Ali Leads PBS Series Unveiling History of Islam in America

Zaheer Ali, executive director of the Hutchins Institute for Social Justice, is an executive producer of American Muslims: A History Revealed, a six-part PBS documentary film series exploring the deep history of Muslims in America through the stories of six individuals: immigrants, native-born converts, and those who were brought against their will.

“You can’t tell the story of America without the story of Black people,” Ali said. “And you can’t tell the story of Muslims in America without the story of African American Muslims,” including enslaved Africans and converts to the Nation of Islam, Fard Muhammad’s Islamic and Black nationalist movement founded in Detroit in 1930. The series debuted in October 2024 on PBS Digital.

Ali is an educator and oral historian with over a decade of experience directing nationally recognized public history and cultural heritage initiatives. Previous to becoming the founding executive director of Lawrenceville’s Hutchins Institute, he was the oral historian at the Center for Brooklyn History. His work on Muslim histories in the United States has been featured in both print and broadcast media, including four documentaries seen on CNN and Netflix.