. [1:36] And I think that that's what people will find when they would see the series, [1:39] is that there's a really diverse part of America that we're not always told about. [1:45] You know, not just sort of on the margins, but central. [1:47] Stories around slavery, around the founding of this nation. [1:50] You know, a Muslim who was involved in the Civil War. [1:52] And I just love the idea that we're really engaging with that as our country. [1:56] Let's talk more about that, because there's one episode [1:58] where you focus on a man who had been enslaved [2:00] to ultimately becomes a property owner in Georgetown. [2:03] Let's take a look. [2:05] We know that some African Muslims left their names. [2:08] They show up in plantation records and runaway slave ads. [2:13] Others left their writings, many of them in Arabic. [2:17] A few left their image. [2:19] Among them was Mamadou Yarrow, also known as Yarrow Mahmood. [2:24] He was painted not once, but twice. [2:28] It's one of the things that makes him stand out. [2:31] He gives us a story of what it was like to gain freedom, [2:36] and then live after that, and practice as a free person. [2:41] I don't think we have any other story like that. [2:44] What did you learn about his life that really stayed with you? [2:47] So I would say what stayed with me the most [2:50] is that I didn't know this story. [2:52] I didn't really know the details of it all yet. [2:53] And Jeff, I admit, I'm embarrassed to say that, [2:55] because Mamadou Yarrow was a slave in Montgomery County, Maryland, [2:59] where I live. [3:00] As you say, he bought a house. [3:02] He lived in Georgetown, the streets that I have walked so many times. [3:05] And I just wasn't intimately familiar with his story. [3:08] We used primary sources in a lot of these documentaries, [3:12] relying on letters, archive material, portraits, as you say. [3:16] I mean, Mamadou Yarrow's portrait hangs now [3:18] in the Philadelphia Art Museum. [3:19] And to me, that was just so important to know that, you know, [3:22] here I am walking these same streets, [3:23] and there's a part of American history that resonates back, [3:27] with Muslims being here also for generations and generations [3:30] that I had not really known. [3:32] The series also traces Muslim communities [3:34] coming to the US from South Asia. [3:36] What's the through line there? [3:38] Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of stories that we looked at [3:40] that I think are grappling with some of the key debates [3:43] that we're grappling with now as a nation, right, [3:45] around issues of religious freedom, around issues of immigration, [3:49] and the episode that you mentioned there around South Asian migration [3:53] dates back to the early, let's say, 20th century. [3:56] We had people coming from what is now India and Pakistan, [3:59] which was then the British Empire, [4:00] coming, settling in sort of California, Arizona, [4:04] often intermarrying with Mexican women [4:07] because of the racial laws at that time period. [4:10] And long story short, there is a lot in those conversations [4:13] and those stories that deal with immigration [4:15] and questions of exclusion and inclusion [4:17] that we are to this day dealing with around our immigration system. [4:21] When viewers finish this series, [4:22] what do you want them to walk away with [4:25] or to understand differently that they might not have known before? [4:28] I'd love for people to get a sense that the American story [4:35] is a lot more complex than perhaps we all initially thought, right? [4:39] And that Muslims are a part of that story. [4:42] You know, I think often, candidly, as a Muslim, [4:45] I think people sometimes might see you as being foreign or other [4:48] or a secondary person who moved here later. [4:51] And I loved what the stories showed [4:53] because they showed that Muslims were a part of shaping our American story. [4:57] And that's been really meaningful for me as well to report on. [5:00] Asma Khalid, one of the hosts of American Muslims, [5:03] A History Revealed airing this weekend on PBS. [5:06] Thank you. Great to see you. [5:07] Great to see you. [5:19] Support journalism you trust. [5:20] Support PBS News. [5:21] Donate now or even better, start a monthly contribution today.