Join Senior Civic Media Fellows Maytha Alhassen and Darnell Moore for a conversation about a landmark series of short documentary films: American Muslims: A History Revealed. Over the course of 12 15-minute episodes, American Muslims highlights the little-known story of Muslims in America. Starting in the 16th century, with the first Muslims to arrive in America as part of the Spanish conquests, the project traces the waves of migration and conversion that have created the diverse Muslim communities that exist across the nation today.

The first series of six films were released in the Fall of 2024 by PBS Digital Studios across PBS’ digital platforms and on PBS’ flagship YouTube channel, with the final six airing in Spring 2025, before being combined into a feature-length documentary for broadcast and screenings. Distribution is supported by a range of organizations committed to improving understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities and between different Muslim communities who may not know their shared histories. Working with these organizations, the filmmakers will produce educational materials for middle and high school use, college students, and adult education, including anti-racism and diversity training programs.

American Muslims is designed to promote further inquiry. To round out the project, a dedicated website will house or link to the short films, use creative techniques to visualize history, and provide easy access to primary sources, academic work, and other pieces of journalism in this area. It will also allow members of the public to add their own stories. Social media links to the website will ensure the project lives beyond conventional distribution and continues to serve as an effective educational resource for anyone wanting to learn more about these rich histories.

Alhassen (2023 Civic Media Fellow) is a journalist, poet, community organizer, and scholar whose work bridges the worlds of media engagement, justice advocacy, academic research, and artistic expression. She produces and writes for the award-winning Hulu series RAMY (as a co-executive producer), is a Pop Culture Collaborative Pluralist Visionaries Fellow, TED resident, a Harvard Religion and Public Life Art and Pop Culture Fellow from 2021-2024, and is currently a lecturer for Stanford University Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. As a journalist, Alhassen worked as an on-air guest host for Al Jazeera English, also field reporting for such outlets as CNN, Huffington Post, Mic, and The Baffler, and opinion pieces for the Boston Review and LA Review of Books. She also co-edited a collection of stories from the 2011 Arab Uprisings, Demanding Dignity: Young Voices from the Front Lines of the Arab Revolutions, wrote the report Haqq and Hollywood: Illuminating 100 Years of Muslim Tropes and Traps and How to Transform Them, and numerous academic articles and book chapters. In 2017 she received her PhD in American studies and ethnicity from USC, an MA in anthropology from Columbia University, and a BA in political science and Arabic and Islamic studies from UCLA.

Moore (2019 Civic Media Fellow) most recently served as vice president of inclusion strategy at Netflix where his team offered creative consultation to executives across the content, studio operations, marketing/ communications/ PR/awards, and animation parts of the business as well as partnered with talent/HR executives to build and forward DEI efforts. He is a seasoned strategist, cultural worker, and program curator who founded Six Zero Nine Creatives, whose name is an homage to Camden, his hometown, and through which he houses his current and future creative projects. His memoir, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America, won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Best Memoir in 2019. It was also celebrated as one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2018 as well as selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers' pick.

This program is open to all eligible individuals. USC Annenberg operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.

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