Award-winning Senior writer at Slate, Aymann Ismail is an author, and president of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association. He’s one of the hosts of the PBS documentary series American Muslims: A History Revealed. His work has appeared in the NYT and GQ, and on CNN and NPR. He tells the story of the oldest mosque in the US, in the tiny town of Ross, North Dakota.
Follow Along | #WeAreAmerica250
YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Bluesky | Threads
Notes
Unless otherwise noted, all images used in this video are in the public domain.
Ross, North Dakota by In memoriam afiler. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image of original mosque in Ross, ND courtesy of Minot Daily News.
“Islamic community gathering in auditorium; HS8780.” In the digital collection Bentley Historical Library: Bentley Image Bank. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhl/x-hs8780/hs8780. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections.
For one year, 1953-54, I lived in Ross ND, and a great friend in 8th grade was Emmett, whose parents lived near this mosque, and had been part of the community that built it. I never actually saw the original structure, but in about 2005 Emmett had a major role in building a successor mosque on the site, which is also a cemetery. I have been there. Search "Ross Mosque" and you'll find much more.
"Muslims have always been part of the American story." Indeed, as Heather Cox Richardson has said more than once, Muslims have been part of the country long before it became the USA. Thank you, Aynmann Ismail for your gentle presentation