Thus, despite the massive influx of Muslims from the Atlantic slave trade, by the end of the 19th century Islam had all but disappeared among these communities.
Estimates range all the way to 3 million that were brought to America, and were observed to be strong in faith and identity.
Many Muslim slaves were educated and literate in Arabic, and they often occupied leadership roles in the jobs that slaves performed on plantations.
Their names, dress, rituals, and dietary laws were perceived as powerful significations of Islamic identities in the slave community.
But although many African Muslim slaves tried to maintain their Islamic identities and traditions once they came to America.
They also needed to adapt to their new environment and form new communities.
And this ultimately led almost all of them to convert to Christianity.
the open practice of Islam completely ceased in nineteenth-century.
American-born children of African Muslims did not practice Islam nor did they self-identify as Muslims.
GhaneaBassiri writes
Did you know
At the same time that Islam was fading among communities of slaves and former slaves, millions of immigrants began arriving on America’s shores toward the end of the 19th and especially the early 20th centuries.
They included tens of thousands from Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.
They were spurred in part by the Industrial Revolution that erupted once America finally emerged from the ashes of the Civil War and Reconstruction era.
Further information/ sources
Lost Islamic History, Firas Alkhateeb
https://www.vox.com/2015/12/22/10645956/islam-in-america
