“Building Islam in Detroit” Photo Exhibition Provides View of Muslim Life in America
February 6, 2008
No. 02/08
Addis Ababa (U.S. Embassy) -- As part its African-American History Month Program, the United States Embassy today in Harar opened the photography exhibition “Building Islam in Detroit.” Harari State President His Excellency Murad Abdulhadi and visiting United States speaker Reverend Dr. Elbert Ransom presided over the opening ceremony at the Amir Abdullahi Hall. The exhibition is open to the public and will be on display in Harar until February 9. The exhibition will open at the Dire Dawa Public Library on February 10, in Addis Ababa on February 25 and in Jimma on March 17.
Building Islam in Detroit is a look at American diversity and, specifically, Muslim Life in America. The exhibition was developed by the School of International Studies of the University of Michigan to explore the art and architecture of the public and private spaces Muslims have built throughout the history of their settlement in Detroit, Michigan. An interdisciplinary team consisting of architects, historians, sociologists and anthropologists explored the dimensions of the Muslim presence in Detroit and developed a multi-media presentation of Muslim institutions in Detroit from many traditions including African-American, Albanian, Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni and, most recently, Bangladeshi.
Today, roughly 150,000 Muslims live in greater Detroit, and they worship in over 50 mosques. Since 1990 the number of mosques in Detroit has doubled, springing up in the inner city and outer suburbs alike. Although recent growth of Islam in Detroit has been fueled by immigration from all corners of the globe, it is based on foundations laid by the city’s Muslim communities dating back to the late 19th century.
Muslims first came to Detroit in the 1890s, drawn by the city’s booming industrial economy in the 1920s. Some of Detroit’s early Muslims came from Europe and the Middle East. Others were African Americans from the United States’ “Deep South.” These African American Muslims often embraced versions of Islam outside of the traditional Sunni and Shia framework, including the Moorish Science Temple (founded by Noble Drew Ali in 1913), the Ahmadiyya movement (originating in India in the 1880s and brought to the U.S. n 1921 by Mufti Muhammed Sadiq) and the Nation of Islam (founded in Detroit in 1930 by W.D. Fard).
The photo exhibition showed in at the University of Michigan in 2005. Since then it has been updated, reflecting the growth and changes in the Muslim communities of Detroit. In fall of 2007 it showed at Harvard University and the Islamic Center of America. After appearing in Ethiopia, the exhibition will travel to Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan and Tanzania.
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Building Islam in Detroit” Photo Exhibition Provides View of Muslim Life in America
